bumsquare

That's fine, octuple my estimate and you're still at 50% of what Fitzgerald claimed.

Finally some sanity: "LeBron is very big business, and basketball is very big business," said Rosenheck. "But Cleveland is also a pretty big town. ... The city's economy is as big as the country of Hungary, so trying to find the impact of one player in that is a needle in a haystack." Direct impact, perhaps. But the collateral benefits are a different story, albeit probably very hard to precisely measure. The direct economic impact creates a ripple effect, for downtown particularly. That impact on downtown benefits the entire region. There will certainly be some impact, but the size is being grossly exaggerated. Being generous: 1. 8,000 more per game 2. $100 per person (tickets and dinner, this assumes everybody goes out to eat and everybody spends $50 on dinner http://www.statista.com/statistics/193720/average-ticket-price-in-the-nba-by-team-in-2010) 3. That's $800,000 per game 4. Thats $33 mil for the season. How many of those people are from outside the county? Even if it's 25% that's $8 mil being brought into the county, enough to buy half a pedestrian bridge. I inquired with our NBA folks, approximately 12 to 17% of fans at games are "visitors". Right on, so closer to $4 mil over the course of a season.

Finally some sanity: "LeBron is very big business, and basketball is very big business," said Rosenheck. "But Cleveland is also a pretty big town. ... The city's economy is as big as the country of Hungary, so trying to find the impact of one player in that is a needle in a haystack." Direct impact, perhaps. But the collateral benefits are a different story, albeit probably very hard to precisely measure. The direct economic impact creates a ripple effect, for downtown particularly. That impact on downtown benefits the entire region. There will certainly be some impact, but the size is being grossly exaggerated. Being generous: 1. 8,000 more per game 2. $100 per person (tickets and dinner, this assumes everybody goes out to eat and everybody spends $50 on dinner http://www.statista.com/statistics/193720/average-ticket-price-in-the-nba-by-team-in-2010) 3. That's $800,000 per game 4. Thats $33 mil for the season. How many of those people are from outside the county? Even if it's 25% that's $8 mil being brought into the county, enough to buy half a pedestrian bridge.

Well, considering the Cavs averaged 17,000 per game last year and not the 12,000 reported, you can go ahead and cut that already inflated number in half. I'm not sure what the county was trying to accomplish by claiming one basketball player could have such an enormous economic effect, but I find the claims embarrassing. You can bet that number will be repeated by national media trying to show what a sh!thole Cleveland was before Lebron showed up. Additionally, all of this supposed new revenue would just be dollars getting reshuffled around the region, with no real outside cash infusion, except maybe for a few restaurants around the arena. http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance I disagree. With new restaurants, hotels and venues to open, the money is not being reshuffled. In addition, his return will bring his and Cavs fans from outside of NE Ohio downtown. It will also bring suburbanites and exurbanites into the city more often. Why would more people from outside the region come here for games? They can just see Lebron when he comes to their town. Unless you think thousands of people from Pittsburgh and Columbus are coming to every Cavs game. And more people from the suburbs coming to games is the definition of reshuffling. Like I said, it's unlikely to effect anything but the restaurants around the arena and probably generate a few million in admissions taxes. And certainly not the ridiculous $500 million being touted by Fitzgerald. You do realize there are super fans or FANatics that travel to games or make weekend getaways from games. In addition, someone from Buffalo, Central Pa, W. Virginia, Cinci where there is no basketball are targets. Those people would stay at visit venues, hotels, eat at restaurants, come into town via bus, rail or plane, all adding to our local economy. I'm sure there are probably a few each game, unless you have something that shows there is a large number.

Well, considering the Cavs averaged 17,000 per game last year and not the 12,000 reported, you can go ahead and cut that already inflated number in half. I'm not sure what the county was trying to accomplish by claiming one basketball player could have such an enormous economic effect, but I find the claims embarrassing. You can bet that number will be repeated by national media trying to show what a sh!thole Cleveland was before Lebron showed up. Additionally, all of this supposed new revenue would just be dollars getting reshuffled around the region, with no real outside cash infusion, except maybe for a few restaurants around the arena. http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance I disagree. With new restaurants, hotels and venues to open, the money is not being reshuffled. In addition, his return will bring his and Cavs fans from outside of NE Ohio downtown. It will also bring suburbanites and exurbanites into the city more often. Why would more people from outside the region come here for games? They can just see Lebron when he comes to their town. Unless you think thousands of people from Pittsburgh and Columbus are coming to every Cavs game. And more people from the suburbs coming to games is the definition of reshuffling. Like I said, it's unlikely to effect anything but the restaurants around the arena and probably generate a few million in admissions taxes. And certainly not the ridiculous $500 million being touted by Fitzgerald.

