Dan Gilbert
owner, Cleveland Cavaliers; chairman, Quicken Loans Inc.; PRINCIPAL, Rock Ohio Ventures LLC
Dan Gilbert hated those blue seats.
Although barely 10 years old, they made Gund Arena look ancient. When empty, they sucked the life out of crowds. They weren’t
fun. And they no longer matched the reborn image of the wine-and-gold Cavaliers. Those seats weren’t winners.
So, in 2005, the new boss had them ripped out and replaced with vibrant, energetic wine-colored seats. The cost, in the seven figures, didn’t matter.
“Talk to anyone, and they’ll tell you that when they walked into The Q after the change, it felt like it was a whole new arena,” says Len Komoroski, Cavs and Quicken Loans Arena president. “You could feel the energy and atmosphere.”
That drive, not just to entertain Cavs fans but to barrage them with spectacle — 20,562 rally towels, a back-flipping Scream Team, a sling-shot to get T-shirts into the upper bowl — paid off in November when Gilbert asked Ohio voters to approve casino gambling. Four times since 1990, they’d shot down the casino proposals. But with Gilbert as one of two main partners aiming to build and operate the Cleveland and Cincinnati casinos, voters said yes.
“There is no question his star power was very helpful,” says former Cincinnati mayor Charlie Luken, chair of the pro-Issue 3 group.
Luken says Issue 3 wouldn’t have passed without Gilbert behind it. “By his record, he can deliver. He puts his money where his mouth is, and he has that background that gives him instant credibility.”
Gilbert is also a born leader and motivator, Luken says. His adages and “isms” are deeply familiar within the Cavs and Issue 3 organizations. Luken recalls Gilbert e-mailing him about how a wolf’s strength comes from the pack while a pack’s strength comes from the wolf.
“He likes great individual performances but all done within the context of teamwork,” Luken explains.
Cavs General Manager Danny Ferry says Gilbert’s adages — “Obsessed with finding a better way,” “The inches we need are everywhere around us” — speak to Gilbert’s belief that employees will do great things if freed and motivated to do so.
“He challenges you to make decisions,” Ferry says. “Whatever we do, he is right there pushing us and challenging us, but letting us make the decisions and working from there.”
Some sports owners lucky enough to buy a franchise led by a LeBron James might coast, counting on the superstar to carry the team to profitability. Gilbert hasn’t. The Cavs’ offseason moves showed Clevelanders that Gilbert shares their impatience for a championship. When LeBron wasn’t enough, the Cavs traded for Mo Williams. When that wasn’t nearly enough, they traded for
Shaquille O’Neal.
The sense that Gilbert will do whatever it takes to win translated to the gambling issue in November. Casinos can be spectacularly thrilling or dreary letdowns, depending on how much money, bravado and showmanship go into them. Northeast Ohioans turned out to support Issue 3 probably because they can imagine how exciting Dan Gilbert’s casino might be: as fun as a Cavs game, maybe even more.
“This is a very strong vision that Dan presented, about what the casino could mean,” Komoroski says. “He never talked about it as a panacea but as a vital piece of the puzzle. There is a lot of credibility that underlies everything he has done here.”
That’s something Ohio voters are betting on.