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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: REBECCA R. MARKOVITZ; DOLLAR: FOTOLIA; MANZIEL, NFL LOGO: GETTY IMAGES
Fed’s cuts are adding concern at NASA Glenn Local officials and union leaders worry job losses are next By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
HE’S THE MONEY MAN Manziel mania has been a huge boon to Browns and many others since NFL draft By KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com
fter Johnny Manziel was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday, May 8, he strode across the stage at Radio City Music Hall with both hands raised. It wasn’t a triumphant pose. Instead, it was Manziel’s trademark money gesture — the quarterback rubbing his fingers together in a move popularized by rapper Drake. That image — Manziel the money-maker — appeared on a regional cover of the May 19 issue of Sports Illustrated, and it might as well be a sign for the Browns and many businesses in Northeast Ohio. A cash cow has arrived. By Monday afternoon, May 12, the Browns had
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sold 3,000 season tickets since the selection of Manziel. His No. 2 Browns jersey was the top seller on NFLShop.com since April 1, topping the likes of Super Bowl champion quarterback Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning, the league’s most popular pitchman. For impatient fans who didn’t want to wait four to six weeks for a jersey to arrive in the mail, the Cleveland Browns’ team shop at FirstEnergy Stadium has been churning out Manziel gear at a frenetic pace — until it ran out of the synthetic material used to press Manziel’s No. 2 onto a Browns Nike top. The Manziel phenomenon is so widespread that Ken Ungar, president of U/S Sports Advisors, an Indianapolis-based sports and entertainment marketing agency, compares the rookie QB not to the Denver Broncos’ Manning or the New Eng-
land Patriots’ Tom Brady, but to Joe Namath — aka “Broadway Joe.” “(Manziel) is the type of personality that can not only transcend football, but be the link to sports and entertainment, which Namath was,” Ungar said. “If you look at what Manziel has done so far, he’s trending a similar path to Namath.”
Browns’ business is ‘winning’ The Browns have been quick to pump the brakes on the runaway publicity train that is Johnny Football. Team owner Jimmy Haslam told a packed house at a Pro Football Hall of Fame luncheon in Canton that Manziel “is the backup” QB to Brian Hoyer, and the Browns were criticized by some in the national media last week for limiting access to a rookie minicamp held in Berea. See MONEY Page 20
A series of budget cuts has wounded NASA Glenn Research Center at a particularly bad time. The cuts have stopped NASA Glenn from pumping tens of millions of dollars into two big high-tech projects — projects that could help protect the center at a time when the broader federal agency is looking to jettison resources it doesn’t need. In response, local officials are trying to help NASA Glenn win federal funding for at least one of those space technology projects. Because without that money, there’s a real risk that more work could be moved from NASA Glenn to larger NASA centers in other states, according to officials from the Greater Cleveland Partnership and the union representing scientists and engineers at NASA Glenn. That’s bad news for the center’s 3,300 employees and contractors, given how many other costs NASA Glenn already has cut in recent years, according to Nick Gattozzi, vice president of government advocacy at the Greater Cleveland Partnership, which is the region’s chamber of commerce. See NASA Page 6
INSIDE: NASA Glenn hasn’t received nearly as much research funding as the White House wanted. Page 6
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REAL ESTATE
ALMOST THERE Long-awaited final phase of the Four Seasons complex in Beachwood nears completion ■ Page 5
Entire contents © 2014 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 35, No. 20