D. Wade takes a shot at Cleveland

[ballerblogger]

But if Wade can maintain the otherworldly level he re-attained in the Olympics, who's to say Donnie Walsh wouldn't look at No. 3 and No. 23 in two years and choose the smaller number?

"First of all, No. 23 is 23 years old," Wade said. "He's young. He's very young. He's one of the best players in the game and you only could see him getting better. I'm in a good market in Miami. He's not in a good market in Cleveland, marketing-wise, so it just makes sense that everyone wants to see one of the best players in one of the best markets.

"Kobe's in one of the best markets already in L.A. Everybody wants LeBron in a great market, and that's why they already put him in a New York jersey. It's going to be a lot to decide for him. So I just get all the attention off me and throw it on him, so it's easy."

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/ny-spberger0919,0,6620445.column

[L&H_05]

The man is a genius....

[Rise Against]

Star Jones FTL.

[rjgraca]

Yeah, Wade is a genius with a taste for Star Jones?

Isn't it wonderful

how "everybody" doesn't include Cavaliers fans, friends and members of James' family who like the idea of the hometown hero being home? And maybe, just maybe, James likes it here.

If James is in

such a lousy market, why did he rank No. 3 among all athletes with more than $25 million in endorsements for 2007? According to Forbes magazine, Tiger Woods ($100 million) was tops, next came Phil Mickelson ($47 million), then James. The next player from a team sport was Bryant at No. 6 with $16 million. Wade ranked 10th. It's more than the market, it's the player.


http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plainde ... xml&coll=2

Dwyane, Please Shut Up

So Dwyane, is that why LeBron still managed to rake in the 3rd most amount of endorsement money amongst all of professional athletes last year? He made around $25 million last year in endorsements alone. That was $9 million more than Kobe Bryant. That Kobe Bryant is in one of the, supposedly, best marketing cities in the U.S., yet he still didn’t manage to pull off more endorsement money than LeBron did in a “crappy” market town.

Shut your pothole, Wade.


http://mvn.com/nba-cavaliers/2008/09/21 ... is-enough/

[cavsfan_osiris]

Wade did not take a shot at Cleveland he simply stated it's not a big market. He just stated the obvious.

[TheOUTLAW]

Well, not entirely. I don't really think saying that Cleveland is not a big market is an insult. But when you state that Miami is a big market, then you are talking about something entirely different than market size (since both markets are basically the same size (although Cleveland's market is both younger and poorer).

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

Well, not entirely. I don't really think saying that Cleveland is not a big market is an insult. But when you state that Miami is a big market, then you are talking about something entirely different than market size (since both markets are basically the same size (although Cleveland's market is both younger and poorer).

Miami and Cleveland aren't exactly the same size.

Miami metro is 5.5M people. Cleveland has 2M. That's quite a bit of a difference.

[TheOUTLAW]

That is quite a big difference, but then I haven't seen anything saying that Miami's market is that large. Of course, I could be wrong, especially since the concept of a metropolitan area is completely subjective.

[oikosnomos]

They are the same.

http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack ... by_dma.asp

I don't know where 5.5 million came from, but we are if we talking about media influence, than Cleveland/Akron and Miami/Ft. Lauderdale reach almost the exact same amount of people.

[TheOUTLAW]

I did run into something else that said that Miami's metro area was around 4.8 while Clevelands was at 2.9. Of course, it does completely change depending on what you consider part of each cities metropolitan area is.

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

They are the same.

http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack ... by_dma.asp

I don't know where 5.5 million came from, but we are if we talking about media influence, than Cleveland/Akron and Miami/Ft. Lauderdale reach almost the exact same amount of people.

TV markets are much smaller than metro areas by size. And they don't tell the whole picture of a city's population. For example, the Raleigh-Durham TV market is the same as San Diego. But the San Diego metro area has 3 times as many people and supports MLB and NFL teams. They aren't comparable markets despite similar TV market sizes.

People from Tacoma for example aren't as likely to drive to Sonics games. But that doesn't mean a majority of those people don't identity with the team and its players, and can't be influenced by marketing centered around the Sonics players.

And here are the metro area numbers:
http://www.census.gov/popest/metro/CBSA ... nnual.html

[TheOUTLAW]

That is why metro areas are so subjective. The actual area for the Cavs could be much larger since there really is no competition within Ohio. They do in fact show the games in Cincinnati (where I live). And it is fact that the Cavs actually have been making more money annually than the Heat. Miami teams have often been known by their lack of attendance regardless of how the team is doing.

[Icness]

I think Wade might be a little envious of Lebron. Wade plays in "sexy" Miami, is pretty close to as talented as King James when he's not hurt (which is rare), has a title already, but Lebron gets a lot more endorsement $$$ and respect/love. Everyone talks about Lebron hitting the market that summer, but Wade does too. Wade's even real good in those ads he's done and he was great on Regis the other day, so I can understand his frustration a little.

As far as markets, Miami has to have the least desirable sports demographics of any locale in the top 50 markets. They're either old people, recent Hispanic (largely Cuban) immigrants, and the largest gay mecca this side of San Francisco. They had 432 people show up for a baseball game and the Heat struggle to fill half their arena even when they're good. So I wouldn't put Miami as a more desirable city to play in. Live in, absolutely. Play in, not so much.

[tjm384]

[old skool]

I think that Wade was talking more about how the buzz over Lebron's pending free agency has taken the spotlight off of him.

I don't think that the NBA stars are personally that astute when it comes to evaluating media markets. I think that a lot of the opinions they offer come from agents. Agents are constantly assessing the opportunities in various markets for various types of talents. I don't see any of that as a knock on Cleveland.

oLd sKool

[bossman23]

i wonder if that is a sign of d-wade not coming to join lebron in cleveland?

[L&H_05]

i wonder if that is a sign of d-wade not coming to join lebron in cleveland?

I hope not....