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It seemed like a good idea at first, but NBA teams that streamed live games on the Internet last season have called a 20-second timeout on the concept.

Comcast SportsNet launched live streaming in Chicago and Philadelphia last season, with each compiling less than 1,000 subscribers despite its large market, according to SportsBusiness Journal.

While Comcast SportsNet may revisit the idea down the road, it’s shelved for now.

“At this point, I don’t think that we feel there’s a strong economic model for us to spend a lot of our resources on live game streaming,” Comcast Sports Group executive Eric Grilly told SBJ.

Meanwhile, Portland experimented with a paid streaming service last season, and will offer the same service for free this year. The Trail Blazers were the first organization to stream games online, and plan to stream 16 games on blazers.com in 2010-11 via their on-air broadcasts from KGW-NBC. That includes the Oct. 26 season-opener against Phoenix.

Also, officials from Fox Sports Net, which holds the rights to 17 NBA teams, said the network is considering streaming some games, but nothing firm is in place.

Cavs double store size

Despite the loss of back-to-back MVP LeBron James, Cleveland is moving forward plans to double the size of its team store inside Quicken Loans Arena. The new store will be 5,700 square feet, up from 3,200 last season.

The Cavaliers began building the store two months before James announced he was leaving the team for Miami. James’ jersey was second in sales last season, trailing only Kobe Bryant, and the Cavs were third in overall merchandise sales (behind the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston, respectively).

But even without James, the Cavs’ store will soon be tied with the one inside the Staples Center (shared by L.A.’s Lakers and Clippers) as the NBA’s largest. The Cavs are said to be counting on new uniforms and return to their original color scheme to fuel sales.

The store will also feature a quicker checkout process — with employees using handheld devices to ring up transactions at racks displaying the merchandise.

This and that

Dallas owner Mark Cuban plans to donate $100,000 to the city to help offset a decline in revenue, according to the Dallas Morning News. … Denver is reducing its marketing efforts that feature Carmelo Anthony, according to The Denver Post. Anthony’s future with the team is uncertain, as speculation and trade rumors have surrounded he and the team for most of the summer. … EA Sports has delayed the shipment of basketball simulation game “NBA Elite 11,” after poor reviews by the gaming press, most of which cited a variety of glitches. The game was scheduled for an Oct. 5 release. No new date has been set.