If/When Herb Kohl passes: What happens? (no jabs pls)

[Diggr14]

This is not meant to be a "please die" thread, so if possible, please respect that the guy is old and a person too.

Anyhow, with that being said, Herb Kohl is the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. I'm not quite clear where the Bucks fall in the inheritance tree that is Kohl. Does Kohl have non-immediate family that he would leave the team to? Would he leave the team to the City of Milwaukee in some capacity (is that even legal- somehow i doubt the NBA by-laws would allow it).

With all the talk about the Bucks possibly moving in the next 5-10 years because of the arena issue, if Herb died would that not expedite the issue? I know a lot of you know more than I on this and maybe have some insight on what would happen. Could you enlighten the casual fans on this topic?

Thanks.
Diggr14 (great game last evening... just goes to show you how well Milwaukee will support a winner).

[DPGBucks]

I was wondering the same thing the other day. Definitely not wishing death on anyone, but Kohl is getting up there in age.

[bigkurty]

I have asked this before as well around here and so far no one knows. I speculated that since Kohl really cares about how he is thought of in the general public and wants to leave a "legacy" so that he is not forgotten, maybe he would just leave it to the city and the general public as a gift. Woelful followed my lead the other day and mentioned that theory as well. I think that would be the ultimate "cool" move and would really turn Kohl into something of a local legend.

[Isocleas2]

Definitely. I really can only see it going down one of two ways. Either he leaves the team to a local group, the city, etc....people he knows will keep the team in Milwaukee. Or he'll leave it to family who'll probably sell it to the highest bidder who'll most likely move the team. I know he doesn't have much family, but it only takes one person.

The first option he leaves behind a legacy of a "local hero". The other is of a meddling owner who bought the team to help keep him in office.

[MickeyDavis]

I definitely don't want the city to own the team.

[pilprin]

Wayne Husinga sold half of the Dolphins to an ownership group. I'd love to see Herb sell 51% to an ownership group including Bridgeman and other guys with local interest.

[MickeyDavis]

I'm always leery of ownership "groups". So far it has worked with the Brewers because they have a good team, attendance and revenue are up, all of their young talent is still cheap and the investors are all making a return on their investment every year. But if the team starts losing and/or attendance goes down and/or we start shipping off guys we can't afford, then all of a sudden the group can start making noise.

I'd rather have just one guy calling the shots, as long as he knows how to delegate basketball decisions to guys that actually know basketball.

[pilprin]

I would agree with one guy calling the shots, but I don't know of anyone who has the cash and interest in doing that.

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

Maybe Kohl could create a two-class stock like newspapers tend to have, where the A shares have 10x as much voting rights as the B shares do. He could then assign operational control of the team to the city by giving them the A class shares, but still sell the majority of the financial interest in the team to investors.

Doing that would dramatically lower the value of the shares that investors would buy, but I'm sure he could still get 100 million out of it if they were otherwise willing to pay 250 million.

I'm talking about things that I don't know much about though, so there may be plenty of reasons why this wouldn't work.

[MickeyDavis]

That's the problem. There are guys in the state who have the money but (so far) haven't shown any interest, at least publicly.

But if you have 10 owners, some may want to make a profit every year, some will be satisfied making all of their profit when they sell and there can be friction.

[pilprin]

I would never want to see 10 owners, but Kohl with 49% and Bridgeman/Leipold or Kohler with 51% it might be okay provided one CEO is identified.

[MickeyDavis]

I don't know if Kohl would want to be a minority owner. I could see him bringing in someone else as a minority owner and then eventually selling the rest of it to him (them). But Kohl doesn't do this for the money, I can't see him being a silent majority owner. He's all about control and calling the shots.

[pilprin]

Based on his desire to "call the shots" would Dan Kohl as GM be that bad - if he trusts his nephew?

Certainly it wouldn't be my choice, but it can't be worse that complete distruct of your GM like he has with LH...can it?

[MickeyDavis]

Who knows if Dan Kohl knows anything about basketball? Did Herb hire him because of his basketball IQ or because he was his nephew?

If Kohl replaces Harris with his nephew or with Babcock it will generate a big yawn from the fans. That's not something the organization needs given that 90% of sports fans around here have already stopped following the team.

