Milwaukee Bucks sue Lesaffre Yeast over unpaid season tickets

MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Bucks are three weeks away from starting the next chapter in franchise history — the one after the Giannis Antetokounmpo era.

Yet, while the team prepares to move on, his play, or lack thereof, led the Bucks to file a lawsuit against one of its corporate season ticketholders.

Lawsuit over unpaid season tickets

What they're saying:

The team is suing Lesaffre Yeast Corp. for more than $250,000, accusing the Milwaukee-based company of not paying for last season's games in full, thus going into default on its contract for tickets through the 2028-29 season.

The Bucks filed the lawsuit, which is still pending, in June. Court documents show the company paid monthly for a loge table with four tickets, food and drinks included, and a good view of the court. The dues came out to about $1,800 a game. Lesaffre has had season tickets since 2020.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

Per court documents, the team accused Lesaffre of still owing more than $10,000 for last season's games. And because the company hadn't paid at the time the litigation began, the Bucks said their account was in default, meaning they owe the entirety of the contract: nearly $265,000.

The cost of tickets was set to increase to $79,180 for this season, then jump to $84,723 in 2027-28 and $90,654 in 2028-29.

Counter-lawsuit

What they're saying:

Lesaffre answered the suit and counter-sued the Bucks, accusing the company of disregarding its own contract by taking the matter to court publicly instead of dealing with it in arbitration.

Attorneys for the company said Lesaffre employees brought their concerns to the Bucks back in January.

"L-Corp representatives approached the Milwaukee Bucks’ representatives about their continued relationship, with L-Corp representatives notifying the Milwaukee Bucks that the product being offered was not consistent with the product offered in prior years or contemplated by the Agreement, due to, among other things, frequent unexplained absences of key players, and a lack of notice to the license holder of that unavailability," the filing said. "This resulted in the licensing membership plan’s value, from a customer usability standpoint, to be limited or nil."

While the document does not mention him by name, Antetokounmpo battled injuries and the team dealt with rumors surrounding trading their home-grown superstar.

Lesaffre's response then alludes to local and national reporting indicating the NBA was investigating the Bucks for intentionally not playing Antetokounmpo, accusing the team of 'tanking'.

""In or about the spring of 2026, multiple publications, local and national, reported that key personnel of the Milwaukee Bucks were being held out of games, even though they reported to the Milwaukee Bucks that they were healthy and available to play in games. Upon information and belief, the Milwaukee Bucks held that key personnel out of games in an effort to lose games on purpose to increase trade potential, draft status, or rebuilding efforts in the offseason," it said.

SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News

The league concluded its investigation into Antetokounmpo's health and game status and determined no further action was necessary. He played just 36 of the team's 82 games in the 2025-26 season.

Court records show Lesaffre did pay the $10,000 it owed for last season. The ticket contract is also in those records. Nowhere in that does it say the Bucks have to tell ticketholders or reduce pricing based on who plays.

The case heads back to court in November.

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Sam Kraemer and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.

Milwaukee BucksBusinessMilwaukeeNews