The Badgers men’s basketball team ran the risk of capacity for its home games at the UW Field House being downsized from 11,500 to 9,300 in the mid-to-late 1990s. There were safety concerns with the aging facility, and talk of a new venue across campus accelerated.
Kohl, who graduated from UW-Madison in 1956, stepped up with a $25 million gift — the largest ever given to the school at the time — to make it a reality.