Mr. Eisner’s Wild Ride: How Disney screwed a ballclub—and won a Series (http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/03/09/news-beers.php) - OC Weekly, 11/1/02

QuikQuote: 6. Focus-group yourself to death. This is related to Lesson 5 above. Eisner’s team focus-grouped everything—the queer teal uniforms; the oversized bats outside the main entrance; the streams in the center field. What didn’t Eisner focus-group? The Rally Monkey. A couple of video geeks at the stadium created the iconic simian as a goof a couple of years ago—running a movie clip of a jumping monkey on the scoreboard during a fit of fan boredom. Now, thousands of Rally Monkeys have been sold. Price? $20. Owner? Disney.

It's so sad when some journalists feel the need to gripe and complain about their own personal agenda even when something fun and happy happens for a large group of people...

What a terrible article. Oh yeah, clearly Pressler (who had more control over the situation than Eisner, and who everyone on the ballclub reportedly likes) did a terrible job. I mean, a convincing World Series Championship is clear evidence of how terribly the team was run :rolleyes:

Oh, he kinda sorta fail to mention that the reason Disney wants to sell the team is because 1) They got screwed out of a tv deal by Fox just at the time the purchased the team making it nearly impossible for them to make a profit from game broadcasts (the single most important aspect of owning a sports team these days), and 2) Entertainment companies across the board are divesting themselves of their sports franchises because after the "diversifying" trend of the 90s, the entertainment industry has found itself spread too thin and sports franchises are a tricky thing to juggle in the entertainment business. Two VERY legitamate reasons that you can't possibly blame them for.

And I'm not even going to touch this quote..."Beltway Sniper of utilities..." Can this jerk be any more crass and insensitive?

Geesh. After reading this thread I don't feel the least bit compelled to read this jerks article. The quote was enough for me. I don't need any more negetivity from people who need to talk trash to make a living. The world is negetive enough these days.:(

I give the Disney ownership group about as much credit as I give any ownership group. Some, but not the lions share (I usually reserve that for the players).

Some funny "criticisms" in the article:

1. It was outrageous that Disney sold naming rights to the stadium.

Yeah, selling naming rights is just crazy. Who does that? Only every other team in baseball (and football and basketball) except those who play in historic stadiums like Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium. The money helped pay for stadium renovations which made the stadium a better place to watch a game.

2. It was outrageous that Disney did not sign Mark McGuire.

Yeah, neither did 29 other teams. The Cardinals did not go to the World Series in any year he was with the Cardinals.

The implication was that they never went after big name free agents. Then, they point out that they spent $80 million to get Mo Vaughn. So, are they going after them, or not?

3. It was outrageous that Disney did not get another pitcher during the stretch.

Who would they trade to get this pitcher? Glaus? Anderson? Washburn? They did get Appier before the season started. They had a good rotation. Yeah, it would have been nice to get Randy Johnson, but you gotta give up to get.

4. It's outrageous that Disney has been trying to sell the team.

This seems to indicate a lack of commitment by the ownership. But as GD pointed out, this is more a case of a company that has gotten away from its core business trying to rid itself of assets and maybe pay down some debt.

I wish Disney would "screw" the Padres next.

Also remember that most of the tax benefits that result from the purchase of a baseball team run out in 5-7 years. That is why you see corporately owned teams test the waters around this time, especially if the team isn't making an above the line profit.

Diversified Residuals....

Lori bought a Rally Monkey yesterday (Sun. 11/3)....

at Universal. hahaha.

Well stated EandCDad --

It seems all anyone wants to do is find a way to criticize Disney, or Michael Eisner --

or both!

In other news, what the heck does Disney need a baseball or hockey team for anyway? Family entertainment -- bah!

________________

I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!

Originally posted by HowardBeale
In other news, what the heck does Disney need a baseball or hockey team for anyway? Family entertainment -- bah! Okay, I'm going to end this before it gets started....Walt Disney was a great fan of baseball. He was also a good friend of Gene Autry's. Walt Disney sat for years on the board of directors of the Angels after Autry bought/created them. This is the very reason Disney (as a company) was approached by the Autry family to purchase the team when they decided to sell, because of the long standing relationship. This was not out of the blue.

Their plans were to buy the Angels, create the Ducks, and begin a regional sports broadcasting network under the ESPN name. Had that happened as planned, Disney would be sitting pretty right now with exclusive broadcasting rights to a world champion. Unfortunately, Fox pulled the rug out from beneath them, beat them to the regional sports network thing, and locked the Angels into a rather unfavorable TV contract while Disney was in the midst of buying them.

The model was solid, the execution turned out to be a bit slow. Personally, as a stock holder, even though it turned out to be a bust, I'm glad SOMEONE was willing to take a risk. They saw the possibility for big profit. Sure it didn't turn out, but only with big risk is a company ever going to make any progress. It's those kinds of investing risks that are missing from today's Disney.