The courtship of LeBron James blew past "over the top" on the first day, when the New Jersey Nets and their new owner, the Russian billionaire Mickhail Prokhorov, and Jay-Z, the hip-hop titan, drove away from their talks with the NBA superstar and passed the New York Knicks' incoming entourage in a motorcade that included a special lorry just to carry audio-visual equipment.
After lengthy meetings with six clubs over three days, including sessions with captains of industry, Hall of Fame coaches and players, and at least two specially made "episodes" of TV shows James is known to like, plus promises of the maximum salary allowed under NBA rules as well as suggestions of lucrative off-the-court revenue streams, what is known as "The Summer of LeBron" certainly must be the most fevered pursuit of an athlete in the history of professional sport.
Little wonder that James, three days after the last suitors closed the door behind them, seemed to be paralysed by indecision as he pondered his future in his 3,250- square metre manse in suburban Cleveland. How to choose from a half-dozen "can't-lose" propositions? To recap, James is regarded as the greatest basketball player on the planet, as well as its most marketable. Any club that succeeds in signing him to a contract will find themselves in position to begin counting profits and clearing space in their arena's rafters for championship banners, putting aside for a moment the inconvenient fact that James has never played for a championship team. It is assumed he will: soon, and often.
The pursuit of James began on Thursday, and he granted audiences to the Knicks, the Nets, the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Clippers and the hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, his only NBA employers to date. He is not expected to conduct additional talks, though several other clubs would like the chance. He could commit to a team today, tomorrow ... or next month. If James has received "an offer he can't refuse", in the cinematic sense, it would be from the Knicks, who went to the trouble of recruiting the actors James Gandolfini and Edie Falco to reprise their roles as the mobster Tony Soprano and his wife, Carmella, from one of James's favourite TV shows, the gangland-themed series The Sopranos.
According to ESPN.com, the Knicks opened their presentation with video of the actors, in character, in a witness-protection program (and not whacked, as widely hinted in the series' final episode, in 2007), with Tony telling Carmella to find someplace nice for "a friend" to stay in midtown Manhattan. In the clip, that nice place turns out to be Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks play their games.
The Knicks also sold New York, the global media centre widely considered the spiritual home of basketball, if not the home to many particularly successful teams; the Knicks' most recent championship was in 1973, 11 years before James was born. The clubs chasing James believe he can make them champions. But the idea that he can make them even richer should not be discounted. And their unbridled enthusiasm perhaps is best understood in terms of a civic polity chasing a proven economic engine to relocate in their community.
The Cleveland Plain-Dealer estimated that James is worth as much as $US150 million (Dh550m) per season in added business activity in the city's downtown. The newspaper quoted an economist at the University of Illinois who suggested James could bring in even more money to bigger cities, such as New York ($1 billion) and Chicago ($500m). Other clubs marshalled compelling arguments, as well: the Nets and their almost-New York status and new Brooklyn arena; the Heat with the chance to play with another superstar in Dwyane Wade, provided he does not leave.
Or the Bulls their young talent and a legacy of championships (six) with Michael Jordan; the Clippers, a strong player nucleus, their proximity to Hollywood and a potential mega-rivalry with the championship Lakers and Kobe Bryant. The leaders for James's signature might well be Cleveland. Still. The Cavaliers normally would have difficulty recruiting a star to their city, in the heart of the Rust Belt, a place of inclement weather and sports failures.
But the Cavaliers cleverly played to James's competitive nature by hinting at his "unfinished business" with the title-less club and plucked at his heartstrings and attachment to the state of Ohio by mobilising fans to reinforce his importance to the community. At a Fourth of July concert, thousands of fans stood holding signs that read "HOME", meant to remind James of his roots. The Cavaliers also can award James the biggest and longest contract, per NBA rules: some $120m over six years, or $30m more than any other team.
For most players, that would be a critical consideration. But because James aspires to be a "global icon", more than pay packets will be at work as a league awaits his decision. poberjuerge@thenational.ae