LeBron's back in Cleveland, and ticket prices are soaring. (USATSI)
CNBC looked at the basketball-business impact of LeBron James' move from Miami back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and it's about what you would expect. The Cavs sold out of season tickets within 24 hours of the decision, interest has skyrocketed, and while the Cavs say they have kept ticket prices relatively stable to not price-out the fans (and good on them for that), the secondary market has gone bonkers. The Cavs' average price now reflects high-end tickets, but even that isn't as crazy of an increase as we've seen with other star transfers.
Despite the surge in demand, Komoroski said the Cavs did not raise season-ticket prices, and the average price for individual game tickets remains the same as the top-tier games from last season.
"We have been very conscious to treat our fans with the same degree of respect and integrity as when we were in our rebuilding mode," he said.
In the secondary ticket market, however, prices are rising across the board. At Stubhub, Cleveland Cavalier transactions are up 4,150 percent year over year, with an average ticket price of $184—almost $100 more than last season. Meanwhile, King James' former team, the Miami Heat, is seeing the opposite effect: Ticket prices there have fallen about $15 from last year.
On TiqIQ, the current average price for a Cavs game is $421, the highest price in the NBA and more than a 250 percent increase since the beginning of last year.
via LeBron James return to Cleveland makes Cavaliers ticket sales leap.
4,150 percent increase in transactions, goodness gracious. A 250 percent increase in price. You're seeing media react to the same. ESPN has transferred reporters from L.A. to Cleveland to cover James, abandoning the Lakers. What a strange world we've come to know.
An economics professor made waves last summer by projecting a $500 million economic benefit of James' return to Cleveland, but a Think Progress refutal from a Holy Cross professor claims that number to just be nuts.
“It's just completely unclear how you get $500 million out of this,” Matheson said. “The Cavs' entire revenue for the year is like $145 million. The Miami Heat, their revenue last year was $188 million. How you go from that to $500 million for the local economy is crazy. Just on that front alone it would be crazy.”
...
“So the main issue is what were these people doing when James wasn't there? They didn't just hole up in their apartments, lights out, not eating, not drinking, not breathing,” Matheson said. “They were doing something with that money, and the extra money they're spending on the Cavs has to come from somewhere.”
Even accounting for the impact James himself may provide — through charity donations or money he spends in the city, for instance — the net benefit will probably be small. James already keeps a house in Northeast Ohio and already donates millions of his dollars to Northeast Ohio charities. There might be tax benefits for Cleveland and Ohio, but even those are closer to zero than they are to $500 million.
That's not to say James' return won't have benefits for Cleveland. He will provide a small economic boost totaling somewhere in the low millions of dollars, though even the $50 million posited by Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald may be too high, Matheson said. But the same ideas underlying the claim that James will have a half-a-billion dollar impact on Cleveland are those that backstop public financing of sports stadiums and arenas. And those ideas are disputed by loads of research showing that such plans, or the events that take place in them, aren't the economic windfalls proponents say they are. Which means that for as exceptional as James is on the court, he's much closer to ordinary in the sports world when it comes to impact: the economic side is small but vastly overstated by politicians, boosters, and the media, while his actual impact — what Matheson calls the “feel good effect” — is largely ignored.
“It's a great time to be a Clevelander,” he said. “The feel good effect is absolutely real and it's huge for that. LeBron is making us happy. But there's no reason to think LeBron is going to make us rich.”
via No, LeBron James Won't Bring $500 Million A Year To Cleveland's Economy | ThinkProgress.
A Cleveland local county official said in July that the number is closer to a conservative estimate of $50 million.
LeBron James's return to Cleveland could help bring almost $50 million a year in new economic activity to the city and region, Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald said Monday.
FitzGerald said his fiscal office worked with Positively Cleveland, the local convention and tourism bureau, to reach that figure.
The primary basis of his argument is the expected spike in attendance at Quicken Loan Arena associated with James's return to the Cavs.
"I think there is a measurable economic value," FitzGerald said at an afternoon news conference. "When people say this is just about an athlete making money, there's more to it than that. Other people will make a living."
via Ed FitzGerald: LeBron's return worth millions to Cleveland, Cuyahoga County | cleveland.com.
Either way, there's no denying that basketball is suddenly a hot business commodity in Cleveland again.
Basketball Hot News
Former NBA player, current TNT analyst Kenny Smith gets reality show with family
Well, we now we know what show promos TNT is going to beat us over the head with during the next playoffs (following in the footsteps of “The Closer” and “Franklin & Bash)…
Kenny “The Jet” Smith — a nine-year NBA veteran who won two rings with the Rockets in the ‘90s and is now part of the brilliant “Inside the NBA” show on TNT — is getting his own reality show with his family. The show will air on TBS starting next spring. To point out what most of you know, TBS and TNT are both owned by Turner Broadcasting (which also runs NBATV).
Sure, we’d all rather have cameras follow Charles Barkley around and record the details of his life, but he is too smart to let that go public.
Smith is married to Gwendolyn Osborne-Smith, who is one of the prize-showing ladies on the game show The Price is Right, and has been since 2005. She’s had some other acting gigs including in “Any Given Sunday.”
Together they have five children, ages 2 to 20, all of whom will be part of the show.
I don’t know. I thought JaVale McGee was ripe for this kind of thing with the show he and his mother had (along with others) on the Oprah Winfrey Network, but that was pretty much unwatchable. This… I don’t know. I’m not much of a realty TV guy (outside of Top Chef, which is brilliant).
At least it should lead to some good ribbing of Smith on Inside The NBA. Barkley and Shaq should have a field day with it.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment