Jon Greenberg vividly remembers the days when it’d be considered a “a great joy” if he needed to turn on the Bradley Center escalators to the upper level.
“That meant we were having a really big night,” said Greenberg, the president of the Milwaukee Admirals.
Instead of getting excited for turning the escalators on, Greenberg can get excited for the possibility of selling out for a game — something he never would’ve talked about at the 17,845-seat Bradley Center.
Four years after moving out of the Bradley Center, the Admirals of the American Hockey League finally “feel comfortable” with the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena as their home after more than $2 million in improvements to the facility.
“This is the building that is perfect for our team,” said Harris Turer, the owner of the Admirals.
“Fans have really taken to the fact that this is our place now,” Greenberg said. “This is our home now.”
While Greenberg and Turer did not disclose exactly how much rent is for the Panther Arena, they said it was slightly more than at the Bradley Center.
Yet other parts of the contract have made the move a block south financially lucrative. Before the move, the Admirals didn’t get any cut of the concession revenue. Now they do.
Team leadership has focused on updating the arena to make it more fan-friendly, ranging from adding social areas like the US Bank Club to adding an in-arena merchandise store.
“It was an evolution moving into this building,” Greenberg said. “There was a lot of work to be done to get the building up to speed for what we do.”
Team leadership had an assist from the a player’s wife, who was an interior decorator. When she took a look around the arena, her biggest concern was with the bathrooms.
“No mom is bringing her family here if the bathrooms look like this,” she said to Turer.
“So we made significant upgrades to the bathrooms,” Turer said.
The Wisconsin Center District has also put considerable investments into upgrading the Panther Arena. Since 2014, the district has replaced all of its seats, improved its lighting and installed a new scoreboard.
Other upgrades include painting the railings and unearthing the original terrazzo-style flooring in the lobby.
Turer said “people want so much more” than simply buying a ticket and sitting down to watch the game.
“Attending a sporting event has evolved and changed, especially over the last few years,” Turer said. “It’s not just about seeing the sporting event.”
Physical upgrades weren’t the only challenge. Team leadership has looked into how to improve branding to overcome not having the visibility at Bucks or Marquette games the way they did at the Bradley Center.
Construction of Fiserv Forum made parking for Admirals games more difficult in the first few seasons after the move, as well.
Attendance through the first 32 games — 5,033 fans per game — was comparable to last year’s first 32 games despite an unfavorable schedule in February.
It was also the best among the Panther Arena’s tenants in the 2019-20 seasons. The Milwaukee Wave, a professional indoor soccer team, averaged 3,847 fans per game. UWM men’s basketball brought in 1,432 fans per game, 11% of the building’s capacity.
Weekend home games draw significantly more fans than weeknight games, sometimes two or three times as many. In February, four of their seven home games fell on Wednesdays.
“It’s a big win when the building can get us Friday and Saturday,” Turer said.
The first-place Admirals’ 3-2 loss to the Iowa Wild on a Wednesday in February drew 2,711 fans. Three days later, they drew 9,069 fans for a 7-2 win over the Rockford IceHogs.
“We have to work hard on the weekdays to get people out, no matter how good our team is,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg was expecting a “very strong finish” to the season in attendance and ticket sales. After having almost exclusively Wednesday home games in February, the schedule finally turned to more weekend home games in March.
But then coronavirus got in the way.
The AHL suspended the season right before the Admirals were about to start a 15-day stretch with four weekend home games.
“We lost out on a significant amount of revenue not only from ticket sales, but also concession revenue and merchandise revenue,” Greenberg said. “It was definitely a tough hit for us.”
Some people have already bought season tickets for next year, though, and many fans are still buying merchandise. Fans are also taking part in the Admirals’ 10-day fundraising drive for local food pantries.
The Admirals haven’t been on the hook for the player salaries during the shutdown. The Admirals are the minor-league affiliate of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, who are responsible for player salaries.
While that still leaves the Admirals responsible for paying front office employees, Greenberg said there will be no layoffs or furloughs.
Like many other businesses, “everything’s been virtual” for the Admirals staff. As Greenberg and Turer celebrated their 15th anniversary of leading the team on Tuesday, that included a virtual toast.
“That’s always been a day that Harris and I have celebrated together,” Greenberg said. “This year it’s obviously very bittersweet (because) we’re not playing.”
While the AHL season is still suspended, My24 Milwaukee will be re-airing Admirals games from this season on Saturday nights.
Greenberg is still hopeful for the AHL season to resume. Now that the Democratic National Convention is pushed back to August, that gives more time for the Admirals to finish their season across the street.
After having the third choice of scheduling dates in the Panther Arena behind UWM men’s basketball and the Wave, the Admirals will have second choice next year behind UWM, the naming rights holder.
This likely means more Sunday home games. But in the meantime, Greenberg has to play the same waiting game as everyone else until the coronavirus pandemic ends and the Panther Arena doors can open again.
“There’s nothing really we can do about it,” Greenberg said, “so we just have to roll with the punches.”