Not at all.Films That Fooled The World: Who Is Alan Smithee? From the Hoaxology netlog by Ima Joe-King, published November 2015
Guest post by @MNM041 with assistance from @Plateosaurus and Mr. Harris Syed
So not this
In 1997, comedian and actor Mike Meyers and director Penelope Spheeris appeared on The Tonight with Conan O'Brien to ostensibly discuss the success of Shagwell, but then towards the end Mike mentioned he was taking part in a documentary on a director who he felt Hollywood had never given his fair shake, a man by the name of Alan Smithee, whose name had unintentionally become synonymous with trash cinema despite actually being a very talented filmmaker. He then brought on Smithee, to share his story about how he had been blacklisted in the industry after executives mistakenly thought he made various bombs over the years, that were really the result of various filmmakers trying to keep their names off various horrible films.
So out came this odd, disheveled looking bearded man sporting a Cajun accent, large ears, wearing huge sunglasses that obscured a large part of his face and a loud-colored coat that made it appear as though he had the shoulders of a linebacker. Smithee then announced that next year, he would be working on a project to help clear his name and prove his talents, and with the help of Meyers, who was also starring in the film, had hired a documentary crew to film the production and show the world who he really is.
Except… that wasn't really Alan Smithee, it was Mike Meyers's friend, fellow SNL alumni and Wayne's World co-star, Dana Carvey wearing an elaborate disguise. In reality, Alan Smithee was simply the pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America that would replace the name of filmmakers who wanted their name removed from films they considered to be awful or had been fired and replaced by the studio. Thus began the infamous guerilla marketing campaign for one of the most well known mockumentaries of the 90s, Who Is Alan Smithee? Made on a shoestring budget[1], co-produced by Orion and Hyperion Pictures[2] and based on a joke Meyers and Carvey made between themselves that Smithee was a real director who was probably mad at Hollywood for using his name on disowned projects, Who Is Alan Smithee? is the result of two talented comedians deciding to pull in every favor they could for a single project, with Meyers himself directing in between being on-set for Shagwell, his other big project of the year.
While the actual main cast was made of mostly unknowns, save for Carvey and Meyers themselves, the two of them managed to pull a lot of strings getting famous people to cameo for this which included fictionalized versions of (among others) Rose McGowan, Bruce Campbell, Ernie Hudson, Tony Todd, Alicia Silverstone, Wayne Knight, Norm Macdonald, Drew Barrymore, Jim Carrey, Kyle MacLachlan, Naomi Watts, and Uma Thurman, all of whom were starring as themselves or characters in the fake film within a film, as well as from those behind the camera and from film scholars like Jim Henson, Lorne Michaels, Roger Corman, Gene Siskel, and Steven Spielberg to name a few.
As for the character of Alan Smithee, the film presents him as an immensely talented filmmaker who has never gotten the respect he deserved due to sheer bad luck. However, when he was first conceived by Meyers and Carvey, he was much different from the final result: he was written as a foul-mouthed, bad-tempered blowhard who took credit for contributions that were of a dubious nature at best, inspired by the likes of directors both had worked with and the con artist Alan Conway. However, after the first draft and the first public appearance, he was changed to a more idealistic character, because the two felt the more bitter and ego-driven version of the character, while funny in the short term, would be tougher to sell an entire movie around. Indeed, the final film would imply Alan started out cocky and self-assured but the constant setbacks over the last forty years humbled him out.
Smithee’s mannerisms and accent were based on several people the two of them knew, most prominently an elderly fisherman that Carvey was living next door to at the time. Various bits of his personality were also taken from Orson Welles, considered by some to be one of the best directors of all time, as well as Ed Wood, often considered to be one of the worst directors.
The Smithee disguise required elaborate costume and prosthetics, made by Tom Broecker[3] and Kazu Hiro respectively, but a lot more went into pulling off the hoax. An entire backstory was written for "Alan" a large portion of which isn't actually mentioned in the film (though some VCD and Blu-ray releases do go into detail), but in one of the larger examples of viral marketing of the time, a website that was supposedly Alan’s own, made for the film and is actually still up today[3]. The backstory in question for him was that Alan was born in the 1930s to Cornish-Americans growing up in the (real) town of Slaughter, Louisiana and developed a love for filmmaking at a young age despite the disapproval of his parents.
