1. Money. Think the lure of money will trump all these things? Well, in a way, you'd be right. However, it still works in favor of Cleveland.
Unless there are major changes when the collective bargaining agreement with the league is renegotiated in 2010, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be able to offer more money to LeBron James than any other team in the league. Not only that, but there's no reason to believe that they won't offer him as much as possible.
Under the current rules, only the Cavs could potentially offer LeBron a maximum contract of six years. Other teams could only offer a five year contract for a slightly smaller salary per year.
Ah, but what about endorsements? That's where the real money is.
True, and a player like LeBron has the potential to make almost as much in endorsements as he does with his NBA salary. However, this writer would argue that moving to another city would not have any significant effect on the amount of money he gets for endorsements.
LeBron James is a national, dare I say international icon. No matter where he goes, the size of his fan base is not going to change significantly. In fact, from a strictly business perspective, he retains more appeal by sticking with the same team.
Take guys like Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis, or even Shaq for example. If anything, they had less national appeal after switching teams. How often did you ever seen Michael Jordan portrayed commercially as a Washington Wizard?
LeBron James has nothing to gain by taking less salary in order to play for a larger market team, especially not when his current team is selling out the vast majority of their home games.
No, all the important things point to LeBron James staying in Cleveland. He's stated on numerous occasions that he plans to stay a Cavalier for a long time. And why not?
I mean, what's so bad about Cleveland, anyway?
