Cleveland is buzzing, with the Cleveland Cavaliers heading into round one of the NBA playoffs this Saturday, April 20. The Cavs will host the Orlando Magic at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in the first two games in round one of the seven-game series.

Tickets went on sale yesterday at 3 p.m. For those first two games Chris Kaiser, chief marketing officer for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and organization officials are busy getting ready to rally support—decorating downtown Cleveland with building wraps and banners, planning events, rallies, and watch parties.

“We'll definitely have almost every side of our building wrapped in some way with playoff signage,” says Kaiser. “But you'll see it in different areas of the city, too. So hopefully people, even if they don't know what's going on right now, they shouldn't be able to drive around Cleveland without figuring out that the Cavs are in the playoffs—which is the way we like it.”

Cleveland Cavaliers - Playoffs 2024The goal is to keep the excitement high everywhere in Cleveland, and make sure that enthusiasm continues throughout the Cavs’ playoffs—and hopefully into the NBA Finals—run.

“We'll be activating East 4^th [Street],” says Kaiser. “We'll completely take over by decorating all the windows. We're going to wrap [the building] at the end of East 4^th with our branding as well—you won't be able to miss it.”

Pep rallies at local schools, like Willson School, and school spirit contests across Cuyahoga County are in the works.

At each home game the fans will get a t-shirt, a light-up bracelet, and a rally towelFor those going to the home games, Kaiser says they’re planning to have plenty of giveaways. “We always try to go all-in with that fan experience piece, so at every single game we will have a t-shirt, a light-up bracelet, and a rally towel will be given out to everyone in attendance,” he says. “And at game one of the first series, we're going to try something different. We're actually going to do a long-sleeved t-shirt for that first game.”

He says that long-sleeved shirt will have a “more elevated look” with script  the “Let ‘Em Know” tagline.

Even when the Cavs travel to Orlando for game four, Kaiser says the marketing team will just turn up the volume with plenty of pep rallies and activities around the city.

“We'll have road watch parties and fun activations with our entertainment teams,” he says. “It won't just be necessarily like a bar atmosphere—there will be some family entertainment and different with mascots, giveaways—all the fun stuff that comes with the playoffs.” 

The whole point is to stoke the civic pride and energy that comes when our home teams are in the playoffs. “Everyone seems to come together,” Kaiser says. We're just going to try to feed that as much as we possibly can and kind of ride some of that positive energy.