His first film would be a very cheesy (by his own admission, even for the time) monster movie called Terror of the Thing from Mars that somehow led to a forest fire and several members of the cast and crew being thrown in the county lockup, the first of many misfortunes his career would see. Into the 60’s and 70’s, he’d see minor genre hits that would show hints of potential, and even found love with actor Audrey Fayer (Kim Greist), but then his luck starts to take a turn for the worst after 1968, which was when the Alan Smithee credit started to be used, leading to him erroneously being attached to bad movies he had nothing to do with. The film implies that the pseudonym actually came about because someone at the DGA actually picked it out from a phone book and Alan happened to be the unlucky person he picked. He turns to working odd jobs in the rest of the industry to make ends meet and as a result rubbed elbows with famous Hollywood figures, all the while trying to make new films but constantly running into snafu after snafu that doomed them to obscurity.
The character showed up on other various late night shows throughout most of 1998, and even made appearances at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Oscars, as well as several publicity stunts that were designed to seem organic, including location scouting at various locations around New York, such as restaurants while ordering at them, four fake film shoots that go increasingly wrong (which even made it into the final film via supposed archival footage), and even a fake confrontation with Jud Taylor, the first director to ever use the Alan Smithee credit, at Fan Expo Chicago in Illinois. Helping the credibility of them were that these were subtle enough to fool people yet over the top enough to show the fictionality of it. Either way, it helped drum up buzz for the movie, with a few people even fooled into thinking Alan Smithee was real.
The film itself fittingly premiered in October of that year, and showcased Smithee trying to get his film off the ground, all while trying his best to deal with the (unnamed) studio interfering, worried that if the film isn't good then he'll be a joke forever. The film shows clear influence from Heart of Darkness, the making of documentary for Apocalypse Now. It follows a documentary crew led by Alan's nephew Jason (played by Jason Narvy)[5], and crewed by a bunch of film students who Smithee himself is paying (with help from Mike Meyers) who follow him during the production of his latest film, a heist movie titled 5 Days From Hell, about bank robbers pulling one last job under parole. The production, as one can expect, ends up becoming a nightmare, with Alan and co having to deal with studio mandates, rewrites being made, diva behavior from the stars and general infighting.
The actual film proper actually begins with Steven Spielberg talking about his experiences working with "Alan" mentioning him as being a boom mic operator for the original Jaws who ended up helping him with the script by doing uncredited rewrites to help them adjust for the malfunctioning shark animatronics. Throughout the film, other famous actors, producers and directors showed up to reveal what films he worked on, from helping fix and sew muppets for The Muppet Movie, serving as the prop master for A New Hope, working as a location scout for the second Godfather movie, doing uncredited rewrites for the first two Halloween movies and buying the iconic William Shanter mask, even a story of having to help put out a fire during the production of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, with edited photos and footage intercut to create a veneer of authenticy. However, after that the bottom fell off: productions went worse until he was blacklisted, especially when one production booted him off, replaced him with another director (even replacing the credit with Alan Smithee the alias). To top it off, at the same time a frustrated Audrey disappointed in his failures divorced him and took his kids with her. Smithee then struggled to find much work in the industry until he met Mike Meyers while working as an electrician, fixing lighting equipment for SNL.
As mentioned above, most of the documentary crew were played by actors who were virtually nobodies before this film, with the exception being Heather O'Rourke, who's last credit was almost a decade prior[6]. Most of the other actors such Debbie Rochon, Jennifer Renton, Andrew Levitas, Jed Rowen and Greg Sestero[7] had no real credits to their name outside of working as extras or bit parts in low budget films and TV shows, meaning that the audience would be unfamiliar with them and buy into the idea that they really were a bunch of recent film school grads, though it should be noted that according to Myers and Carvey, O'Rourke essentially had to give the rest of cast tips as she was actually in the film school at the time as a student of New York University.
Meyers and Carvey have said of the film, "We premiered it on a Monday because then we could have the apologies done by Wednesday." Indeed, many a moviegoer didn't exactly take kindly to the deception, though many did come to their defense saying that the film itself presents events that simply wouldn't happen if people were recording, most notably film critics Siskel and Ebert, who both noted that the film has multiple moments that are clearly supposed to show it as fiction. Indeed, Meyers and Carvey were also surprised by the amount of people who believed it was real, leading to a famous exchange on the Tonight Show where Meyers and Carvey both noted, "Several federal crimes were committed in full view of a camera during, so we figured that would be the point where some might realize ‘Wait a minute, this is clearly fiction’, and if you can’t tell, well that’s your problem, not ours."
