VOL. 37, NO. 42
OCTOBER 17 - 23, 2016
Business of Life
Source Lunch Felton Thomas talks about the importance of libraries. Page 24
Johnnyville is quite the location for fans of mementos. Page 23
CLEVELAND BUSINESS
The List Largest foreign-owned companies. Page 27
By KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com @KevinKleps
T
he Cleveland Indians have had two raucous on-field and locker-room celebrations in the last three weeks. Both occurred on the road — after a Sept. 26 win at Detroit, which clinched the Tribe's first American League Central Division championship since 2007, and on Oct. 10, when the Indians completed a three-game sweep of Boston in the AL Division Series. Entering the AL Championship Series on Friday, Oct. 14, the Indians were eight wins away from the biggest ceremony of all — downtown Cleveland's second championship parade of 2016. The Tribe's business team has had a few reasons to pop the bubbly of late, too. Since the division-clinching victory at Detroit, the Indians' ticketing and digital numbers predictably have soared. From Sept. 26 to Oct. 13, the club's unique users and impressions on Facebook nearly doubled from the previous 18-day stretch, and its shares on the social platform rose 63.1%. The Indians' snarky Twitter account had 44 million impressions from Sept. 26 to Oct. 13, a rise of 58.9% from the previous 18 days. Page views on Indians.com postclinch also almost doubled, and unique visitors increased 66% from the previous 17 days. SEE TRIBE, PAGE 26
SPORTS BUSINESS
Tribe, fans are soaking in success Jason Kipnis sprays celebratory champagne following the Indians’ sweep of the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. (Dan Mendlik/Cleveland Indians)
FOR A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE TRIBE’S SUCCESS, SEE PAGE 26
GOVERNMENT
SPORTS BUSINESS
Key zoning issues up for vote Cleveland’s Veritix By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com @millerjh
The top of the ballot — the presidential race — is sucking up most of the oxygen this election season. But if you live or do business in a handful of Northeast Ohio communities, you may be paying attention to
some things at the bottom of the ticket — zoning issues — that have a direct impact on your life or your business. There are an even dozen zoning issues on the ballot in the seven counties of Northeast Ohio. Some seek modest changes in zoning codes. A Brecksville ballot issue, for example, would allow cluster homes on land now zoned for single-family homes on half-acre lots. Issues in Fairview Park and More-
Entire contents © 2016 by Crain Communications Inc.
land Hills are important but appear headed for passage. But a few are hot-button issues in their communities, and none are hotter than in Solon, in eastern Cuyahoga County. The city has two issues on the ballot next month. And in Solon, that means those developers face what’s called “ward veto.” Traditionally, zoning code changes were handled by a community’s city council, after review by a planning commission. But that has been changing, and now about half of the states, including Ohio, allow communities to put zoning changes on the ballot for voter approval. That means that before allowing a developer to consider turning a piece of land the community has earmarked for single-family homes into, say, condominiums or an office building, it must go before voters. SEE ZONING, PAGE 22
office is key for AXS By KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com @KevinKleps
A lot has changed at Veritix since the digital ticketing company’s merger with AXS was finalized a year ago. Many key leaders have left, including Sam Gerace, who had been the CEO since Veritix was founded as Flash Seats in 2006. All of Veritix’s digital branding now has the more-recognizable AXS name. The changes — considering Los Angeles-based AXS is operated by AEG and has offices in Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, London and Sweden, in addition to L.A. and Cleveland — might seem ominous for the Cleveland branch of Veritix, which had 54 full-time employees as of July 2015, a
month after the merger was announced. That’s anything but the case, AXS CEO Bryan Perez told Crain’s. “That office is one of our technology hubs — Los Angeles and Cleveland,” Perez said. “The team that is there is really core to our ticketing platform operations.” The AXS CEO said that’s because all of the reasons for optimism at the time the deal was struck — marrying AXS’ major-venue access and costumer-focused platforms with Veritix’s paperless ticketing technology and increasing reach in the sports industry — have proven to be true. The L.A. office (AEG has relationships with more than 100 major venues) has the “consumer-facing SEE VERITIX, PAGE 21