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Bucks president says arena funding plan needs to be finalized in 10 days

Jeff Hanisch / USA Today Sports

The clock is ticking on the Milwaukee Bucks' plan to unveil a new $500 million downtown facility.

The arena financing plan must be completed in 10 days in time for the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee's consideration.

"This has to be wrapped up in the next 10 days," urged Bucks president Peter Feigin on Tuesday. Feigin admitted to challenges within the politics associated with finalizing a plan, but expressed cautious optimism, reports Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel.

A meeting is expected to convene on Wednesday between representatives from the Bucks, the city councilors and legislative leaders. The Bucks' current timeline calls for groundbreaking in the fall of 2015 but there would need to be agreements with the city and county as well as a go-ahead on the financing plan.

The Bucks have billed the plan as a 50-50 public-private partnership on the $500 million facility. However that plan has faced some opposition and uncertainty.

The original plan headed by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker called for the state of Wisconsin to provide $220 million in bonding. But that proposal has failed to generate sufficient political backing. Instead, an alternative for $150 million in backing has been put forth by Senate Majority leader Scott Fitzgerald.

Should the $150-million proposal go through, the Bucks would be short $100 million of their goal of $500 million. 

The Bucks are facing an NBA-imposed deadline by the fall of 2017 to have a new arena in place. Should the Bucks fail to meet the deadline, the league reserves the right to buy back the team for $575 million.

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