That said, not all the film was fiction, as several scenes throughout the film actually had unscripted interactions with prominent figures in the entertainment industry. In a few cases, these meetings actually influenced the plot. One such example of this is that Alan becomes increasingly worried that the film may be scrapped and turned into a tax write off for the studio, which would mean he wouldn't even be able to sell it to another studio. That was actually something Meyers and Carvey learned about from one of the interview segments done, and the idea that someone could just have their work ripped away from them and prevented from seeing the light of day felt like something that could be used to up the stakes, though by Dana Carvey's admission it also suddenly something became they became worried could have happened to them. A few real life disputes from shooting actually also were worked into the film, such as an on-set altercation between two actors that was apparently inspired by a real life altercation between actors Steven Segal and Thomas Ian Griffin, who had both been involved in a movie shoot for Doom on the same lot[8].
Neither of them could say that everything wasn't worth it in the end, as the film ended up being a massive success due to how much people talked about it. Critics and audiences praised the clever satire and hilarious writing, and Meyers and Carvey both got praise from critics for showing some surprising dramatic chops. Carvey in particular was praised for the fact that he essentially had audiences thinking he was a real person talking off the top of his head for the entire movie, as well as being able to sell some of the more dramatic aspects of the film, even getting recognition in the form of Academy Award nominations (though not wins) for Best Makeup and Best Actor.
Even after the release, Meyers and Carvey would keep up the kayfabe for a while, with Carvey making additional appearances in character, most prominently on SNL and talk shows. His website would even receive updates into 2000, most prominently through web sketches of Smithee giving his thoughts on certain films and offering tongue in cheek filmmaking advice.
With the name of Alan Smithee now way more prominent, its use among film would naturally be altered. Long a bit of taboo topic, it arose because personalized aliases forbidden beforehand in order to avoid being taken advantage of. The Alan Smithee credit itself relied on obscurity to be used, the assumption that people wouldn’t look too hard at it. But with the movie being the culmination of growing awareness about it until the jig was up, the Director’s Guild was asked about how they would deal with such. Their response was to then allow personalized aliases from a case-by-case basis onwards from 2000, albeit still using it from time to time and in ways Hollywood couldn’t exploit[9]. Otherwise they were fairly good sports about it, even issuing a formal apology to "Alan" at the DGA awards that year. The film also shined a light on sketchy industry practices designed to screw over the creatives in order to get more money. Indeed, in 2009 as part of a federal act on entertainment company practices, one rule would criminalize such things, even being unofficially known as the Meyers-Smithee rule.
It also proved particularly noteworthy for the cast playing the crew, many of whom received big boosts in their careers. Heather O'Rourke essentially had a comeback because of this film and would go on to nab more roles in film and television along with some behind the camera work[10]. It proved to be a fruitful endeavor for the rest of the fake film crew, with most of them finding steady work after, most notably Jason Narvey who would continue to show off his comedic chops in later films and Greg Sestero, who used the money from this to help his friend Tommy Wiseau (who's also seen in a few scenes) with a passion project.
As for Meyers and Carvey, the endeavor was successful enough for the two to end up writing more projects together, and while they still would have more hits after this, none of them would quite capture the imaginations of audiences quite like Who Is Alan Smithee?
"I think Alan is something of an inspirational character," Meyers told Conan O'Brien in 2010, "because no matter how much goes wrong, in his work or in his life, he doesn't give up and stop chasing his passion and refuses to let his misery affect him - which you can’t say for the majority of Hollywood."
[1] About $3 million, and will gross $27 million total (including internationally).
[2] Cinergi (the OTL film’s maker) has been butterflied due to the merger of Carolco and Orion back in 1986, with Andrew G. Vajna not leaving in 1989 to form it, instead becoming its acting chairman in 1992.
[3] Broekner has been a costumer for the show since 1980’s, so Mike would no doubt know about him.
[4] To avoid the obvious issue of the risk of being mistaken for real and getting booked, messages were sent that Smithee was always unavailable as he was busy with another disastrous film.
[5] Narvey is probably best known in real life as Skull from Power Rangers. Since he wasn't in this timeline's equivalent, this movie ends up being his breakthrough role.
[6] The idea of Heather Rourke not being misdiagnosed with Crohn’s disease was approved by @Geekhis Khan in a private thread. Therefore, O’Rourke is alive but she will take a temporary break from acting at the behest of her parents until she makes her return as an adult a la Jonathan Ke Quan.
[7] You remember him best as Mark from The Room and not for his bit parts in other films and TV shows. ITTL, his role in Who is Alan Smithee will give Sestero more roles in mainstream movies and shows but not exactly an A-lister. As mentioned above though, he still met Tommy Wiseau in an acting class, and stay tuned for how that certain passion project will go.
[8] Recall in the post on 1998’s Doom that Seagal was prevented from starring in the film due to his frequent feuds with the director and his sexual abuse scandals which are referenced in Who is Alan Smithee?. Thomas Ian Griffin, who would replace Seagal in this movie, was working on the movie as a stuntman when this fight happened.
