by Ryan Isley
With the opening of the new Horseshoe Casino in downtown Cleveland this week, Dan Gilbert is getting plenty of credit and love for finally bringing a casino to Ohio. Admittedly I have yet to go to the casino, as I will be waiting a month or so before making my maiden voyage to the new attraction.
While the attention to Gilbert is definitely deserved, there are other people that need to be given some credit as well. Some have been mentioned, but others – like the four I will discuss – have not seemed to be talked about at all with the buzz surrounding Cleveland’s newest attraction.
The first three people who deserve some credit for the city of Cleveland getting a casino are all sort of intertwined together in the big picture of things. They are former Cleveland Mayor Michael White, former Cleveland Indians owner Richard Jacobs and former Cleveland Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund.
White’s predecessor George Voinovich was looking for ways to finance a new domed stadium, but was unable to do so. When White was elected in the 1989 election, he joined a group who partnered with Cleveland Tomorrow. The group proposed the 15-year sin tax for Cuyahoga County that was passed on in May, 1990.
The tax was responsible for financing a large portion of the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex where Quicken Loans Arena (formerly Gund Arena) and Progressive Field (formerly Jacobs Field) are located. Quicken Loans Arena is home to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Gladiators and Lake Erie Monsters and is also used as a concert and event venue in downtown Cleveland. Progressive Field is home of the Cleveland Indians.
While the sin tax paid for a large portion, Jacobs and Gund also chipped in to help the building of the complex and moved their teams into the new downtown facilities.
Jacobs agreed to finance 52% ($91 million) of the baseball stadium and also purchased the naming rights for $13.9 million and named it Jacobs Field. Gund spent $14 million to purchase the naming rights to name the arena Gund Arena, with that money going towards the financing of the new arena.
Not only did the two owners contribute money to the new complex, they both also signed a lease to bring their teams into the new facilities. Gund signed a 30-year lease for the Cavaliers, while Jacobs inked a 20-year lease for the Indians.
Without the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex and two owners who were willing to spend money and move their teams into downtown Cleveland, there is the possibility that there would not be an NBA or MLB team in Cleveland. The Indians could have easily moved to a location such as Tampa Bay and the Cavaliers could have moved to a number of cities or just remained in Richfield.
Other than the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex, there were other renovations to downtown Cleveland while White was in office, most notably the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Great Lakes Science Center and the building of the new Cleveland Browns Stadium. Add those venues to the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex and Cleveland became more of a tourist attraction under White’s watch.
Without the Indians and the Cavaliers in downtown, along with those other tourist attractions, there would not have been as much built up in the downtown area – such as the restaurants, bars, clubs and hotels. Without the growth of the downtown area, there is no casino.
The fourth person that deserves some credit from those who are in favor of the casino is a person that most Clevelanders have spoken ill of for the last almost two years.
Yes, I am talking about LeBron James.
While you are sitting there thinking about how stupid it is for LeBron to have anything to do with Gilbert opening the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland, you need to think back to when Gilbert bought the Cavaliers from Gund.
It was January, 2005 and LeBron was in the middle of his second season in the NBA. Everyone – including Gilbert – knew that having a player like LeBron was gold for the value of the franchise. Having LeBron this early in his career, it was obvious that the value of the team was going to continue to climb and would be profitable for anyone who purchased the franchise.
According to Forbes, the value of the Cavaliers in 2002 (the year before Lebron was drafted) was $222 million and the team was sold to Gilbert for a reported $375 million just three years later. In 2009 – the season before LeBron left – the Cavaliers were worth $476 million according to Forbes. That is a 114% increase in value from the season before LeBron was drafted.
Gilbert even acknowledged when the purchase was announced that having LeBron on the Cavaliers made them a much more attractive team to purchase at the time. Despite what Gilbert may have written or said about LeBron since the former Cavaliers superstar left, Gilbert knew exactly how powerful LeBron was for his franchise.
So if the Cavaliers don’t get lucky in the 2003 NBA Draft Lottery and land LeBron, does Gilbert even buy the Cavaliers? It is a question that needs to be asked.
I would think that popular opinion would be that Gilbert would have no interest in buying the Cavaliers without LeBron James on the team. There would be no reason for Gilbert to buy into a Cleveland team, as most of his ventures are in Michigan – namely in Detroit. He was born in Detroit and is an alum of Michigan State University.
If the answer to the question is indeed ‘no’, then it is easy to see that without Gilbert buying the Cavaliers, there would be no casino in downtown Cleveland right now – at least not one owned by Gilbert. He would not have any ties to the city and could build a casino wherever he wanted. If he wanted to build one in Ohio, he could have went with the Toledo casino – much closer to his hometown.
So without owning the Cavaliers, Gilbert doesn’t build a casino in Cleveland. And without LeBron, Gilbert most likely isn’t the owner of the Cavaliers. Therefore, LeBron deserves a pat on the back for the opening of the new casino that is just down the street from where a gigantic mural of him once hung.
Again, Gilbert deserves the praise that has been bestowed upon him for opening the Horseshoe Casino. But as you are thanking Gilbert, always remember that there were people before him that made this possible as well.
What do you think – Should White, Gund, Jacobs and LeBron be given some praise for the Horsehoe Casino? Or does all of the praise belong to Gilbert? Leave a comment or email Ryan at ryan@morethanafan.net