Quicken Loans Arena, the home of the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers, is about to get a $140 million facelift.
Cleveland Cavaliers’ Quicken Loans Arena Renovation Plans Announced
The plans include adding public gathering spaces and completely resurfacing the front of the arena with glass panels, according to the Associated Press. An official web site devoted to the renovation project adds expanded concourses and entry spaces, dining options and fan zones to that list.
The $140 million cost will be split evenly between the county and the team. The county’s $70 million will come from an increase on sales tax at “The Q,” an added tax on admission to events at the arena, part of the existing bed tax and funds from the County Destination Facility Reserve.
In exchange for the county bearing half of the cost of the arena’s renovations, the Cavaliers have agreed to extend their existing lease through 2034, which will give the team four decades in the facility. The Cavaliers first began playing their home games in what was then called the Gund Arena in 1994.
Another selling point for the city was the promise of hosting an NBA All-Star Game, which Cleveland hasn’t done since 1997. Cavaliers’ CEO Len Komoroski has gone on the record saying that the league has promised the franchise an All-Star game if they could get the desired stadium renovations. While it’s uncertain right now if the current renovation plans fit all the league’s desires, it’s hard to imagine the Cavaliers signing off on a plan that didn’t fit that bill.
The renovations are slated to begin after the current season and be finished in time for the 2020-21 season, operating while the arena is in use. In just a few years, fans in Cleveland will no longer have to watch their team play its home games in one of the NBA’s most antiquated facilities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicken_Loans_Arena
