Lebron-Tracker

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/feature/index?page=LeBron-Tracker

A few weeks back we saw a commercial of Lebron and Kobe puppets. Well recently, Lebron's team, the Cleveland Cavaliers have just lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs (there are 4 total) when they were expected to win the NBA championships. The reason this is such a big deal is because Lebron will become a free agent in about 47 days. What that means is that he will be allowed to sign with any of the other NBA teams that either pay him the most or where he will feel that he will win a championship with. There are only a handful of teams that have enough money to sign him due to the salary cap restrictions each team has that limits how many super stars you can have on a team. Usually there will be 2 players getting 20 million a year, while the rest get 1-7 million a year. Lebron will probably have the biggest contract yet, maybe reaching 30 million a year just in the basketball contract alone, not including all his endorsements.

Anyways, due to taking so many business classes I thought of this from a economic point of view. Cleveland already is in a bad economic situation due to their decline of their heavy manufacturing industry. Just take a look at this promotional video for Cleveland from their travel promotions!


"our economy is based on Lebron James"

The playoff loss has potential to create a major chain reaction for many cities, including Cleveland. For example, he could go to the New Jersey Nets, which will be moving to the New York burrough of Brooklyn. If Lebron actually goes there, the city will create a new basketball arena just for him! This will create thousands of jobs, and create millions of dollars income for the city.

Another is example is of him going to the New York Knicks and play at Madison Square Garden, the biggest basketball stage in the world. Cleveland was a very small basketball team in terms of commercial success before Lebron came. If he moves to New York, every game of his will be broadcasted world wide, which will lead to more sales of Nike apparel.

Now that Tiger Woods have destroyed his endorsement career, Lebron James will be the single most economic impacting sports figure in the world. Billions will be made through his name, and billions will be lost for people that he does not want to be associated with. Good luck to Cleveland.