Fencer reregistered wrote:So how did this story start? Did you come up with it on your own, getting help from Disney on the facts as needed? Or did they pitch to you (with you being the obvious choice due to your history with them, among other reasons)?
Totally mine. I did fact check a few things, since it had been a bit since I had worked any events at EWWS. (Self-congratulation: I was correct on all of what I needed to fact check!).
From there, I pitched the idea to a couple of outlets that I freelance with and Yahoo bought it.
The same day the article posted, 4/16, I heard from some people with Disney and some people from the NBA (teams, players and the league itself). All were nice and supportive. The message from the NBA itself was "Thank you for a thoughtful and thorough idea."
When Shams broke his report that the NBA was seriously considering the idea, it blew up all over again. This time around, it was in a much bigger way. I heard from even more people this time around. All have again been very supportive, with a handful asking supporting questions.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured it would be good to put a little context to the idea's formation and what happened since. But the entire thing was all me. After nearly 20 years of work at Walt Disney World, I have a pretty good idea of how things work.