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thought we were good management. So I said, “You know what? I’m going to step up.” So Warren walks me to the end of the parking lot and says to Tom, “Michael wants to finally step up and buy the company; we should do it.” Tom says, “Yeah, good. What will you pay?” I said, “Well, why don’t we talk about that on Monday?” Then I walked another fifty feet and, surreal, I bumped into [CBS CEO] Larry Tisch and his wife. And I said, “God, the strangest thing just happened. I just made an offer for Capital Cities / ABC at the other end of the parking lot.” And Tisch said, “Buy CBS instead.” And I said “Maybe we will. Maybe that’s better.” So he started negotiating with me, really suggesting strongly that we buy CBS. In the same parking lot. So I had at least some leverage when I went back to Tom.

PETER ENGLEHART:

Bill France Jr. represented seven races at the time; this was before we made all the deals through NASCAR. But when we negotiated the deal, we did contracts for only six races because it was Bill France Jr.’s fervent belief that the seventh race be done on just a handshake.

I said “Bill, really? You know Steve [Bornstein] likes things to be buttoned up.” He said, “You tell Steve the reason we’re doing this is because you’ll work harder based on your handshake to be a good partner for me, regardless of what’s in any contract. Your word is more important than your contract.” So when Disney was buying the company, their lawyers were going through the audits and they asked, “Where’s the seventh contract?” I said, “That’s a handshake with Bill France Jr.” And they looked at me and said, “You’re telling us that this race, which is making ESPN a million dollars, is based on a handshake?” I just said, “Hey, call Mr. France.”

MICHAEL EISNER:

There were a lot of people, including some financial people at our company, who wanted us to do CBS because it was only $6 billion compared to the $19 billion that CapCities/ABC was going to cost, but I had no interest in CBS. For me and Sid it was all about ESPN, and only ESPN. The valuation that we at Disney made for the ABC network during our due diligence for the acquisition of all the CapCities / ABC assets was zero.

HERB GRANATH:

That’s total bullshit. What he [Eisner] wanted was ABC. He wanted that network because that was his dream; he started his career there. In fact he was there while I was there. So when they bought it, he asked me to come out and meet with him. His CFO was there, and he had papers in his hand, and he said about ESPN, “Well, it’s looking like you’re making a profit, but I don’t know if it will ever be a big business. It’s going to be a good diversification for us.”

STEVE BORNSTEIN:

He did not value it at zero. He appreciated the asset of ESPN, but he never valued ABC at zero. It was making too much money. It was the number-one network! The TV stations and the network were probably throwing off a billion dollars. When they did the acquisition in ’95, I can tell you the exact date they announced it, July 31, 1995, and I can promise you that in 1995, ABC was a profitable entity. For him to say in hindsight, fifteen years later, that they were only buying it for ESPN is bullshit. He appreciated the asset of ESPN, but he wanted to run a network.

FRANK BENNACK:

Getting control of ESPN was a major motivator for Michael Eisner in the takeover. I don’t want to say it was the biggest factor, but clearly Michael saw ESPN’s upside and all the opportunities surrounding ESPN at that time.

STEVE BORNSTEIN:

Michael Eisner will turn any circumstance into why he was a prescient genius.

CHRISTINE DRIESSEN:

When Disney bought ABC and all the assets, we [ESPN] were a diamond in the rough. At that time, ABC’s television network profits were at probably an all-time high; then the world fell apart the next year.

BILL FAIRWEATHER:

There was the closed-circuit feed coming in so we could see the press conference with Eisner and the CapCities guys. Eisner was talking about what a great acquisition it was, going through all the properties and giving everyone their due. You have