The company that deals in fairy tales now wants to create a football game that's every college fan's fantasy.
Walt Disney Co. has offered to stage a postseason football game that would cap an eight-day festival and crown a national college champion in January 1995.The Disneyland Classic and the surrounding hoopla would lure 49,000 visitors, who would spend $125.5 million, Disney planners said Thursday at a meeting of local business leaders. That's about $5 million less than what the 1993 Super Bowl generated in Pasadena.
"It's a great concept," said Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim Area Visitor & Convention Bureau.
First, though, Disney must persuade a majority of NCAA Division I college presidents to support a national championship game, which would extend the season for two teams by about two months.
Two years ago, the presidents voted to reduce playing and practice seasons for all sports. Coaches and the established bowls have also resisted the idea of a college "Super Bowl" or any playoff system to crown a national champion.
Some schools might like the financial prospects of the Disney plan, however. Each school playing in the championship game would get $1 million. The other 105 Division I schools would get at least $75,000 each.
The plan envisions a week of sports, academic forums, music and art, with a big game climax in Anaheim Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and California Angels.
A study by Chapman University economists predicted the event would draw 70,000 people, about 70 percent of whom would stay in hotel rooms. The game would be played in mid-January, in the gap between the final professional playoff game and the Super Bowl.
Planners even figured on a visit from President Clinton to close the festival, but that's hypothetical, too.
"Haven't heard of it," said Peter McKenna, who handles Clinton's advance scheduling.