The closing of Center Court led my colleague Eugene Kane to ruminate as to why no restaurant or bar can seem to stick at what seems to be a prime location.
It’s a good question, but one of the prime reasons that location isn’t as desirable – and one of the reasons the Bucks can’t fill the BMO Harris Bradley Center – is the parking situation around the stadium.
Take Wednesday night for example.
The Bucks were .500 and losers of four straight heading into a game against the Philadelphia 76ers, a losing team. Yet any parking lot or garage near the arena was charging $20. Um, no.
I arrived before the meters become free at 6 p.m. hoping to catch some of the day’s workforce leaving. So I circled and circled the venue for a while before finding what I thought was good spot. It was 5:45 p.m. so I dropped in 20 minutes worth of change into the meter and figured I was good to go – only to return after the game to see I had a parking ticket. Wha?
Well, apparently the one block I was on had a different meter restriction than you know, all the other blocks around the stadium.
This is why a place like Center Court closes. This is why the BMO Harris Bradley Center won’t sell out for mundane NBA games. I’m not saying parking has to be free or even have the same rates. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have to walk a few blocks to get to a game.
I’m saying the meters need to have uniform time restrictions around the stadium – or at least give those parking there a break on game nights – and the lots and garages nearby need to be a little more realistic in their pricing.
Eugene is mostly right when he says the success of an establishment is about location, location, location – but increasingly the deciding factor is parking, parking, parking.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