[GrandAdmiralDan]

Who knows if Dan Kohl knows anything about basketball? Did Herb hire him because of his basketball IQ or because he was his nephew?

If Kohl replaces Harris with his nephew or with Babcock it will generate a big yawn from the fans. That's not something the organization needs given that 90% of sports fans around here have already stopped following the team.

I still expect Dave Babcock to be the new GM (in title, anyway). Despite Herb's penchant for foolish decisions, even he likely won't be foolish enough to have the GM be his nephew of the same last name. Too hard for the Senator to do his usual escape artist act from being blamed for things if Dan Kohl is the GM. If Dan Kohl is brought in, I expect it to be as the Babcock's #2 in the front office. He'll either get the title of "Assistant GM" or "Director of Player Personnel"

He'll be another form of control that the Senator will exert over the person with the GM title, as Dan Kohl will report back on everything to his uncle.


BTW, Dan Kohl doesn't really know much about basketball, to answer that question. He does have a pretty good understanding of the CBA and salary cap, so at least that is something, especially since Babcock is pretty iffy in that department. Babcock IS a basketball person (although I find some of his evaluations questionable, e.g. Damir Markota) so perhaps the two of them could work ok together in tandem (if the Senator got out of their way). A two-headed GM doesn't have a good track record though (e.g. Otis Smith and Dave Twardzik previously in Orlando)

[pilprin]

I would guess that Kohl is at the age where he trusts few, so going outside the organization is not likely.

[xTitan]

-= original quote snipped =-



I still expect Dave Babcock to be the new GM (in title, anyway). Despite Herb's penchant for foolish decisions, even he likely won't be foolish enough to have the GM be his nephew of the same last name. Too hard for the Senator to do his usual escape artist act from being blamed for things if Dan Kohl is the GM. If Dan Kohl is brought in, I expect it to be as the Babcock's #2 in the front office. He'll either get the title of "Assistant GM" or "Director of Player Personnel"

He'll be another form of control that the Senator will exert over the person with the GM title, as Dan Kohl will report back on everything to his uncle.


BTW, Dan Kohl doesn't really know much about basketball, to answer that question. He does have a pretty good understanding of the CBA and salary cap, so at least that is something, especially since Babcock is pretty iffy in that department. Babcock IS a basketball person (although I find some of his evaluations questionable, e.g. Damir Markota) so perhaps the two of them could work ok together in tandem (if the Senator got out of their way). A two-headed GM doesn't have a good track record though (e.g. Otis Smith and Dave Twardzik previously in Orlando)

I would be absolutely shocked if Dan Kohl's name is not mentioned as a realistic candidate for the GM job. I think we both can agree at this point, unless something big changes, the GM job is basically a figure head position with this organization. I think you will also hear a dark horse candidates name mentioned, who we will find somewhat laughable, at least I will. Dan Kohl knows nothing about personnel, not a damn thing.....he likes to leak info to the media though, always believed he was Woelfel's inside guy with the Bucks, not sure if its true but once D. Kohl left, Woelfel seemed to go a little dry when it came to the Bucks.-

[BuckPack]

most of Herb's family has moved out of the city of Milwaukee, but they do maintain a lot of ties in the area.

he has a large, extended family that remains very interested in the Bucks, tho I don't think they'll hold onto the franchise.

[zmanishere11]

A lot would depend on when he dies and who he leaves it to.

If it happens before 2010, and he passes the franchse to someone other than his wife (not even sure if he's married) or a charity (not sure how estate taxes would work if left to the city), his estate would have to pay essentially 50% of the value of the franchise in estate taxes.

So, if his family got the team, they either come up with some HUGE $$'s or they sell the team quick to pay the estate tax bill.

This situation happened to the Miami Dolphins in 1990. Joe Robbie died, had a $100 million estate, and his family had to sell the dolphins and the stadium to huizienga to pay the $45 million estate tax bill.

Now these things can be avoided with the right estate planning (trusts, gifting, life insurance), and most people would think Kohl has this taken care of, but you never know.

After 2010 the estate tax is gone, unless some legislature is changed.

So to answer your question: there's really no way to tell unless you're his attorney or life insurance agent !!!!

[MickeyDavis]

Herb is definitely not married, at least not legally.

He may not have a clue on how to run a basketball organization but he knows business. I'm sure he has it all mapped out.