Quicken Loans Arena Getting Renovated, Could Play Host to NBA All-Star Game

CLEVELAND, OH - Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, could soon play host to an NBA All-Star Game, cleveland.com is reporting. The team announced that they were renovating the arena today and with after the facelift, the NBA could award the city the prestigious honor of hosting the game.

New Orleans will host this year's event. Los Angeles will host the 2018 game, while Charlotte should have first dibs on the 2019 affair. That would open up a slot for Cleveland in 2020. Wouldn't you know it, cleveland.com is reporting, that the planned renovations for the arena are slated to be completed in 2019.

The Cavaliers expressed an interest in hosting the game during last year's Finals and potentially earlier. However, Commissioner Adam Silver said the team would have to renovate Quicken Loans Arena.

While there's no arguing the publicity that an NBA All-Star Game would bring to Cleveland, there are different accounts of how much money the games generate. For example, after estimates suggested the 2010 NBA All-Star Game would generate millions for the Dallas area, David DuBois, president of the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau, told the Dallas News that "the impact was in the tens of thousands of dollars instead of the estimated $6.56 million."

Notably, the All-Star Game does not require huge outpourings of public spending, a la the Olympics. So there isn't the massive drain on public resources. However, with the NBA more-or-less requiring teams to upgrade their stadiums for a chance to court the league for the game, the price of the upgrades becomes a question. The team is saying that arena renovations will run about $140 million. That price tag is being split between the team and the public, with no new taxes being added on, reports cleveland.com. That means the public's portion of the bill will likely come from existing taxes on arena tickets and taxes on hotel rooms.

The new arena renovations mean the Cavaliers will not bolt the city until at least 2034 and that there will be a concerted effort to bring in more "big name" entertainment acts to fill the arena.

Quicken Loans Arena opened in 1994 and is one of the oldest arenas in the NBA.

Photo from Rick Uldricks, Patch