Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert today promised he would never move the team from Cleveland. The statement comes after Gilbert scrapped plans for a $140 million renovation of Quicken Loans Arena, after petitioners sought to put city funding for the effort to a public vote.
The final details of a potential deal may yet be revealed, but the specter of a Cleveland sports franchise potentially leaving has an effect. After all, it happened before. I spoke about the psychological effects on fans with , an associate professor of psychology at the University of Akron.
BISCONTI: 鈥淚 think what鈥檚 interesting about being a Cleveland fan of any of the three sports, quite honestly, is there鈥檚 been, as you know, a bit of resilience and skepticism in all of us. I think even when the Cavs won the title I think we still expected that we are somehow going to lose our team, or lose LeBron, or now we鈥檝e lost Kyrie鈥 think we鈥檙e always waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I think for Cleveland folks that鈥檚 pretty common. Now when you add something big, even bigger than a typical trade, or even bigger than perhaps losing, I think it beats us down even more. But given that we鈥檙e used to lots of adversity I think we鈥檙e still probably going to be resilient.鈥�
GANZER: 鈥淣ow that being said I did take a very brief poll before interviewing you about 鈥楾he Move,鈥� the so-called Move with Art Modell moving the Browns to Baltimore. It鈥檚 still painful, and I think a lot of people still have that in the back of their heads that we鈥檝e experienced a franchise moving. It鈥檚 a real possibility, and not just talk.鈥�
BISCONTI: 鈥淵eah, I absolutely agree with that. And I think for individuals who are die-hard Browns fans鈥攚hich obviously above everything else we鈥檙e a football city鈥擨 think you鈥檙e going to see individuals roll their eyes, throw their hands in the air, and blame the whole world for conspiring against Cleveland. And I think the Browns move was incredibly hard, and I think that鈥檚 probably why Cleveland folks are so sports-orientedly cynical is largely due to not only the Browns move, but then how well Baltimore did with what was largely our team.鈥�
GANZER: 鈥淥f course鈥攊s this taking years off our life by worrying about this?鈥�
BISCONTI: 鈥�*laughs* I hope not. But it depends. I think with anything, in psychology, we would say regardless of what it is鈥攚hether you highly identify with being a mom, whether you highly identify with being a garbage man, whether you highly identify with being a teacher, whether it鈥檚 a sport, occupation, being a parent鈥攊f your highest identification is to be a Cavs fan, if it鈥檚 what you think about during the day, plan your days around, then yeah that stress level, and your cortisol level is going to be super high when you even hear these rumors. It鈥檚 going to bother you, you wake up in the morning that鈥檚 what you hear, that鈥檚 what you look at, is the sports news. If you鈥檙e not that, if you鈥檙e a fan, but not to the extent that you build your life around it, it鈥檚 probably not going to take years off your life. It will just add to the cynicism.鈥�
GANZER: 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 plenty of that.鈥�
BISCONTI: 鈥淭here really is.鈥�
GANZER: 鈥淚s there anything else you think we should keep in mind as we wait to see what the next twist or turn in Cleveland sports is?鈥�
BISCONTI:鈥淵eah, I think what people do is always鈥擨 think this is everywhere鈥攚e focus on the negative. I drive to work, if I hit every red light, I鈥檓 going to notice I hit every red light. But on the days that I hit every green light, I don鈥檛 notice. So I think that鈥檚 what we should do with sports. Right now we鈥檙e on a seven game winning streak with the Tribe, let鈥檚 focus on that. It鈥檚 not even basketball season right now. Let鈥檚 try to focus on what we鈥檙e doing right, instead of the hysteria on what might go wrong.鈥�
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