He's a former Senator of that state. The Kohl Center where the Badgers play, named after him. There's a much bigger meaning for him giving up on the team than some other owner. It's equivalent to the state giving up on pro basketball. It's similar (albeit to a lesser extent) with Glen Taylor since he saved the team from being moved to New Orleans. When he put a piece of the team up for sale, he wanted to put in writing that the team can't move and that scared everyone off except Flip Saunders.
In Kohl's case, he's 79 years and doesn't wanna deal with a long ass rebuild and he's probably just ready to move on, but he doesn't wanna shyt on his state either, so now we have this.