I Wonder Why We Weren't Sexy Enough?..

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Originally Posted by Pilot172000

I'll never forget sitting in Champs Sports in the Mall and seeing a guy buy a TWolves jersey and the clerk telling him that nothing was set in stone. That was the first time in my life I got the concept of having my very own home team to root for. Poor guy, I wonder if he is still wearing that jersey?

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I remember Champs being like the first ones to have them at Lakeside. I almost got one the same day that my cousin got his, I hope that wasn't him that you saw that day, LOL!

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As far as the Grizzlies go I'd say corporate sponsorship from FedEx played a role in that.

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Strong possibility! It mentioned the Memphis camp wanting to name the team the 'Express' but the league rejected it because they didn't want a name that tied in any way to a major corporation. Whatever!

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The group that was going to buy the team was backed by Top-Rank and Bob Arum and it was a heavily leveraged deal. No one was putting enough equity into the group. Also, Arum's boxing connections were a major issue, not to mention all the side deals that had to be cut with the Edwards and Morial entourages.

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That last part is so true about this state and getting things done. If you don't 'grease' the right palms, then you better rest assured your issue is not going to get handled. They're is a guy that I know who worked at City Hall for years who say's that Walt Disney was originally looking to put Disney World here in the east.

I can't remember if it was Moon or Schiro, but they basically told Walt something along the lines of "what's in it for me?" and Walt smiled, shook hands and sent his brother to Orlando that evening to strike a deal and start buying land. I don't know how much truth there is to that but he's been in that camp for years and a lot of info that I get in dealing with the city comes through him and it's pretty spot on so it's safe to assume his claims hold water. We all know how the last part ended!

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Originally Posted by bigdub81

I remember Champs being like the first ones to have them at Lakeside. I almost got one the same day that my cousin got his, I hope that wasn't him that you saw that day, LOL!



Strong possibility! It mentioned the Memphis camp wanting to name the team the 'Express' but the league rejected it because they didn't want a name that tied in any way to a major corporation. Whatever!



That last part is so true about this state and getting things done. If you don't 'grease' the right palms, then you better rest assured your issue is not going to get handled. They're is a guy that I know who worked at City Hall for years who say's that Walt Disney was originally looking to put Disney World here in the east.

I can't remember if it was Moon or Schiro, but they basically told Walt something along the lines of "what's in it for me?" and Walt smiled, shook hands and sent his brother to Orlando that evening to strike a deal and start buying land. I don't know how much truth there is to that but he's been in that camp for years and a lot of info that I get in dealing with the city comes through him and it's pretty spot on so it's safe to assume his claims hold water. We all know how the last part ended!

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I'm pretty sure the Disney story is accurate. I remember hearing that as a kid. It's actually all for the best. There's no way Disney World would of been as huge, size wise. Would of ran out of space by now.

It would make sense. Walt loved New Orleans.

Wow. Now that would've been insane. Disney World in New Orleans?

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Originally Posted by Scarecrow

I'm pretty sure the Disney story is accurate. I remember hearing that as a kid. It's actually all for the best. There's no way Disney World would of been as huge, size wise. Would of ran out of space by now.

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Disney would be most of N.O. East, the land would have been elevated and levys would have been fixed (probably a large chunk by Disney privately) in the east, and we would have a fortune 250 company and a world class airport in town, not to mention an influx of population and becoming the best combination adult/family destination in the country (if not the world). We would probably be, in terms of market size, a top 10-15 market, and may even have a MLB baseball team to boot. But hey, what's in it for Moon? (face-palm)

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Originally Posted by DavidA

Disney would be most of N.O. East, the land would have been elevated and levys would have been fixed (probably a large chunk by Disney privately) in the east, and we would have a fortune 250 company and a world class airport in town, not to mention an influx of population and becoming the best combination adult/family destination in the country (if not the world). We would probably be, in terms of market size, a top 10-15 market, and may even have a MLB baseball team to boot. But hey, what's in it for Moon? (face-palm)

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Twould be nice. But alas...