[9] IOTL, the very troubled production of Burn Hollywood Burn would result in director Arthur Hiller demanding that his name be taken off and replaced with Alan Smithee after writer Joe Eszterhas did a very bad cut of the film, ironically enough, leading the DGA to suspending its use, not helped by the also-nasty production of American History X the same year with Tony Kane and Edward Norton. With both of them butterflied, all their careers will be taking different paths all to different degrees.
[10] Just what will Heather direct in question? Stayed tuned!
Hope you don't mind MNM.
"To Introduce our Guest Star, that's What I'm Here to Do..." The Hensonverse Fan Contribution Thread
- Thread starter Geekhis Khan
- Start date
Nice stuff. Alfred Molina is always a win.As promised in my Oscar Bait Guest Post, here is the guest post on ITTL Spider-Man 2. I'll be doing a guest post for Spider-Man 3 soon as well, for those wondering, as well as a guest post when the timeline reaches 1999 for the late 1990's Spider-Man cartoon (not to be confused with the one from the early 1990's) and X-Men: Mutant High shows that were mentioned in my Excelsior! guest post.
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Spider-Man’s 2 (1993) Retrospective
Post from Geeks and Capes Net-blog, by Jacob Buller. April 6th, 2018
The 90’s were certainly a big and notable decade for the Amazing Spider-Man. In the world of comics, Peter Parker’s Aunt May, after decades of hanging on to life, finally died and Peter Parker himself officially retired as Spider-Man after he became a father to the first of what would ultimately be three children [1], passing the torch to his clone Ben Reilly who would become the second of the current three main Earth-616 Spider-Man’s [2]. On television meanwhile, the Spider-Man animated series was wowing kids and fans alike in what most fans consider to be the ultimate adaptation of the web head ever put on screen, to be followed later in the decade by a separate comic book adaptation.
Yet it was on the silver screen where Spider-Man made the biggest splash in the 90’s, as audiences in 1991 would pay witness to the friendly neighborhood wall-crawler making his first big appearance at the movies, played by none other than Seth Green. Becoming a smash hit with fans, critics, and audiences alike, the film would manage to release to an impressive $370 million at the box office. After making big bucks for Marvel and Disney when it was released, it was to the surprise of no one that sequels to the superhero film would be immediately announced and green lit, with the first of said sequels being 1993’s Spider-Man 2.
An early poster for ITTL Spider-Man 2, released in Summer of 1993. (Source: Image by Nerdman3000)
Seth Green would naturally return in his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, joined by a similarly returning Alfred Molina as Doctor Otto Octavius aka Doc Ock (who played a minor role in the first film). Rejoining them would be R. Lee Ermey in his most memorable role as J. Jonah Jameson and Jessica Tandy, in what would be her final appearance in the role of Aunt May [3]. Other new casting changes would include the addition of Joe Morton as Norman Osborn, as well as the first appearance of Henry Simmons as Harry Osborn, who plays the role in a brief cameo.
The biggest casting change however, as you're no doubt aware, was the recasting of Mary Jane Watson. Fay Masterson, who played the character in the original 1991 film, would famously leave the role due to a potential schedule conflict after she was offered her big break when she was cast as the lead role in 1993’s Redding and Weep, a role which would in fact eventually land her an Oscar and help cement her status as a A-list actress [4]. While said departure was quite amicable from all reports, it did nonetheless force Disney/Marvel to have to find a replacement to play Mary Jane, which they would eventually find in actress Alicia Witt [5].
Witt would certainly provide audiences with a different sort of Mary Jane than the one they were used to with Fay Masterson’s performance, as Witt ultimately chose to put her own mark on the character rather than just copying what Masterson did, something which Joss Whedon, who wrote the film, decided to actually incorporate into the story upon hearing Witt’s own suggestions for the character. Compared to Masterson’s more down to earth girl-next-door version of the character that reflected more the Mary Jane of the comics at the time in temperament and personality, Witt’s Mary Jane would begin to tone down on the girl-next-door aspects to instead introduce a more playful, energetic take on the character which heavily leaned into a lot of the party-girl aspects Mary Jane had during her early comic book appearances. Though not as apparent in the second film as it would be in the third, the character change did bring an interesting on-screen evolution to the character, with Witt doing a rather good job at playing the more party girl Mary Jane.
