The Cavaliers have “quietly inquired whether the Cuyahoga County government would provide" public money to "overhaul the publicly-owned Quicken Loans Arena," according to Andrew Tobias of the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER. The funding would be in addition to the “sin tax dollars voters approved last year.” Gateway Economic Development Corporation BOD Chair Tim Offtermatt, whose non-profit is the landlord for the arena and Progressive Field, said that the team has “not yet presented an official proposal or disclosed the degree of public support they may seek.” Cuyahoga County Exec Armond Budish and the County Council “would have to sign off on any county funding that might go to the project.” The team’s lease runs through ’27, and any deal to change it “would require approval from the Gateway board, the members of which include representatives of the county and Cleveland governments.” If public funding does go to the arena overhaul, public officials “likely would seek concessions from the Cavaliers in exchange” (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/30).
