Branson Wright of the Cleveland Plain Dealer speculates that several local and national businessmen could be interested in buying the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Local Cleveland businessman Bart Wolstein said he would be interested in purchasing the Cavs as part of a group of investors. Wolstein, former owner of the Force indoor soccer team, said it's also important for the team to remain in Cleveland.

Other local names that have surfaced include Indians owner Larry Dolan and Peter Lewis. Lewis owns Progressive Insurance. Neither Larry Dolan nor Charles Dolan, chairman of New York-based Cablevision, which owns Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks, returned phone calls. Lewis, through his consultant Jennifer Frutchy, said he wasn't interested in purchasing the Cavs.

John Ferchill, a local developer, said he hasn't had time to show any interest in purchasing the Cavs because of prior commitments.

The national scope on interested parties was brought up earlier in the week by Marc Ganis. Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd., said he knew of at least one party who has shown interest in the Cavs. Ganis, who declined to reveal the identity of the party, said, "He's been [to Cleveland]. He had been a senior executive in the NBA for a long time."
Ganis could be referring to Dave Checketts, former GM with the Knicks and former president of the Utah Jazz.

Checketts' name has been mentioned with several potential team purchases. The latest was when the Orlando Magic was for sale. Checketts put together a group of New York investors who were interested in purchasing the team, but Orlando was taken off the market.

But Ganis' claim could also include former Boston Celtics GM Jan Volk. Volk, M.L. Carr and Larry Bird are part of a group interested in bringing basketball back to Charlotte. The Charlotte Hornets recently relocated to New Orleans.

One of the major concerns for any new owner to move the Cavs is the current lease agreement with the Gateway Economic Development Corp. It was reported by Todd Greathouse, executive director of Gateway, that it would cost $50 million-plus to break the lease. But former executive director, Thomas Chema, said those costs are more like $60 million-plus. It would take that plus a $30 million NBA relocation fee to make a move.