Up Close with the Pittsburgh Sports Report

Cleveland Cavaliers President Len Komoroski

Len Komoroski was named president of the Cleveland Cavaliers in April 2003. He spent the previous seven years as senior vice president and chief of business operations for the Philadelphia Eagles. A 1982 graduate of Duquesne University, Komoroski grew up in Shaler and got his start in sports in 1982 with the Pittsburgh Spirit of the Major Indoor Soccer League, followed by a management role with the Pittsburgh Penguins. PSR's Ray Mernagh caught up with Komoroski during the NBA playoffs and discussed the NBA in Pittsburgh and LeBron James' pending free agency.

PSR: So how's a guy who grew up in Shaler and went to Duquesne become the President of the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Komoroski: Wow that's not a simple question. I was actually back in Pittsburgh recently for the last Penguins regular season game. There was a group of us that got together to honor Paul Martha. Paul ran the arena for many years, ran the Penguins, the Spirit, the Maulers all those teams, and that was where I got my start out of school working at the then-Civic Arena as an intern for the Pittsburgh Spirit.

So I got my start working there and over the years have been in different markets and have had a chance to be a part of what I'd say are very special situations. We had a great group of people working together with the Spirit and also for a time with the Penguins, all the same people. We were like a family under the same roof.

Ultimately I made my way up to Minnesota as part of the start up of the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA back when they didn't have a name a logo or letterhead. We started up that franchise from scratch.

The one pattern that's been consistent throughout my career has been the bigger the challenge the better, whether it be a start up like the Timberwolves or going back to my indoor soccer days. With the Eagles we were building a business that didn't have an infrastructure and went from being 3-13 to having major success.

And the same thing here with the Cavs. We had nowhere to go but up and obviously we were very fortunate that several months after my arrival we won the lottery – not unlike what happened in Pittsburgh with Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. All the growth we've had here, LeBron's certainly been the catalyst as we continue to grow and develop organizationally.

PSR: The Cavs sold out every home game this season. Is there anything specific, besides having a really good team, that's allowed you to sell out every game?

Komoroski: Right now we actually have a 79 game sellout streak in a building that seats 20,562, so it's the third largest building in the league only behind Detroit and Chicago. It's really a credit to our fans that when you look at 79 straight sellouts, that's the equivalent of two full seasons of home games and we keep adding to that streak the more games we play in the playoffs.

PSR: People like to argue that Pittsburgh is not a basketball town. Can you talk about some of the marketing strategies to get people from Pittsburgh interested in the Cavs?

Komoroski: Pittsburgh, first off, is a great sports town. Cleveland is very similar to Pittsburgh in that sports are a very central part of the daily life. It's a part of daily life for Pittsburghers with the Steelers, Penguins or Pirates or Pitt. Western Pennsylvania wasn't really as exposed to the NBA. Growing up we had the ABA with the Pittsburgh Condors and teams like that, but what I will say is Pittsburgh is absolutely a primary market for us.

It's only two hours away. We have a tremendous base of fans that are from the Pittsburgh area. About 10 percent of our individual ticket sales come from western Pennsylvania, and we have a number of season ticket holders who come from the area. Strategically we play a preseason game in Pittsburgh every year and the reason being is because we consider Pittsburgh a part of our region. If you think about it if you're in Pittsburgh even just geographically, and if you're a fan of basketball at a high level, what better team to follow than the Cavs?

For the last number of years we've played our preseason game at the Petersen Events Center and when people suggest Pittsburgh isn't a great basketball town, I would counter by saying we've had great success in Pittsburgh and it continues to grow every year.

It really is about the product. If you can remember before the Petersen Events Center here, Pitt was going from the Fitzgerald Field House, a much smaller building, to this 12,000 plus seat arena and I know a lot of people in Pittsburgh scratched their heads and thought Pittsburgh will never support a team in that large of a building. Now they've sold out and Pittsburgh's viewed as a great college basketball town, so I think all this is relative.

PSR: Will LeBron be back in Cleveland next season?

Komoroski: One thing I will say relative to LeBron is we're both focused on the same thing. Both of our focuses are appropriately on winning a championship, and all our collective efforts organizationally—every player, our ownership, our GM, our coach, everybody—is just focused on winning a championship.

And then... we feel we have one of the best situations to play at in the league with our facilities and our owner, who's willing to invest whatever it takes to be successful. We have a great coach in Mike Brown, and tremendous leadership on the basketball end with Danny Ferry and his team, and what they do, so we think we have a great environment for any player to play in. Its become a positive destination for any player in our league to play and certainly we've had back-to-back seasons with over 60 victories, which is a franchise first for us, and everything just continues to go in a positive direction. So we're excited about the future.