If the current trend holds up, by the end of May just about every billboard in the country will be a pitch to get LeBron James to sign to their team.
Previous examples of this alarming and completely unoriginal trend include: Akron, Los Angeles, New York City,Cleveland, and Philadelphia. For this most recent example you can combine those latter two cities, as a Cavs fan had the unique (by the standards of these billboards, anyway) idea to steer James away from Philly by highlighting the city's 240+ year rejection of royalty.
The pair of billboards were paid for and put up by James Betschel, who works as the CEO of a flooring company called Global Market Partners. Betschel told the Philly Voice that he was inspired to buy the billboards because of his sons. As a result, they were put up on Tuesday morning along I-95, not far from where the Sixers play their home games. The pair of ads point out that Philly rejected royalty in the 18th century, and that Ben Franklin wouldn't care for that "King" part of King James' nickname.
Betschel must have been pretty prepared for this whole deal, because he also released a statement.
"LeBron means so much to the people of Ohio," he said. "I just wanted to remind him that the grass might look greener, but there’s no love like hometown love and no substitute for the kind of multigenerational legacy he has crafted in Cleveland.
"When you look at LeBron, he brings a lot more to a city than just once-in-a-lifetime talent. He is a transformational leader, especially for the younger generation. When you think about that kind of value, the price of a few billboards seems like nothing."
Earlier in 2018, a Sixers fan had placed a trio of billboards in Cleveland trying to court LeBron with the hashtag #PhillyWantsLeBron.
People in Houston, time to get serious here.
