Jim O'Donnell: Bears should ask themselves — what would Walt Disney do?
ON ONE OF THE LAST BUSINESS TRIPS OF HIS LIFE, Walt Disney did a second flyover above the vast expanse of Florida swampland that would one day become Walt Disney World.
Disney died 59 years ago this week at age 65. Roy Disney, his older brother, delayed retirement until after October 1971 to oversee completion and opening of the first segment of the iconic 25,000 acres.
The imagineering of the Disneys came back into focus in recent days as the Chicago Bears continued to stumble and fumble with the 326 acres that once housed Arlington Park.
THE BROTHERS SAW UNDEVELOPED POSSIBILITIES in the middle of nowhere.
The Bears apparently fear expansive success on a dream tract of major-market land. They have no faith in their business vision and capability to fulfill.
The organization once again made that clear when the baffling Kevin Warren sent out the now-notorious letter to season-ticket holders telling them that the team would explore new stadium options outside of Cook County.
It's yet another bizarre chapter in a sad sports sidebar without end.
WARREN'S CONTENT AND TIMING COULDN'T have been poorer. He felt compelled to distract and divert from Saturday night's mammoth Bears-Packers showdown. And there was no one in or around Halas Hall inclined to protect the upstreaming CEO from himself.
The Disneys wanted as much control as possible in their audacious “Disneyland East.” In the end they got it, down to new municipalities and a state-sanctioned tourism authority to assist with final land acquisition, highway expansion and other infrastructure.
Two factors remained out of their direct oversight — property taxes and elevator inspections. They acknowledged the dual deletions from their wish list and still generated the most profitable amusement property in the history of man.
WAY DOWN TO CURRENT ARLINGTON SCALE, George McCaskey and cohorts don't look to the stars for what could be. Instead, they roll left, roll right, pout, stomp their feet and loll along like cushioned vagabonds continually veering away from choice suburban acres promising elevated prosperity.
Hovering above their intellectual malaise is the fact that it doesn't take any great individual genius to run a contemporary NFL franchise. The only facilitating mantra is, “Stay with the herd.”
NEW YORK-BASED SAL GALATIOTO IS one of the globe's principal experts on all aspects of top-tier sports financing. When the Ricketts family was seeking close to $400 million in outside investment 16 years ago to facilitate the renovation of Wrigley Field, Galatioto found it from six qualified entities.
That infusion — along with the 2016 World Series victory of the Cubs — essentially tripled the initial outlay of $845 million by the Ricketts that it took to purchase the team from Sam Zell and his fire-sale Tribune Co. in less than nine years.
Of pro football financial realities in the new millennium, Galatioto once memorably said: “My golden retriever could run an NFL team and make money … and he's dead.”
There have been no reports of dead golden retrievers near 1920 Football Drive in Lake Forest. There have been reports implying a profoundly diminishing lack of boldness, resourcefulness and vision within.
WALT DISNEY WOULD HAVE TAKEN the gift-wrapped 326 acres of Arlington Park and applied compelling urgency and imagination to turn a unique cornerstone into a gold mine.
Man can do what man can imagine; man in sync with a beloved brand — Mouse or Bear — and fluid reappraisal of circumstances is even better.
THE CURRENT BEARS HIERARCHY IS INCAPABLE of generating that kind of thought.
Sure they're all for wishing upon a star. But when they introduce the thoroughly laughable idea of building their new stadium in northwest Indiana because of the intractable fiscal meanies in the Illinois state legislature, the McCaskey-Warren escapades devolve once again into folly.
The fact that Kevin Warren would introduce such a mock-worthy concept less than 80 hours before one of the most anticipated games in the 105-year war between the Staleys and the Packers was an insult to the Bears' fan base and debasement to the franchise.
It also spoke volumes about the stifling goop slowing the Arlington Heights stadium scheme team.
GEORGE HALAS SCORED THE FINAL TOUCHDOWN in that first game. Playing at “Cubs Park” on Thanksgiving Sunday 1921, the Chicago Staleys beat Curly Lambeau and his Packers 20-0.
Somewhere Way Up Yonder this weekend, perhaps the spirits of Halas and Lambeau will have chance to bump into Walt and Roy Disney.
All four pioneering moguls can only look down at the Bears' latest stadium miscue and forlornly shake their creative heads.
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.