Bucks say opening of new arena will be delayed by a year

MILWAUKEE (AP) The Milwaukee Bucks say the planned opening of their new downtown arena will be delayed by a year. The team hoped to have the arena ready by the

MILWAUKEE (AP) The Milwaukee Bucks say the planned opening of their new downtown arena will be delayed by a year.

The team hoped to have the arena ready by the start of the 2017-2018 NBA season. But the Bucks said Tuesday their construction schedule now targets an opening for the 2018-2019 season.

Team spokesman Jake Suski says the earlier date ''simply isn't realistic.''

The NBA had threatened to move the team if a new arena wasn't built by 2017. But an NBA spokesman said Tuesday that the league is ''comfortable with the revised timetable.''

The Bucks now play in the 27-year-old BMO Harris Bradley Center.

On Monday, the Bucks submitted to the city of Milwaukee preliminary plans for the $500 million arena and a surrounding development. A planning commission will review the plans Nov. 9.