Despite being one of the premier NBA facilities when completed in 1988, the BMO Harris Bradley Center was one of the oldest active NBA arenas by the end of the Bucks' tenancy in 2018. Only Madison Square Garden in New York City and Oakland Arena in Oakland were older than the Bradley Center; however, both Madison Square Garden and Oakland Arena were substantially renovated during their lifetimes, with Oakland Arena being eventually replaced by the new Chase Center in San Francisco for the 2019–20 season. The funds for the building of the BMO Harris Bradley Center were donated by Jane Bradley Pettit and husband Lloyd Pettit without any provision for the building's long-term capital needs or annual operating expenses. Although the facility was self-sufficient, its tenants, such as the Bucks, were at a disadvantage compared with other NBA teams because of the arrangement.

Former Bucks owner and former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl proposed building a new downtown arena to replace the Bradley Center. There was considerable discussion in the region about the idea of a publicly funded arena and ultimately no resolution was reached. In 2009, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle included a provision in the state's capital budget seeking $5 million in state bonding support to renovate the Bradley Center. The Bradley Center's board of directors told state officials that the building needed $40 million in renovations, so they reportedly agreed to raise the remaining $35 million on their own.

On September 18, 2013, then-deputy NBA commissioner Adam Silver toured the arena and said it was a few thousand square feet short of NBA standards, and also lacked numerous amenities. On April 16, 2014, Kohl announced an agreement to sell the franchise to New York City hedge-fund investors Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens. The deal included provisions for $100 million each from Kohl and the new ownership group, for a total of $200 million, toward the construction of a new downtown arena. The NBA then informed the Bucks that the franchise wouldn't be allowed to renew their lease on the Bradley Center, which would expire after the 2017-18 season, and that the team needed to have either a new arena completed or under construction by the beginning of 2018, or the franchise would be bought from Lasry and Edens, then sold to another ownership group, either in Las Vegas or Seattle, which would mean the certain departure of the Bucks from Milwaukee. On July 15, 2015, the Wisconsin Senate approved funding for the new arena by a 21–10 margin, and on July 28, 2015, the Wisconsin State Assembly approved funding by a 52-34 margin. On August 12, 2015, Governor Scott Walker signed the arena spending plan at Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin.

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