LeBron lost & found: Cleveland hit hard, Miami thriving

When LeBron James took his talents to South Beach, he took the soul of a city with him.

Lost is the 10-story billboard once displayed proudly in downtown Cleveland that showed James - head tilted back, arms spread wide - and proclaimed, "We Are All Witnesses."

After being witness for the past seven years to a once-in-a-generation type of player who happened to be a homegrown talent, the city of Cleveland now is witness to the biggest free-agent defection in the history of sports.

Shortly after the reigning two-time MVP decided to leave the Cavaliers to sign with the Miami Heat, a notoriously gray city became even more so with the lingering smoke from the bridges burned by James and the jerseys burned by his former fans.

After all, James' extensive wingspan, once so prominently featured on the fallen billboard, branches out into facets that stretch far beyond the 94 feet of a basketball court. A tale of two cities shows what the city LeBron left has lost, and what the one he joins has found.

THE ORGANIZATION

Lost is the face of the franchise, the league and the city who singlehandedly raised the value of the Cavs from $258 million in 2003 to the fifth most valuable team in the league at $476 million in 2009, according to Forbes. Yet within the Cavs organization, owner Dan Gilbert's scathing open letter notwithstanding, there is no panic, no trace of an "I just got dumped by the prettiest girl in school" complex.

"We will head into the start of this season with a fan base that is excited for the future and confident in how we approach everything on the court and off," Len Komoroski, the president of the Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena, said in an e-mail. "We continue to operate with our special culture that guides everything we do and we look forward, not backward."

Those in the organization say the city has shown great support for the team, which has set a franchise record for total number of season tickets as well as renewals. Those numbers, however, do not reflect the impact of James' departure because the renewal began months before the airing of "The Decision."

Komoroski said he doesn't expect a drop in season tickets for the 2011-12 season but that the Cavs won't take anything for granted. "It would be premature to predict something like that, because we have a whole season ahead of us before we get to that point," Komoroski said. "We understand we will have to earn the support, just as we have in the past."

Found is a walking bailout plan that Democrats and Republicans would agree on.

The Heat sold out of season tickets so quickly that the organization fired its entire season-ticket sales staff. Why employ the salesman when there is no product left to sell? Yet capitalizing on season-ticket sales represents only a small piece of the pie.

"First, obviously, is trying to find out a winning strategy in terms of ticket sales, which we think we've done," said Eric Woolworth, the Heat's president of business operations. "And then to capitalize in the traditional corporate partnerships and sponsorship world.

"We are getting ready to announce a series of new and exciting partnerships that are pretty significant. There's this aspect that's completely new for us, which is international interest and how you capitalize on it. Our website traffic has increased tenfold from this time last year and almost half of it is coming from overseas. We are spending a lot of time thinking about how we can try to monetize that interest."

THE CABLE COMPANY

Lost is the reason to tune in. Take the main character off a hit television show and it's only natural that the ratings, along with the advertising revenue, will drop. Henry Ford, the senior vice president and general manager of Fox Sports Ohio, which carries Cavs games in Cleveland, says the perception of James' departure is worse than the reality and that 90 percent of advertisers have renewed so far.

"The Cavs led the NBA in local ratings for the past two years," Ford said. "It's only natural that there might be some decline. However, there's going to be far more interest in this team than some people think."

Found is an attraction that turns a preseason opener on Sun Sports into the network's highest-rated Heat game since 1998, according to Nielsen television household ratings in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale market.

"Without a doubt, it's huge for us," said Steve Tello, senior vice president and general manager of Fox Sports Florida & Sun Sports. "It creates tremendous opportunities to grow our business and provides unprecedented value for both existing and new advertisers. The phones have not stopped ringing . . . We've also signed several major sponsorship deals, so yes, we expect that high interest level to continue."

THE LOCAL BUSINESS

Lost is a player who threw the only party in town, leaving for a place that hardly needs another excuse to party.

"I know there are a lot of people that think that all of the entertainment and restaurant hospitality spots around the Cleveland area are going to fold," said Christine Connell, general manager of Flannery's Pub, which is across the street from Quicken Loans Arena. "I certainly think it will have an impact but I'm not expecting it to be drastic."

Found is an attraction that can singlehandedly boost the local economy. When a manager at Tradewinds Bar and Grill, who didn't want to be named, was asked what went through his mind when he heard James would play 41 regular-season games across the street at American Airlines Arena, his response was simply: "Money."

"There's been more foot traffic, more flow of people coming through," he said. "Obviously, we have increased our staff, especially on days of games, and increased my purchasing. We are hoping it's going to have a lot of impact."

THE MERCHANDISER

Lost is a retailer's dream. Found is a player who could sell sand to a Miami beachgoer.

The NBA doesn't release sales units, but the only indication one needs to understand the shift in James' merchandising power is the basic principle of supply and demand. A stroll through the NBA Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan shows that the Heat has replaced the Cavs as one of the league's alpha dogs in terms of merchandise.

Of the limited amount of Cavs merchandise available for purchase, a majority is discounted LeBron items rotting away on a rack like an outdated fashion fad.

Meanwhile, a recent study by Princeton Retail Analysis, which analyzes sports merchandising, showed that Heat merchandise has sold five times what it did at this point last season.

EPILOGUE

While the Cavs now are viewed with compassion after having their championship hopes drop quicker than James' Q-rating, the Heat has become the league's new reviled franchise destined for perennial contention.

Just days away from the dawning of the post-LeBron Era in Cleveland, the Cavaliers must replace the irreplaceable, and in Miami, the Heat must imagine the unimaginable.

Lost is the hope. Found is LeBron James.