If Disney picked NOLA instead of Orlando, odds are most of the other parks would have come here too. Think, we could have the Magic and be in the DH mess.

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Originally Posted by all2neat

If Disney picked NOLA instead of Orlando, odds are most of the other parks would have come here too. Think, we could have the Magic and be in the DH mess.

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Or maybe we wouldn't have lost the Jazz.

While there's no concrete evidence that Disney was looking to place Disney World in the NOLA area, it certainly has been around a long time, and I think it's one of those "where there's smoke..." stories that probably has some element of truth.

You can't blame Moon though -- he was just beginning his political career in the 1959-63 window that Disney was looking for a site. If the story of the politician looking for a kick-back is true, then it might've been Schiro or Morrison, or perhaps even more likely, Earl Long or Jimmie Davis.

If Disney had landed in NOLA, we would have much less unemployment and the stabiltity that Central FLA has. No one would know where the heck Orlando is. Along with Disney world comes MGM, Universal, and Sea world. It was a once in a millennium haul for a city and we blew it.

While the disney-to-nola story is partially true, i believe walt had several locations throughout the country that he was considering.

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Originally Posted by Pilot172000

If Disney had landed in NOLA, we would have much less unemployment and the stabiltity that Central FLA has. No one would know where the heck Orlando is. Along with Disney world comes MGM, Universal, and Sea world. It was a once in a millennium haul for a city and we blew it.

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The story that I got from my friend made it seem like Walt was dead adamant about putting it here. You have to remember that the east that became what it was in it's day then, was merely just barren swamp land ripe for developing. The access to the city and the abundance of land was his selling point to the mayor.

Unknown Poster made a point that Walt loved New Orleans. There was a segment on the Travel Channel that I saw about a year ago that was dedicated to how Disney World was created. A main guy that worked with and for the brothers stated that while Walt was "visiting" friends in New Orleans, Roy was scheduled to meet with the mayor of Orlando about the production.

I said "Well I'll be dammed". My wife was like "what?" then I told here the story. That guy's recount basically cemented what my friend said. He said Walt told the mayor something like "This was going to be special. I can't believe that you're doing this" or something to that effect before he shook hands and left. Later that day 'ole Roy was buying land in Orlando!

The fundamental inherent basic greed of our representatives is epic in this state. I can't see any reason why the entire east couldn't have been Disney World, albeit slightly scaled down. Hell, it could have extended into Chalmette even! This move could have done wonders for us like it did for Orlando I mean I've been there and it's just gift shop after gift shop and chain restaurants!

Another part of that segment touched on the FQ area of DW that Roy was against but Walt insisted on. Obvious why Roy was against it but at least Walt gave us that much respect for a section in his park! Our politicians suck major cheeks!!

I've heard that story about Disney World for years. I had actually heard that it would be on the North Shore of the lake and that when Walt Disney showed interest in the land, local politico's bought up the property Disney wanted and asked an inflated price for it.

Not sure what of all that is true, but, I don't put anything past our politicians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZH4O...e_gdata_player

We should have had Jenneke on our side. Then we'd of been sexy enough..

I too heard it was the Northshore. Makes more sense since the entire NS was still a giant expanse of virgin land.

That being said, can you imagine if New Orleans and Slidell were truly twin cities by this point? Wow.

I had heard that it was going to go on the Northshore as well. And from what I've read, Walt did love New Orleans. It really must have made an impression on him. He put "New Orleans Square" in Disneyland, so it's obvious he had something for New Orleans. Don't forget the Port Orleans Resort in Disneyworld also. I know that it was built in the early 90s but I think it just speaks to Walt's affection to the city that the old Dixie Landings was refurbished into Port Orleans.

It's stories like this that angers me. This city had so much potential but either lacks someone with the right vision or the corruption is so strong that it overrides the people with the vision and passion to move the city forward. I'm leaning to the latter.


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