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Bucks Arena Live Coverage: Team to cover cost overruns, public debt to be capped at $250 million

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After months of negotiations over a new downtown Milwaukee arena, now the real fun begins.

As you probably know by now, Gov. Scott Walker and legislative leaders have called a press conference for 3:15 in Madison today to announce the details of an arena public financing package that will be submitted to the legislature's Joint Finance Committee. Late in the morning word broke that at least two outstanding questions from earlier plans had been resolved: the Bucks would be on the hook for any cost overruns beyond $500 million, while the public debt piece would be capped at half that amount, $250 million.

The former provision would thus seem to mirror the Kings' arena agreement in Sacramento, which puts the team on the hook for arena cost overruns. That's critical given the size and scope of any $500 million project, and it's a risk that taxpayers in the Milwaukee area know all too well. After an initial budget of $322 million in 1996, Miller Park's final price tag had swelled to $400 million by the time it opened in 2001.

We'll use this page to collect additional news as it breaks, so hit refresh regularly!

While the Bucks were not represented on stage, Team President Peter Feigin released the following statement:

"We're incredibly thankful for the leadership and commitment of state, city and county officials to put together a viable financing framework for this public-private partnership to build a new sports and entertainment district in Wisconsin. While there is still a lot of work to be done in a short time frame, this is a big step forward in our collective effort to build a transformative economic and cultural asset in downtown Milwaukee. We will continue to work closely with our public partners to make sure this historic effort is successful."