The Milwaukee Bucks dropped an announcement video for their new sponsor Monday. Uline is the new official jersey patch partner. The logo goes on the left shoulder starting this season. Practice jerseys, arena signage, the usual sponsorship package. Yet, why are Buck’s fans so upset about this otherwise normal sponsorship partnership?
Within minutes the replies filled with “disgusting,” “inexcusable,” and vows never to buy a jersey. A box company. Tape. Packing peanuts. What could possibly be the crime that warrants this reaction?
Meet Dick and Liz Uihlein. In 1980 they started Uline in a basement selling carton sizers. They built it into one of North America’s biggest distributors of shipping, packaging, and industrial supplies and headquartered in Pleasant Prairie with roughly 9,000 employees in total. An estimated $8 billion in revenue generated by more than 43,000 products. The Uihlein’s moved the company across the Illinois line in 2010 and planted a real campus in Kenosha County. They also keep a footprint up north in Manitowish Waters. This is a Wisconsin company that employs Wisconsin people and sells everyday products businesses actually use.
Sounds like an American success story, but that is not why the comments section melted down. The Uihleins are also two of the largest conservative mega-donors in the country. Combined they have poured hundreds of millions into Republican candidates and causes, including massive support for Donald Trump. Forbes puts their combined fortune in the neighborhood of $14 billion. Milwaukee’s political lefties cannot tolerate billionaires who write checks to the wrong side of the aisle
Locally the money shows up too. Restoration of America PAC, funded overwhelmingly by Dick Uihlein, has already spent in Wisconsin’s governor’s race with canvassing, literature, and ads backing Tom Tiffany. The couple has also written checks to the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the legislative campaign committees. That is the real reason for the outrage, not manufactured corrugated cardboard.
If your entire personality is Milwaukee politics plus Bucks basketball, Monday was the worst day for you in awhile.
