Cleveland Connection
Recently, the Cleveland Browns entered the free agent market armed with around $25 million. Interestingly enough, the money they had to spend on free agents, ended up being a smaller issue than the location of the Browns. Joe Jurevicius, LeCharles Bentley, and Dave Zastudil, all Cleveland natives took pay cuts to sign with their hometown team. The Browns aren't the only case of something like this taking place. The Cleveland Cavaliers have a hometown hero by the name of LeBron James. While he was a lottery draft pick, it was rumored that the Cavs won the first pick in the draft just so that James could stay King of Cleveland. Which brings me to my question, is it better for a professional sports franchise to be in a great athletic area like Cleveland which may not be the biggest market? Or is it better to be in a region like the northeast which may not produce the best talent, but has a larger market such as the New York franchises? While this may not have a lot to do with economics, it has to do with the location of expansion franchises (remember the Texans are located in Houston, a haven of High School football), and where teams may relocate.
1 comment:
I think that having a team in an area rich with professional-level sporting talent, even if the market is smaller than that of a New York or a Los Angeles, is quite beneficial. In the Cleveland example, there is a major interest in high school football, as a half dozen of the top 25 or so teams in the US are located there, and there is a moderately large fan base for basketball beneath the professional level as well. These interests not only feed into the professional franchises through general fan interest, but I believe the ability to follow a local star, such as a LeBron (from Akron) or a Joe Jurevicious (from Lakewood), locally into the pros can expand the fan base for a pro franchise that much more, providing a larger audience, even in a mid-sized market like Cleveland.
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