The Cleveland Indians are in the World Series.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are NBA champions, coming back from three games to one against the Golden State Warriors in this year’s NBA Finals.
The Cleveland Browns — well, better not to mention them here.
The point is, as For the Win notes, “it’s tempting to … wonder if some cosmic forces are in play here, if there is some deity that is suddenly smiling down [on] that little slice of Ohio.”
That “deity” might very well be named LeBron James.
The recent on-court and on-field successes of two-thirds of Cleveland’s professional sports franchises carry over into the city’s economy. In June, with the Cavs on the eve of their third trip to the NBA Finals in nine seasons of the LeBron era, Crain’s Cleveland Business reported that Convention, Sports & Leisure International estimated the economic impact to the city of each home playoff game during the first three rounds at Quicken Loans Arena to be $3.6 million. The projected economic impact for each NBA Finals game at the arena was $5 million.
Other economic impact numbers to note from the article:
• The range of year-over-year revenue increases for Cleveland hotels during three NBA Finals games at The Q over an eight-day span in 2015: 9.3 percent to 58 percent.
• The combined admissions taxes the city collected on primary and secondary ticket sales for Games 3 and 4 of the 2015 Finals: $927,000
• Game 3 of the 2016 Finals marked the 100th straight sellout at The Q since James returned to the Cavaliers in 2014.
No numbers detailing the economic impact of the Indians’ current postseason run were immediately available.
“Economists are correct when they say the financial impact of sports on a community is often overstated because it’s really just a reallocation of our entertainment dollars,” Crain’s assistant editor Kevin Kleps wrote. “The more we spend on the Browns, Cavs and Indians, the theory goes, the less we do on trips to the movie theater or our favorite local restaurant. With James, that impact is real for Northeast Ohio, because of the out-of-town visitors and international eyeballs he brings to the franchise and region.”
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