As the cameras panned in and out of commercial breaks during Game 3 of the NBA Finals on July 11, ESPN was still advertising something — just not a product. Instead, the cameras focused on a neighborhood filled with Milwaukee Bucks fans gathered for a watch party reminiscent of a European soccer crowd.

“I think in our wildest dreams, we couldn't imagine that we have more people outside than we'd have inside,” Bucks and Fiserv Forum President Peter Feigin told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday.

The Milwaukee Bucks will be in the spotlight once again Wednesday night when the Bucks host the Phoenix Suns in Game 4.

“This is our global commercial,” Feigin said. “I mean, this is where we have billions of impressions…This is what you live for in pro sports, is to be in the finals and have these two weeks where the focus of the world is on you.”

The Bucks opened Fiserv Forum in August 2018 on a 30-acre plot of land now known as the “Deer District.” The newly created neighborhood is more than a place to grab a beer before watching hoops. It’s a self-sustaining portion of the city aimed to attract people year-round.

But often basketball and the neighborhood work off each other. On July 11, after the Bucks won their first home Finals game in nearly 50 years, the Deer District stole the post game spectacle. Fireworks bursted into the sky. The crowd chanted so loud, Bucks guard Jrue Holiday could barely hear the ESPN anchor’s questions. In that moment, the Deer District became its own character in the story of the 2021 NBA Finals.

Back in 2015 Feigin described the Deer District as a “a 365-day attraction for Wisconsin residents that will help revitalize downtown Milwaukee,” in a press release announcing the new plans for the new stadium and surrounding neighborhood. Once a bustling downtown area on the Lake Michigan shoreline, Milwaukee’s population growth paced significantly behind other Midwest cities such as Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Indianapolis from 2010-2019.

The Bucks aimed to change this narrative by creating a fresh reason to visit downtown Milwaukee. The stadium construction coincided with the meteoric rise of two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks climb up the Eastern Conference standings. The team invested more than $500 million into Fiserv Forum and $228 million into Antetokounmpo, betting their combined success would create a cohesive, and profitable, pairing.

“When you talk about economic development, you’re not just talking about retaining the revenue of NBA player salaries and front offices, but you talk about the incremental real estate value growth,” Feigin said. “You talk about the ability to sustain your tourism business, your hospitality business. And really...on the qualitative side, to give people a sense of pride and, really, a sense of ownership, to have an attractive place to want to gather and a destination point.”

The Deer District now has several operating restaurants and bars; 242,500 square feet of office space available; and a hotel and luxury apartment complex. As the Bucks chase their first NBA title in 50 years, Feigin hopes the growth on the court, and the district around it, isn’t done yet.

“We've got the play down,” Feigin said. “We've got some of the residential. We need to build some commercial. We need to activate it. We need to provide content. And it's about density, you know. It's all about 24/7 people and activation, 365 days a year. And as you cultivate that, the business continues to evolve.”

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Josh Schafer is a producer for Yahoo Finance.

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