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Cavs’ local TV home is also a hot ticket Fox Sports Ohio is heading into 2014-15 season having already sold all but 5% of its ad inventory By KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com
FOR MORE RNC COVERAGE, SEE THE SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE THIS ISSUE Pages 21-25
WE’RE FEELING HOSPITABLE Local businesses are gearing up for potential windfall By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
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Dale Fellows is chairman of the Lake County Republican Party. He has been a delegate to several recent presidential nominating conventions. He’s been among the delegates on the floor waving signs for their favorite candidates, seen the signs in the stands and in the hands of the opposition outside the convention hall and at the hotels. It turns out he could have written those trips off as business intelligence gathering. You see, Fellows is the owner of Cleveland’s Morgan Litho — “Big or small, we print it all,” the tagline goes — and he’s eager to put his business to work for the
See RNC, page 26
Caterers for food Event producers and media companies for audiovisual equipment, lighting and staging Exhibit builders for convention booths and stages, event decor Employment services for temporary help Entertainers and DJs to liven up events Florists for dressing events with plants and floral displays and for gift baskets Lawyers for contract review Limousine services for transportation Meeting planners for one-stop service Photographers to document events Printers for signs, placards, posters Rental companies for tents, tables, chairs and bunting Telecommunications services for temporary phone and networks services Valet parking services for events Venues for special events
Ratings juggernaut The Cavaliers’ three preseason games at Quicken Loans Arena all drew more than 19,000 fans, as did their sellout contest against the Chicago Bulls in Columbus on Oct. 20. Those numbers are 3,000 to 4,000 ahead of the team’s attendance norms for the See TV, page 29
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Republican National Committee and the road show it will bring with it when the convention comes to Cleveland in the summer of 2016. “We’re hoping to help, whatever their printing needs, whether it is the RNC or companies coming or the different state delegations,” he said. “It really is a oncein-a-lifetime-type thing.” From his experience at previous conventions, he’s figuring out the opportunities for his business, which is on the eastern edge of downtown on Commerce Avenue. “The placards for sure, the handheld placards, we could easily print them on a quick turnaround and get them over to the convention center,” he said. “We feel we’re perfectly suited logistics-wise and knowledge-wise.”
Opportunities knock for ...
Fox Sports Ohio isn’t joining the Cleveland Cavaliers in revamping its roster, but the NBA team’s local TV home since 1989 is rapidly running out of advertising inventory. Fox Sports Ohio is on pace to sell 95% of its ad inventory by the start of its first regular-season broadcast — the Cavs’ second game of the season, Friday, Oct. 31, at the Chicago Bulls. Francois McGillicuddy, the general manager and senior vice president of the Broadview Heights-based arm of Fox’s vast regional sports umbrella, told Crain’s the network is “way ahead” of its pace from previous seasons. “The demand for Cavs inventory started earlier than we’ve seen in the past,” McGillicuddy said. “There is a strong interest from a variety of categories — the auto industry, fast food, retail — and it’s a great combination of local and national (companies). We’ve never been at this sellout level this early.” The sellout theme is a common one for any product associated with the Cavs, who reached their selfimposed cap of a little more than 12,000 season tickets fewer than eight hours after LeBron James announced his return on July 11. The Cavs, Las Vegas’ prohibitive choice to win the franchise’s first championship, open the season Thursday, Oct. 30, against the New York Knicks in a game that will be exclusively broadcast by TNT. The next night, Fox Sports Ohio gets into the act. By then, almost every ad, including those associated with pregame and postgame shows, and ancillary broadcasts such as “Cavaliers in the Paint,” will have been sold. McGillicuddy said because James’ comeback is “a story that transcends sports,” the anticipation for the season has carried over to companies that want to be associated with Cavs programming. “That’s part of what’s driving this,” he said. “It appeals to businesses of all kinds. Everyone can understand the pull of coming home.”
REAL ESTATE
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Entire contents © 2014 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 35, No. 43