VOL. 39, NO. 26
JUNE 25 - JULY 1, 2018
Source Lunch
Akron Century-old Firestone Park is getting ready for a rebirth. Page 18
Jason Lloyd, editor in chief, the Athletic Cleveland Page 23
CLEVELAND BUSINESS
SPORTS BUSINESS
Executive search and staffing firms Page 20 HEALTH CARE
UH hitting mark with proton therapy
By KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com @KevinKleps
There’s plenty of irony in Modelo Especial, which became the official beer of the UFC in 2018, choosing Stipe Miocic as the first fighter it would feature in advertisements. Miocic, an Eastlake North High School graduate and a part-time employee of the Valley View Fire Department, has been at odds with the UFC since he became the mixed martial arts organization’s heavyweight champion in 2016. He won his first two title defenses, beginning with UFC 203 at Quicken Loans Arena, via first-round knockouts. Yet the challengers he floored in a combined 189 seconds each received $800,000 salaries — or $200,000 more than Miocic took home prior to any bonus payments. During a January 2017 appearance on The MMA Hour, Miocic said the $200,000 pay difference for a title
By LYDIA COUTRÉ lcoutre@crain.com @LydiaCoutre
Champ has toast-worthy story fight against Alistair Overeem in Miocic’s hometown four months earlier was “terrible” and “not really fair.” Later that year, he told the Los Angeles Times that the UFC promotes “other guys more than me. I don’t talk. They like the talkers — the smack talk, the drama. It’s not what I do, man. I just like to fight.” That mentality appealed to Modelo as it kicked off a UFC partnership that, according to the Sports Business Journal, was in the range of $10 million per year. “Through our knowledge — many folks on my team are fans — we kind of knew about his story even before we inked the deal with the UFC,” said Ann Legan, Modelo’s vice president of brand marketing. “Once that was all done, his name rose to the top of the ones we wanted to work with.”
Mike Roach/ Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
SEE STIPE, PAGE 21
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While some proton therapy centers across the country have reportedly struggled to stay profitable, officials at University Hospitals say they’ve found the “sweet spot” two years after the Cleveland-based health system opened its own $30 million center. UH’s Proton Therapy Center, which saw its first patient in July 2016 and is the only of its kind in the region, serves at least 20 patients a day, which puts the center in a financially healthy position to sustain its $25 million annual budget, said Dr. Ted Teknos, president and scientific director of UH Seidman Cancer Center. “I think we’ve had great success with the proton therapy center here at University Hospitals,” Teknos said. “We’ve set goals, which were relatively modest to begin with, but have certainly increased over time. And we’ve been able to certainly achieve what I’d like to say essentially continued growth in the use of our proton therapy machine servicing the people primarily of Northeast Ohio.” Proton therapy is a form of radiation treatment with unique properties that target a tumor while reducing the effects on surrounding healthy tissue. The therapy has clear indications for treating certain tumors, such as pediatric brain tumors, skull-based tumors and head/neck cancers, Teknos said. Reducing the effects on surrounding healthy tissue is especially important in children and in cancers near vital organs like the heart and brain. There are 28 operating proton therapy centers in the United States, said Scott Warwick, executive director of the National Association for Proton Therapy, a nonprofit trade group that works to educate payers, physicians, patients and policy makers on the clinical benefits of proton therapy. SEE PROTON, PAGE 10
Focus: Small Business << The future of business ownership: ESOPs Page 11 Q&A with Muse Content Group’s Bebenroth Page 14 Tax Tips Page 12