Cavaliers cancel Quicken Loans Arena renovation project

The Cleveland Cavaliers won't have a refurbished home arena after all.

The organization announced it will no longer participate in The Q Transformation Project aimed at modernizing and making additions to Quicken Loans Arena.

The proposed $140-million project would have drawn $70 million from public funds, which became a sticking point in the proposal. A coalition led by the Greater Cleveland Congregations argued that those funds would be best served to address poverty and unemployment as opposed to renovating an arena and put forth a prospective referendum.

The Cavaliers claimed that the referendum delayed construction and pushed the project past their deadline, which ultimately led them to pull the plug on the proposal.

This latest development means that Cleveland will not host either the 2020 or the 2021 NBA All-Star Weekend. The league issued a warning earlier in July that construction would need to be underway by Sept. 15 if Cleveland's bid to host would be accepted. That deadline will evidently not be met.

It was estimated that the project would have extended the life cycle of Quicken Loans Arena - the oldest venue in the league without any major renovations - for another 40 years.