Lebron James Return Case Study

LeBron James returning to Cleveland has financially affected the team by causing increases in player expenses. Payer expenses is the amount of money a team is currently using as payroll for players. In the 2010-2011 season, the first year after James left the Cavaliers, the Cavaliers’ player expenses were still high at $90 million but dropped to $58 million the next season. The player expenses fell to $57 million for the next season because the Cavaliers had no players who deserved to be payed a maximum contract, they had no players who deserved to be making a lot of money. During the 2013-2014 season, the last before James’ return, the player expenses were at $72 million, an increase but still a very low number. James return vastly increased

The increase of ticket price has contributed to the Cavaliers’ increase in revenue. LeBron returning has made the team better, resulting in more people wanting to attend the home games. With more people wanting to attend the games, the organization raised the ticket price in order to make more money, and they have. Another contributor to the increase in revenue is merchandise sales. For the 2013-2014 season, the last before James’ return, the Cavaliers were outside of the top ten in the NBA in team merchandise sales (“James”). However in the first season after James’ return, the Cavaliers were ranked number two in the NBA in total team merchandise sales while LeBron James’ jersey was the number one selling jersey in the league (“LeBron”, NBA). In the 2015-2016 season, the Cavaliers were again one of the highest in the league in total merchandise sales, ranking third, while James’ jersey ranked second in total jersey sales (“Curry”). This jump in merchandise sales made the Cavaliers a lot of money, and the sales of James’ jerseys made up a good amount of it. LeBron James returning to Cleveland largely increased the revenue of the Cavaliers, thus increasing the value of the