Cleveland Cavaliers Look To Change The Game With Their New Facility
The Cleveland Cavaliers look to move to the forefront of health and performance with their announcement of the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance. The Cleveland Cavaliers have announced plans to develop the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance facility, a 210,000 sq ft interdisciplinary center that will be used as an elite performance training facility for the team, the community, and athletes worldwide. Construction is set to begin by the end of 2024. While this facility will be exclusive to the Cavaliers, it will also be open to a community of people interested in improving their overall performance. The facility is expected to provide unique insights about injuries and future-proof themselves to address these issues. The project was initially brought up by team owner Dan Gilbert after their recent Finals run, but the team's success has helped move the project forward.
Publicados : 4 semanas atrás por Mat Issa no Sports
On Tuesday, March 26, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced their plans to start developing the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance facility. Along with their announcement, Cleveland also included renderings of what the facility will look like upon completion. Construction is set to begin sometime before the end of 2024.
According to the team press release, the “[m]ore than 210,000 sq ft Populous-designed interdisciplinary center will serve as an elite performance training facility for the Cavaliers, the community, and athletes from around the world.”
“The area this facility will sit on was comprised of parking lots for years. Unused land for decades,” Cavaliers General Manager Koby Altman told me in an interview over the phone. “So, this is going to completely regenerate a whole area of downtown. It is going to be transformational. It’s going to be one of the nicest buildings Cleveland has ever seen. The building itself is an architectural feat.”
While this facility will serve as the Cavaliers’ new home, it won’t be exclusive to them. This monument will be the place where thousands of athletes come to discover the best version of themselves.
“The offerings in these buildings are going to extend beyond the offerings just for professional athletes,” Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Tom Mihaljevic told me. “It is really going to be open to a community of people who are interested in improving their overall performance. The suite of services that we will be providing are going to allow people to continue to enjoy active and productive lives, regardless of their age.”
At the end of the day, this new facility is intended for athletes all over the world. But the Cavaliers will also be reaping tons of benefits from its inception.
Every year, some teams have more injuries than others. In the past, this has normally been chalked up to good/bad luck. And while that will always be true to an extent, there could be a way to put the odds in your team’s favor. And if there is, the Cavaliers are hoping they can find it.
“It certainly gives us a competitive advantage,” Altman said. “From a performance standpoint, we are going to be able to glean some really unique insights at this facility. It’s going to be a research and data hub. The clinic is going to help us think about how we can raise the bar and help players reach their highest potential.”
Altman continued, “[injuries] are a problem everyone is trying to figure out. With an 82-game schedule, an In-Season Tournament, a Play-In Tournament, and the Playoffs, there are meaningful games all year. Navigating all that poses some tough problems. But if you have sound science and data and you future-proof yourself to what’s coming down the pipe with a state-of-the-art facility, you have a better chance of solving that problem.”
Something this big isn’t born overnight. The idea of the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance facility was first brought to the table after Cleveland’s latest Finals ran in 2018. However, the team’s recent success with Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and Darius Garland has definitely played a part in helping move the project forward.
“This facility was first brought up to Gilbert after our last Finals run in 2018. At that point, we knew we were going to go through a rebuild, and we wanted to focus on player development.” Altman told me. “Our goal was to draft our own guys and groom them into All-Stars. That’s what’s happened with Darius [Garland].”
“But I will say, what has really given us some wind in our sails for building this facility is that we have a really good team with a ton of All-Star caliber players who are going to be in their primes when this thing is ready.”
In talking with him, Altman praises many entities (the players, the Cleveland Clinic, the City of Cleveland, etc.) for their contributions to making this project a reality. But most of all, he credits Dan Gilbert (the team owner) and his supreme ambition.
“Gilbert is all about the motto that ‘Thriving Downtowns Make for Great Cities,’” Altman said. We wanted to create something that is going to be special for our players and put us at the forefront of technology and innovation.”
“When you work for Dan Gilbert, you have to dream big.”
Tópicos: Basketball, NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers