Will Cleveland Real Estate Go Down If Lebron Leaves Again?

[Grant Rothenburger]

Not sure how many of you BP'ers follow the NBA so here is a quick background and look into what could happen:

Lebron James plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He left them in 2010 to go to Miami. When he left, I remember hearing and reading about how much the local economy suffered in Cleveland. When he went back in 2014, I started hearing about how well the economy is doing now that he's back.

So two things:

1. For people who lived in Cleveland when he left; was the decline in the economy bad? I remember reading articles that painted a terrible picture back then. Now I read this one: https://www.vox.com/2017/6/1/15724252/lebron-james... that basically says him being in Cleveland helps jobs within a couple miles of the stadium, and further out had no effect at all.

2. If he leaves again, will it have the same impact, better, worse, or no impact?

I know right now Cleveland is HOTTT!! I'm curious if Lebron is fueling that growth in any way, and if him leaving will hurt the Cleveland real estate market. What do you all think?

[Caleb Heimsoth]

@Grant Rothenburger I buy in Cleveland and I am a huge NBA nerd, specifically fan of Lebron.  Not sure when he left but when he came back I know I read about it having a 500M economic effect. 

So it’s a lot, but I think Cleveland is large enough (area has over 2M residents) that unless you’re near the stadium I don’t think it would have a huge effect.  

For what it’s worth, I expect him to leave again.  Not saying to let that influence you, but If I was a betting man that’s what I’d guess.

[Grant Rothenburger]

@Caleb Heimsoth I'm also a die hard Lebron fan. I'd also bet he's leaving and landing in Philly or LA.

[Aaron Howell]

Who's Lebron ?

[Grant Rothenburger]

Originally posted by @Aaron Howell:

Who's Lebron ?

 See I knew someone would do it. Good thing I answered that in the original post! :)

[Federico Gutierrez]

Highly doubt it, there will always be Cali and East coast investors looking to park their money in areas where they can out preform their local market and Cleveland is one of them.

[Kevin Manz]

@Romeo Travis

[Elbert D.]

Lebron????? You mean Kobe? Lol just kidding. I’m a big NBA fan. And I absolutely know for sure he’s having a big effect on Cleveland economy. I also think he’s going leave again. But I think he will leave because he knows that’s going drop the value of the team. This when he retires he’s going buy partial ownership or collaborate with someone and Buy the entire team. 

[Jay Hinrichs]

when Joe Montana left SF for  KC  real estate doubled in SF and he came back and turned into a vintner and uber developer.. 

I think there is some fans that will tune out and that will trickle down.. when teams are bad they dont fill the seats.. when they are good everyone is on the band wagon.

this is the big question with Raiders coming to Vegas .. 

but Portland has but one professional team.. Cleveland has 3 or 4.. you have hockey right ??? dont really know

and Blazers affect the real estate market like 0 %  .. other than the few players that buy maybe 5 or 6 multi million dollar homes.. 

I think more important to a city is where they place the stadiums.. look what pac Bell park did to south of market in SF... well and along with google uber and few other little companies.. :)

but those in town baseball stadiums for sure create dollars for local economy on game day.  and with baseball and B ball having 41 and 82 games respectively  location of stadium i think is important.

[Max T.]

Originally posted by @Grant Rothenburger:

@Caleb Heimsoth I'm also a die hard Lebron fan. I'd also bet he's leaving and landing in Philly or LA.

 Sixers are going to the finals this year without him :) . Not sure we want or need Lebron at this point. Trust the process!

[Grant Rothenburger]

@Max T. 

I don't love this team, and I give Philly a chance to come out of the east. But I'm not counting Lebron out until he's out! Philly does look good though. Do you think they beat the Warriors (healthy) or Rockets without Lebron?

[Caleb Heimsoth]

No team coming out of the east bears a healthy golden state or rockets team. I can guarantee you that lol.