Since his announcement in early July, LeBron James has suffered countless personal attacks stemming from his choice to play for the NBA’s Miami Heat, both for leaving his home state and the way he went about telling the nation on “The Decision” television special.
Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert called him “narcissistic.”
Even actor Steve Carell (known as Michael Scott on “the Office”) parodied LeBron’s one hour show in a skit on the ESPY Awards presented on ESPN.
“I’ve decided I’m going to take my appetite to the Outback Steakhouse,” Carell said. “In a perfect world I would be eating at Chili’s constantly.”
The effect on the sports fans not withstanding, Cleveland probably could’ve benefited from the exclusive economic stimulus it was accustomed to over the past seven years.
For a time, Clevelanders were the privileged. There was a reason they called him the “King.”
According to Michael Ozanian of Forbes, the Cavaliers will tumble over $80 million in valuation from a year previous, while conversely the Heat’s value will skyrocket to $410 million, up from $364 million.
Forbes contributor Patrick Rishe, Director of Sportsimpacts and Professor of Economics at Webster University, wrote that “If the Heat win the NBA Championship within the next 3 years, expect the team’s franchise value to exceed $500 million by 2013 which would put them among the top five valued franchises in the NBA.”
He later continues, “According to FanSnap’s Christian Anderson, Miami Heat season tickets on the secondary market (individual sellers other than the Heat franchise) increased from $3,200 to $8,200 over night.”
CNBC’s Darren Rovell did some research on the taxation impact of LeBron’s choice of location in which to play. He states, “If you match up the five years in Cleveland to five years in Miami, and include Florida’s tax advantage (Florida has no income tax), LeBron would actually make $1,014,188 over five years with the Heat than he would with the Cavaliers.”
Looking at the numbers, one can’t blame LeBron for jumping ship. On the other hand, there may be something to say for loyalty.
Just how bad is it now that LeBron is leaving Cleveland?
Kurt Badenhausen, also of Forbes, noted that, “Season tickets are averaging $935 which is about one-third of where they were when LeBron was the star attraction.”
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald said of LeBron James going to play with All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat that “it’s like Coke and Pepsi have joined forces and the rest of the league is RC Cola.”
Will this experiment in Miami turn out like the disastrous “New Coke” idea of the eighties?
Clevelanders can only hope.
Goodbye, LeBron. You’ll be missed.