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The Panthers are Milwaukee’s other downtown team. Treat them like it.

The Desk · Aug 16, 2026

UWM Panther Arena · Milwaukee

Horizon League nights at UWM Panther Arena do not get the Deer District budget. They still belong on this desk.

UW-Milwaukee does not get the national graphics package. It gets campus, it gets the Arena, and it gets a basketball program that has been a Horizon League problem for a generation of coaches who slept on it.

The statewide conversation loves the Bucks, Marquette, and whoever is playing at Lambeau. Fine. The Panthers are still the public university in the largest city, and the people who go to those games are not a lesser audience. They are the audience that knows a 7 p.m. tip on a Wednesday is the whole night.

If you only show up when a March seed is in play, you are not a Panthers fan. You are a bracket tourist. The Desk will keep the light on anyway.

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The Panthers are Milwaukee’s other downtown team. Treat them like it.

Horizon League nights at UWM Panther Arena do not get the Deer District budget. They still belong on this desk.

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