la patineuse
Registered User
- Aug 21, 2010
- 7,134
- 3,490
i mean, disney still sold the angels like 6 months after they won the world series. so i don't see why they wouldn't have still done the same with the ducks
disney wanted out of pro sports by that time
Eisner said the fans want a winning team no matter how much it costs (I think that's kind of condescending and not giving the fans credit for understanding throwing money at free agents won't necessarily make for a winning team), but the stockholders want a profit. My cousin was pretty high up at Disney and once, when I was complaining to her how Disney refused to spend the money on the Ducks, she told me each Disney division had to stand on its own and if it wasn't profitable, Disney wouldn't put more $$$$ into it. Maybe so, but Disney sure capitalized on the tie in to the Mighty Ducks movies and bled the hell out of merchandizing; once that dried up, they didn't spend any money on the team. This is why Disney and corporations should never own sports teams.
The Samuelis on the other hand, probably would like the Ducks to be profitable, but because they own the operating rights to the Honda Center, they need to have the arena operating as many days/nights each year as possible. It's easier to do this with a professional team as a tenant.