What if George Steinbrenner had owned the sports franchises in Cleveland? This certainly could have happenned as his father made his fortune in this city.

That is quite a question. What if George did own teams like the Cleveland Browns, The Cavaliers and or the Indians?

What would their success rate be? Pretty good I would think, though the Yankees had some pretty bad years in the late 80’s early 90’s they had the right staff in place that let them win all those titles later in the decade.

How many NFL Championships would they have won? I would bet on at least 3. George would have turned that franchise into America’s Team similar to the Cowboys. With such great fans and great ownership the Browns would have made it to the top of the mountain led by QB Bernie Kosar

Would the Browns have moved out of Cleveland and then been resurrected? That would never have happened under The Boss, no chance. He would have never taken yanked a team with such great fans out of the city and plop them down in say Baltimore.

What would have their stadium been like? They would have had a world class stadium years earlier, and they would have reaped the benefits.

How about the Indians? Would they have been the doormat of MLB for so so many years had The Boss been in charge? I think not. The 1990’s and 2000’s would have seen the Indians at the top of their league and a trophy case full to hilt. The Indians have had good talent and would have developed a way to keep these young stars, pull in some free agents and go forward. Look at how bad this team was in the 1980’s ugh.

How would have their scouting department have been? Pretty good with the club building a base that would have allowed the team to trade some good prospects to fill in their major league roster.

Would have Manny Ramirez or Albert Belle left town during their primes? NOPE & NOPE. No chance. The Boss would have overpaid and over spent on these two guys. Steinbrenner would have loved these guys on his roster, maybe all for the wrong reasons, but he would have loved them.

Would Jacobs Field have been built years earlier and been called Steinbrenner Field? Yes. That lousy Municipal Stadium was a brutal place to see a ball game. Thousands upon thousands of empty seats. Just take a look at Major League, do you think a movie like that would have been ever made under George’s watch?

Would they have turned into a juggernaught of a franchise and won many World Series? Yes. They would have won plenty.

Would have the Cavaliers won an NBA Championship by now? Yes, a few by now.

What would have George’s reaction been after losing a free agent like LeBron James? I would wonder what it would look like. He would probably go ballistic, trying to take care of him ala Dave Winfield,. However it would have never made it to that…

Would George have ever let LeBron leave? NO! It would have never happened, for a few reasons. George would have signed him ages ago to some humongous crazy contract, maybe a personal services variety. He would have surrounded him with players that were winners and have game, and he would have never had such a loser GM like Danny Ferry in place or a loser coach like Mike Brown. Think Billy Martin managing the Cavs, would that have been great! Think of Martin during this year’s play offs with LeBron tanking the Celtics series the way he did! He would have gone nuts!!! Now those are some great thoughts!

Would George have been able to create the CES instead of YES? I am not so sure about this one. Cleveland is not NY. And their market is just not that big enough to support such a channel. And not only that, sports on TV in general would never have been the same without The Boss in New York.

Which leads us to…

What would have happened to the New York Yankees the last 30+ years? How many championships would have been won? I hate to say it, they may not have won one. NY needs the Bronx Zoo and George fueled it up and down. The Yankees may never have built a new Stadium a media empire and the dynamics that made them the Empire that they are today. One that is worth over 3 Billion Dollars.

What are your thoughts? I would love to read them!