Well, considering the Cavs averaged 17,000 per game last year and not the 12,000 reported, you can go ahead and cut that already inflated number in half. I'm not sure what the county was trying to accomplish by claiming one basketball player could have such an enormous economic effect, but I find the claims embarrassing. You can bet that number will be repeated by national media trying to show what a sh!thole Cleveland was before Lebron showed up. Additionally, all of this supposed new revenue would just be dollars getting reshuffled around the region, with no real outside cash infusion, except maybe for a few restaurants around the arena. http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance

Man, I don't know....the last three years of Cavs basketball still haunt me. They quit last year; or maybe I was just unfortunate enough to watch every game where they played heartless basketball (with Anderson V. injured) for most of the game. I'm concerned that without Love that defenses won't respect our outside shooting enough. I mean, we don't want to see LBJ on the perimeter all game. With Anderson, Thompson, Wiggs, Bennett and Dion that's potentially a lot of mess under the basket. Could a Mike Miller or Ray Allen play enough minutes to spread the floor? We definitely need to add a veteran shooter or two. At this point I really believe a few complimentary pieces will just about get the Cavs to where they need to be. Lost in the wreckage of last year and the excitement over Lebron is the fact that this squad showed genuine improvement. Add another year of seasoning (and Wiggins), and you've got a team that can win now and stay intact.

^Double plus agree. Outside of the baseless rumor-mongering, the "basketball player as regional economic panacea" supremely aggravates me.

I've really enjoyed watching all the young players the last 3 years. I'd like to continue watching their development. I'm not really into the winning at all costs thing, which I believe a Love trade would represent.

Disagree! We want them to be ultra-horrible forever! (Unprotected 2017)

They were shut down this year.

He is also analyzing max players in a vacuum. It doesn't take into account the scarcity of talent and the opportunity cost of not signing these players. You can't simply add RAPMs and WARPs together to make a team or else everyone would just trot out 15 Nick Collisons. If anything it shows how underpaid the Lebrons and Durants of the world are.

The fireworks are launched from near Wendy Park. Edgewater and Wendy Park are always plenty crowded for the event.

Bill Simmons is the worst. Boston has won like 29 championships in the last 3 months. Sports is 75% luck.

The NFL (anybody really) should only be testing for performance enhancing drugs. If players want to get high it should be left up to the individual teams to discipline them.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots

I read that the Browns already new about the failed test. But they still passed on Watkins and went OL with their second rounder. Curious

If you actually read the proposal, it says materials are being repurposed from the church, including refurbished balustrades. The Sanctuary proposal is barely half-baked. I'm pretty sure the townhouse they show are just images of the ones on Prospect.

Yep, definitely the same thing. I felt like I was having a stroke.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/01/do-rankings-affect-our-opinions-cities/883/

My understanding is that this is a video aimed at young travellers with disposable income. Why would we show them a picture of a bungalow and say "Lee-Harvard"? "Hey Twenty somethings from the coast, come visit our elementary schools!" If that's the case they shouldn't have produced something that's this generic and derivative. "It's the hottest fire that makes the strongest steel!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaBeuhzABNc

The video seems dated, and the "Cleveland sucks but it also rocks" self effacement is tired. The Black Keys knock-off band was an appropriate choice for the video.

The game last night was so boring. I thought they might come out strong in the second half, which they did for about 2 minutes, then they proceeded to drain the energy right out of the building. No direction on offense, bad rotations on defense. I'm really starting to think the coach is the problem. There is obvious offensive talent on this team, and its inability to produce quality shots is inexcusable. How can a team with so much young, athletic talent be so boring to watch? Why do our 2nd and 3rd year players seem to be regressing, while our rookies can't even get on the floor? This team needs to be torn down again already. Outside of Kyrie, Waiters, Bennett, and the other players on rookie contracts, I'm not sure anybody needs to come back.

These threads are great!