Cities are falling over themselves to try to convince basketball superstar Lebron James that he should pick their NBA franchise as his new team.
Next American City looks at the various efforts cities and officials are putting out to try to lure Lebron.
"At the head of this pack seeking to draw James is New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg recently cut 'C'mon Lebron' 'a youtube video appealing to James to c'mon and 'write the next chapter in NYC basketball history.' Bloomberg's video looks like a pro-forma promotional video produced by the local chamber of commerce. That is until he drops this gem: 'As the good book says, lead us to the promised land. And that's a quote from the King James version.'
This savior analogy is taken a step further by officials in James' home state where Governor Ted Strickland recently banded together with cast of notable Ohio figures to record 'We Are Lebron,' a parody of the various 'We Are The World' efforts, in which Ohio officials are bizarrely found referring to James as 'King' (i.e. 'Just tell us King what changes we must make')."
FULL STORY: Cities to Lebron: “We Need You”
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research