Jan. 21--Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Iger has had a string of hits lately, including clinching the all-time domestic box-office crown with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
Last week, however, he was dealt a rare setback -- NFL owners voted to allow the Rams franchise to move to Inglewood, rejecting a rival plan backed by Iger to build a stadium for the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders in Carson.
When Iger, 64, was named non-executive chairman of Carson Holdings, the joint venture of the Chargers and Raiders, it was considered a boost to the teams' effort. At the time of his November appointment, the project put forward by billionaire Rams owner Stan Kroenke was seen as the favorite.
Iger, who was given an option to buy a minority stake in either the Chargers or the Raiders, was touted for his expertise in entertainment, marketing and development.
However, sports business insiders said the deck was stacked against Iger at the Jan. 12 NFL owners meeting in Houston. In the weeks leading up to the vote, a consensus among owners was coalescing around an alternative that involved pairing the Rams with the Chargers in Inglewood.
At the meeting, the two original proposals didn't have enough votes to win outright, leading to a compromise that gives the Chargers an option to join the Rams in Inglewood.
"When [Iger] got involved, it was an 'either-or,'" said David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the USC Marshall School of Business. "As things progressed, additional options came into focus. The influence exerted by a handful of owners carried far more sway than his being attached to the project."
As a result, Iger won't get the chance to oversee a $1.7-billion real estate development and help guide the NFL's return to Los Angeles after a 21-year absence. Iger's option to buy a stake in either of the teams is off the table, according to Mark Fabiani, special counsel to Chargers president Dean Spanos.
Fabiani said Iger was key in helping ensure that the NFL made a decision on the Los Angeles question now rather than later. Since the Rams and Raiders left Southern California after the 1994 season there have been countless busted efforts to bring a team back, including recent high-profile failures in downtown L.A. and the City of Industry.
"We think Bob Iger played a big role in helping this decision get made now," Fabiani said. "Even though it is a compromise and so not the perfect decision for us, it is a good decision because it brings the NFL back to Los Angeles, and we are happy it got made."
But not everyone is happy with how Iger handled the process.
Albert Robles, the mayor of Carson, said that he felt the Disney CEO did not extend to him the level of "courtesy" he'd expected and that his input was not sought.
Robles said he was counting on Iger to bring to the project the sort of "pizazz" for which Disney is known.
"I was then told he's been the CEO for 10 years or something like that and the value of Disney has skyrocketed because of his Midas touch," Robles said. "And publicly that's what I ran with."
