5. The Cavaliers on HBO
During the early years of the franchise, Cavs owner Nick Mileti was looking for any financial help he could get. That’s why in February of 1973, he signed a deal with the then-fledgling Home Box Office (HBO), which was in its first year of operation, to show Cavalier games. Since cable television at that time was virtually non-existent, the only markets to see these games were located in Allentown and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
There’s no indication of how many games were shown, but Mileti’s other two Cleveland franchises, the MLB Indians and WHA Crusaders were also included in the agreement. This helped provide nighttime programming for a channel starving for any product.
However, the agreement soon faded away after that year, with the Cavaliers still developing into a viable franchise. Within a decade, HBO would grow into a video behemoth which featured movies, and eventually branched into other forms of entertainment.
Next: A Forgotten Blunder
