Revenue for the Cleveland Cavaliers increased by $67 million last season in LeBron James' first year back with the franchise while player salaries increased by just $15.2 million.
Dan Gilbert and the Cavaliers will see salaries increase dramatically for the 15-16 season as will their luxury tax bill.
A year earlier, Gilbert, Indians' owner Larry Dolan and Browns' owner Jimmy Haslam worked to push through a countywide referendum on a "sin tax" on cigarettes, beer and liquor.
Over the next 20 years, taxpayers in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County will sluice $262 million into improvements for the city’s arenas and stadiums. This straitened city has already pumped $800 million into its sports stadiums.
There was an anti-sin-tax campaign that suggested a $3 surcharge on sports tickets.
“Proposing to punish Cuyahoga County families and sports fans by imposing a new, large ticket tax to pay for major repairs,” the owners complained in a news release, “is terribly flawed.”
The Cavaliers will raise ticket prices 15 percent next year, which is the first increase in five years.