LeBron James’ impact on Cleveland is bigger than just a championship

It had been 52 years since any Cleveland sports team had won a championship. When LeBron James signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time in 2014, there was a lot of hope that James would be able to end the championship drought for the city.

James signed with the Cavs for the first time back in 2003 and was drafted by Cleveland as the number one pick overall. His background of growing up in Akron, Ohio gave fans of Cleveland sports a sense of hope.

“The only other time that I was nervous was probably the first year that when we drafted LeBron. I think it was the second year we had LeBron and beat Detroit to go to the finals,” said Sean O’Donnell, owner of Flannery’s Pub, “The night that we beat Detroit at home, it was just 50,000 people came across the street jumping up and down.”

James returned to Cleveland in 2014 after four years and two championships with the Miami Heat. In the 2015 season, James and the Cavs took on the Golden State Warriors in a six game series losing four games to two. The Cavs went back in 2016 for a rematch against the Warriors, when Golden State blew a 3–1 lead in the finals. It was the first Cleveland sports team to win a championship in over 50 years.

“I think he (James) absolutely impacted tourism and everything else. I mean the amount of people I saw driving into work, standing in front of that LeBron banner on Ontario. I think people are coming into town to take a picture of that,” said O’Donnell.

When James signed with the Cavs in 2014, Cleveland’s economy has increased in businesses, stores and restaurants, but David Ebersole, director of economic development for the city of Cleveland, said James isn’t the only reason for the economy’s success.

“The economy is decent. There’s certainly a lot more demand for downtown office and residential, especially as people are trying, are generating more desire for a live-work type of environment,” said Ebersole, “There’s been a lot of residential conversion and that’s driven a lot by just the market generally. I wouldn’t completely discount some of the energy coming from the success (of Cleveland sports).”

According to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance 2017 Annual Report, there has been an increase in jobs, residential developments and population of the city. In the report, the average household income of a resident in downtown Cleveland is $64,668 and a population increase of 40% between the years 2010–2016 (2017-DCA- Annual Report).

“Data shows that Downtown Cleveland is in the number 1 spot as the largest concentration of jobs in the State of Ohio with over 104,000 jobs, adding more than 8,500 since 2010. With class A office occupancy operating at 87%, there is still more than 3 million/sf of available office space for growing businesses and savvy investors to choose a downtown address,” said the DCA report.

With the addition of new developments in the city, there has not only been an increase in job placement, but also in the creation of jobs. According to the same report, since 2010 8,547 jobs have been created.

“There’s trends towards a more urban environment. Downtown Cleveland is one of the biggest job centers; we invested in the development of the Healthline, which provides a real easy connectivity to from downtown and University Circle, which is another huge job center,” said Ebersole.

After the 2018 season, James signed a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. Though, James left, he it’s no surprise the impact he had on Cleveland. The excitement of seeing James play in the Q, in a Cleveland uniform, brought a lot of attention to the city.

According to an article written for the City of Cleveland Economic Development, Mark Niquette wrote, “Based on calculations by the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office, James’s return will increase the benefit from Cavs games alone to about $268 million. Average attendance increased from about 12,000 before James joined the team to about 20,500 during his final season, the county said. Although attendance has slipped, officials expect sold out games next season with James on the court.”

The revenue from the admission fees will go to helping with the debt of building the Quicken Loans Arena back in 1992 and the sales made from hotels, restaurants and stores are projected to increase too, said Niquette.

2016 was a momentous year for another Cleveland sports team, the Indians. That same year, the Indians went to the World Series against the Chicago Cubs, dropping the series after having a 3–1 lead. Not only has there been a rise in jobs and popularity of the city, there has also been an influx of businesses, stores and restaurants.

According to the 2017 DCA Annual Report, in 2017 30 new shops and restaurants opened in downtown Cleveland. Additionally, 18 million people visited Cuyahoga County that year with over 64% of people staying at a hotel.

“The combined success of the Downtown sports teams, groundbreaking residential developments and our work with companies that chose to move their headquarters to the heart of the city, forecasts a promising future for downtown,” said the DCA report.

According to the City of Cleveland Economic Development’s website, in 2016 the city of Cleveland announced numerous reconstruction assignments on buildings like the 925 Building and the Garfield Building.

Barrio is another restaurant that is close to the Quicken Loans Arena. Barrio, a taco restaurant with a couple of other locations, noted that there was more success at their Gateway location. Located a couple of blocks from the Q, Barrio is used to the hectic sports scene.

On the night of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA finals, Jake Hawley, director of operations, said that the restaurant had an increase in sales and revenue that night, but the restaurant turned into a hub to watch the game.

“All night we were just packed and people were going crazy and even after that, people just wanted to be downtown for the weeks after it,” said Hawley, “It’s got a lot of really good energy in the city. We’re lucky enough to be pretty busy, pretty consistently, but it was even a notch above for us for really that whole summer.”

The two-month-long playoff run also was a boost for sales. Hawley and O’Donnell noted that during the height of success of the Cavs and Indians, people just wanted to be able to have that experience downtown with Cleveland sports fans.

“That location in particular was affected greatly by everything leading up to the championship, the playoff run, and all that. With those long playoff runs, people just wanted to be downtown. So we were busy. Not just from game traffic, but just people who wanted to be downtown to watch the game (on TV),” said Hawley.

O’Donnell noted Cleveland’s rough history of the championship drought. In 1997 the Indians faced the Florida Marlins in the World Series. After a nail-biting series, the Indians lost in game 7, when Jose Mesa blew the game in the bottom of the ninth forcing the game to the 11th inning.

“It was a city that needed to be validated. They had been looking for a championship,” said O’Donnell, “Cleveland takes a lot of lumps from the nation. So anything to show the rest of the world we’re the best at something felt good.”