Some analysts believe that "one reason the Walt Disney
Co. is contemplating a sale of the Angels and Mighty Ducks
is the company's failed ESPN West cable channel enterprise,"
according to Mark Emmons of the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, who
wrote that Disney-owned teams televised on a Disney-owned
RSN "would have made for the sort of cross-promotional,
corporate synergy that [Disney CEO] Michael Eisner's company
is known." Disney's "plans for the much-hyped ESPN West
were scuttled 13 months ago" and it was a "bitter defeat for
Disney prestige." Paul Kagan Associates media sports
business analyst John Mansell: "I don't believe they would
even think about a sale if they had ESPN West. Those teams
would have been the backbone of a venture built on the same
model Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and others have used."
Game Plan Chair Bob Caporale: "I think getting ESPN West off
the ground would have made a big difference in their
decision-making process." Pilson Communications President
Neal Pilson: "Sports teams, as stand-alone entities, simply
don't provide the kind of profits and growth as other units
within a company like Disney" (O.C. REGISTER, 8/22).