Why Leave Cleveland if Your LeBron?

As LeBron James continues to establish himself as the numero uno player in the NBA, he also continues to get a lot out of his teammates. There is no question that Head Coach Mike Brown deserves a lot of credit also.

Although I would like to say that I think the media downplays the Cavaliers roster. They are not a roster of Hall of Famers or a line up of All Stars, but they do have a group of talented role players who understand what they need to do.

All of this brings us to a team that has a chance to contend for an NBA title for at least a few years to come. At the same time there is an underlying story that have many media reports and rumors convinced that LeBron is headed to New York, particularly the Knicks, when his contract is finished.

The logic for this decision is that LeBron will have more opportuniy to capitalize on his fame. Suggesting that endorsements are more plentiful in a media mecca and a large city market. Is that the case?

Well I grew up in Philadelphia and I can tell you that there are probably more local businesses in a major metro region that have the resources to woo a local professional athlete. But the days of needing to be in NYC, LA, Philly, Chicago, or even Dallas and Boston to have endorsement potential are long gone.

The top ten athletes pulling down advertisement dollars in 2008 were Tiger Woods who lives in Orlando, Phil Mickelson who lives in San Diego, LeBron James who lives in Ohio, Michelle Wie who lives in Hawaii, Dale Earnhardt Jr who lives in North Carolina, Kobe Bryant who does live in LA, Shaquille O'Neal who lives in Phoenix and Orlando, Peyton Manning who lives in Indianapolis, and Dwayne Wade who lives in Miami.  

Then consider athletes like Brett Favre who made mega bucks in Green Bay, John Elway in Denver, Jerry Rice and Joe Montana in San Francisco to name a few. And of course you have people who did cash in while living in Major cities.

My point is LeBron is already #3 on the endorsement list while living and playing in Cleveland. He has clearly transcended beyond the NBA. And now that the Cavaliers are relevant why move to New York?

Right now he is Cleveland. In New York he would compete with the Yankees and the established stars already there from teh Yankees and the other NY teams. He would have to deal with an aggressive and critical media when in Cleveland he can do no wrong. And he has nothing to prove that he can't prove in Cleveland. And he will make the same money in Cleveland that he would anywhere else.

In fact I would be more impressed if he reeled off a few NBA Titles in Cleveland rather then in New York. Frankly the whole New York thing is an old cliche. It is a mind set that some in the media didn't notice was left in the past years ago.  I mean does anyone really think that he could become any larger than life than he already is and is going to be in Cleveland? This is a guy who could be Internationally famous and play in Des Moines, Iowa or Butte, Montana for crying out loud.

Hey LeBron, stay home my man. Give Cleveland and Ohio a big time star and keep feeding the local economy. And show the future generation you can reach the summit from any where if you are really that good.