Now that LeBron James is back in Cleveland, the Cavaliers have been pushing hard to host a future All-Star Weekend. They’ve put in a bid for the 2018 event, but NBA commissioner Adam Silver says they need to make some unspecified “upgrades” to Quicken Loans Arena before the league can make that happen.
From an interview with Silver by Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group:“They’ve expressed interest in it and we’re waiting for them to get the additional work done on the building,” Silver told Northeast Ohio Media Group during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
The commissioner wouldn’t expound upon the enhancements required to land the event.
...
“We’re very excited about returning to Cleveland at some point for an All-Star game,” Silver said. “We know [Cavaliers’ owner] Dan Gilbert would very much like it to happen and I think it’s just a function of when. Making sure that the timing is right in terms of the upgrades to the building.”
Next year, All-Star Weekend will be hosted in Toronto. Beyond that, the league hasn’t committed to any cities for future weekends. Portland, Charlotte and Cleveland are known to have bids in for the 2017 and 2018 events. Portland, which has never hosted All-Star Weekend, has been held up by the lack of a central hotel big enough to host all of the league’s personnel that would be traveling for the event. Silver’s comments about the Cavs’ arena are his way of applying pressure to Dan Gilbert to make upgrades, likely in the technological area, as growth in that realm has been a huge focus for him since taking over as commissioner last season.
It’s unknown when the league is going to announce the host cities for the 2017 and 2018 All-Star festivities, but it should be sometime in the next few months.