Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers joins Milwaukee Bucks ownership team

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has joined the local ownership team of the Milwaukee Bucks.

The announcement drew a raucous ovation from the sold-out crowd when it was made between the first and second quarters of the Bucks' first-round playoff game Friday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

It's the highest-profile and most recent addition to the group of local investors in the Bucks. The amount of Rodgers' investment was not made public.

Rodgers, 34, sat courtside at the game with Danica Patrick, his race car driver girlfriend, and one of the team's owners, Wes Edens.

"He's a legendary player," Edens said in an interview. "He would be the first athlete that's currently active in the league that would own a piece of a major sports franchise."

New York billionaires Edens and Marc Lasry bought the team in 2014 from Sen. Herb Kohl for $550 million. They were later joined by New York real estate executive Mike Fascitelli and Jamie Dinan, a New York billionaire hedge fund owner.

In the fall of 2014, the Bucks added a group of local owners that included five prominent African-American business leaders and philanthropists, as well as Milwaukee business executives.

The Bucks have been quiet on the ownership front since then – until Friday's announcement that sent an unexpected surge of excitement through the playoff game crowd.

Edens said Rodgers would be an excellent fit for the Bucks.

"He could not be a better representation of what we want in our local ownership group," he said.

Rodgers joining was a business decision rather than a public relations stunt, Edens said.

"This is not a vanity play from his standpoint," he said.

"This is not something that he did to generate publicity or anything else. It's the opposite. He's been incredibly circumspect about it. I think he'll be a great addition to the ownership."

Edens also said he believed Rodgers recognized a solid business investment.

The value of the Bucks has soared to more than $1 billion since Edens and Lasry bought the team, according to a recent estimate by Forbes. The Forbes estimate put the Bucks' value at No. 26 out of 30 NBA teams. 

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"It speaks volumes to the kind of person that he is, too," Edens said. "He's investing in his future."

Edens said he was "exited and I'm excited for him, too."

He added: "This is a big education for him and it's going to be a very good investment for him."