On Thursday, Cleveland will host the NFL Draft for the first time, joining the 2019 MLB All-Star game and a 2020 presidential debate as major events recently brought to the North Coast. Events like these stimulate the city’s businesses, according to David Gilbert, the president and CEO of Destination Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.
These events also further build awareness of why Cleveland should be a stop on the next family road trip — despite the city’s previous reputation as the “mistake on the lake,” a reference to Cleveland’s failed steel industry and empty warehouses.
“You have this perception issue from a couple decades ago and when events like this bring in tens of thousands of new and fresh eyes, it really helps because we track that,” Gilbert told Yahoo Finance Live on Monday. “We see people move here because of that.”
Kelly Legan and her husband Lucas Reeve are living proof of Gilbert’s theory. A Cleveland born restaurateur, Legan never thought she’d convince her Canadian born husband to move to Cleveland. Then the pair attended a Cleveland Indians game during the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field. The city’s growing restaurant culture and vibrant sports scene swayed Reeve’s opinion on Cleveland.