Downtown Cleveland banner replacement

A banner slated to fill the space where images of LeBron James hung for years will showcase pictures of thousands of Clevelanders and Cleveland Cavaliers fans.

(Cleveland City Planning Commission)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A new banner planned for the space where images of LeBron James hung for years will feature thousands of regular people - not one superstar.

The Cleveland Cavaliers unveiled an image of the banner this week, gaining approval from a downtown-focused design-review committee Thursday and the Cleveland City Planning Commission on Friday.

The central image, of one of the Art Deco "Guardians of Traffic" that stand sentinel over the Lorain-Carnegie (Hope Memorial) Bridge, will be a collage of crowdsourced photos of Clevelanders and Cavs fans. The tagline, in capital letters on a black background, is "All for the land."

The wall, facing Quicken Loans Arena over Ontario Street and Huron Road, is a blank canvas at the eastern end of Sherwin-Williams Co.'s headquarters complex. During James' two runs with the Cavs, Nike Inc. sponsored black-and-white images of the athlete, his arms outstretched, in the 10-story space.

During LeBron's absence, from mid-2010 to late 2014, Sherwin-Williams installed its own banners focused on the city skyline and the company's long history in Cleveland.

The most recent Nike banner came down in July, after James announced his decision to leave the Cavs for the Los Angeles Lakers.

During Friday morning's planning commission meeting, Cavs Chief Executive Officer Len Komoroski said the team, which leases the space from Sherwin-Williams, hopes to mount its new the image in time for the looming start of the NBA season. He described the banner as "a grand civic gesture."

Commission members quickly and unanimously approved the proposal. Planning Director Freddy Collier said the administration particularly liked the inclusion of city residents and basketball fans in the image.

And Councilman Kerry McCormack, who represents much of downtown, expressed relief that the banner didn't include a more common pictorial trope. "God bless the guitar," he said, "but I'm happy we're moving away from that."