To justify the cash they spent on courting James, some cities even released economic studies that made grand (and at times bizarre) claims as to how much the baller of all ballers could stimulate each city's local economy.
Crain's Chicago Business claimed that Lebron could bring $2 billion to the windy city, and And in this nifty PowerPoint presentation the Knicks (via marketing consultant Interbrand) went to great lengths to project James' potential long-term earnings in New York as compared to other cities.
After the decision, Forbes.com's sports blog broke down the cash consequences that a Lebron-ified team would have had for the Heat, the Cavaliers, and the Knicks, respectively. One of the most interesting points Forbes' Patrick Rishe noted was the difference in ticket prices that was observed for the various teams before and after James' final decision: after Lebron signed, Miami Heat season tickets on the secondary market increased from $3200 to $8200 overnight; meanwhile, Cavs season tickets are now averaging $935, about 1/3 of what they were with LeBron. Most interestingly, the day before the announcement, average Knicks season ticket prices had jumped up 33% just on speculation that LeBron would sign with the Knicks. How bout that New York cockiness?
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