Blog

On Friday, LeBron James decided to head home to Cleveland.
If you’re a sports fan across the United States, your reaction was probably something like “Wow.  He left Miami.  Good for him and good for Ohio.”  But this is so much bigger than most people realize.
LeBron’s return is going to be a massive economic boost for the state of Ohio.  Revenue from increased ticket sales and spending in downtown Cleveland over the course of an NBA regular season plus playoff games is estimated at $198 million per year.  That’s a lot of money spent in local restaurants, bars, parking garages, hotels, etc. and hundreds of jobs.  You can bet national tv film crews will be spending an awful lot of time in Cleveland.
Then there’s LeBron James himself.  He’s the equivalent of a billion dollar company setting down in Ohio.  His endorsement income alone last season was $53 million, plus his salary will be $20 million in this first year, not including investments.  A lot of that money is going to be pumped directly into the state, even through taxes (yes, he chose to leave Florida which has no state income tax for Ohio which does).
More than any numbers though is this – perhaps the leading athlete and one of the top cultural figures of our time chose to return home to Ohio instead of living in Miami or Los Angeles or New York.
There’s a natural thought that if someone is really rich or famous, they’re somehow immune to things that affect normal people.  Like say, the weather.  LeBron knows exactly what it’s like for the team plane to land in Cleveland in January at am after a road game, step onto an icy tarmac and make his way home through the snow.  He knows there’s no South Beach or waves where he’s going.  He’s trading nightlife for family life, comfort for impact, status for community, joining something for building something.
This isn’t the norm.  I have a couple of friends who were from Cleveland who went to Yale and Penn.  One of them worked in private equity in California and now lives in London.  The other tried unsuccessfully to work for a hedge fund in New York.  Neither of them is a world-famous athlete, obviously.  But this is a region that has far too often seen its young, talented people leave for what seemed like greener pastures.  Imagine living someplace where the goal of your top people seems to be to leave each year, like the point is to escape.
LeBron’s return makes everything better.  He changes the narrative.  And he understands all of this:
”I feel my calling here goes above basketball. I have a responsibility to lead, in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously. My presence can make a difference in Miami, but I think it can mean more where I’m from. I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there’s no better place to grow up. Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get.”
And an echo from a restaurant owner in Cleveland:
“The guy said he didn’t realize what he left. It’s no different than my long-lost brother saying, ‘I miss home and want to come back.’ We talk about the talent drain in Northeast Ohio and now we see the most talented basketball player in the world coming back – it sends a message that, yes, you can come back home.”
Whoever out there thought that people in Cleveland might have mixed feelings about his return doesn’t understand the context.  LeBron’s story says that it’s okay to go someplace else to learn, grow, and achieve.  But it’s also okay to represent something, to fight for your community, and take a bit less money to take a harder road.  It’s okay to raise your kids in Northeast Ohio when you have your pick of anyplace in the world.  It’s a message people have been waiting to hear.
Congratulations to LeBron, Cleveland, the Cavaliers, the people of Northeast Ohio and the whole Midwest.  Excited for our 14 VFA Fellows (including Chris Cusack, everyone’s new best friend) in Cleveland to experience the years ahead!