Alicia Witt, circa 1995. She would replace Fay Masterson as Mary Jane Watson following the latter’s departure from the role. (Image Source: Alamy.com)
Nonetheless, the casting and character personality change (even if it was later explained well in the film [6]) would undeniably divide fans when the film first debuted, with a number of fans to this very day still arguing who they think is the better MJ. I myself personally actually prefer Fay Masterson’s version (who’s version felt more genuine and honestly had much better chemistry with Seth Greene), though I can see why more fans nowadays might tend to prefer Alicia Witt (even if her version in the Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 felt somewhat more like a devolution of the character, at least when you compared it to her evolution in the comics), since she has the advantage of playing the character across five films compared to Masterson’s one film.
In terms of plot, the story follows a Peter Parker who in the year since he received his powers has grown to become a much more experienced Spider-Man, even as he is also working as a lab assistant to Doctor Otto Octavius. In fact we get a clear demonstration of this in the opening film, as we first see Peter, who’s already missed class, now finding himself being late to his work with Octavius, due to being busy battling it out with none other than the Rhino (played in a surprise cameo by former wrestler Randy Savage) [7].
While Peter does eventually make it to work, it’s clear that despite his experience he still has a hard time balancing both parts of his life, and Otto naturally chastises him. As we soon learn though, it’s not just Peter’s double life that’s causing him issues, as it seems that things simply aren’t going well for him in other aspects of his private life. Peter’s Aunt May, as we soon learn, has been dealing with health problems and financial issues caused by debts which threaten to see her lose her home, an issue Peter will be forced to deal with and stress over during the course of the film.
In truth, the only bright spot for Peter at this point seems to be his relationship with Mary Jane, who soon invites him to attend with her a pre-High School graduation party at Liz Allen’s house. Peter decides to attend, despite Otto informing him he will be conducting an important experiment that very night, and naturally tragedy strikes when an accident in his lab causes Octavius’s new mentally-controlled arms to drive him insane and take over his mind. Peter naturally feels a deep sense of guilt and responsibility for the fate of his mentor and blames himself. This in turn leads Peter to become laser focused in his determination to save Octavius and stop him, which only ironically leads Peter to become more cold and methodical like Octavius is now, a mindset he will eventually have to be brought out of by Mary Jane and Aunt May.
Alfred Molina as Doc Ock. Look-wise, he mainly resembles his NWH appearance, but with his jacket being a slightly more vibrant green color and his under sweater being a yellowish color, to reflect the classic comic Doc Ock color scheme. (Source: NWH Concept Art/Edited and Recolored by @Nerdman3000)
Eventually the film concludes with Peter, who has taken the time to learn to try to focus on balancing both aspects of his life and move on from the bad mindset, having his graduation interrupted when panic ensues after Doc Ock threatens the whole city, leading to a jaw dropping and memorable final fight on top of the Twin Towers in New York [8] that as a kid left me grinning ear to ear when I first watched it in theaters. Yet what had me as a fan the most giddy was the final scene in the film, where Peter arrives at his dorm in college and meets his new roommate Harry Osborn and Harry’s father Norman, while also learning that MJ’s own roommate is in fact none other than Gwen Stacy (who is name dropped but not shown) [9].
It terms of story, Spider-Man 2 in my opinion did a great job of showcasing the difficulties Peter faces due to his double life, did a great job of showcasing Peter’s personal growth, and the finally it greatly helped set up the events of the third film, particularly with the introduction of Norman, Harry, and mention of Gwen, as well as Mary Jane’s own growing party girl personality which would play a big story factor in the third film and lead to Peter and MJ’s relationship troubles in that film.
Meanwhile in terms of special effects, the film would manage to build off the innovations and techniques which were used in the first film and made great strides towards expanding on them, such as with improvements to the web swinging effects which thanks to innovations in CGI allowed Disney and Marvel to show a whole minutes worth of more screen time of Peter web swinging around New York. Yet more than improvements to what was done before, the film also featured quite a bit of innovation, particularly with Doc Ock’s robotic arms, which would use a mix of CGI and practical effects, including innovative animatronic robot arms designed by Brian Henson that would present a huge leap in audio animatronic technology [10]. Even the suit worn by the Rhino that is featured early in the film would be innovative, as it would use early versions of many of the same special effects techniques that would later be perfected and used to bring the Hulk and Thing to life.
It perhaps then should be no surprise that Spider-Man 2 was a massive hit with fans and critics alike when it hit theaters, becoming the biggest film of 1993 when it made well over $510 at the box office and therefore almost twice that of its 1991 predecessor. To this day it’s often regarded as one of the best comic book movies of all time and one of the best Spider-Man films period, one only rivaled in terms of being a fan favorite by the very film which would follow it.
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[1] - Ben Richard Parker and May “Mayday” Gwendolyn Parker, for those who don’t remember, are the first two children. Ben is born during the Clone Saga, while May is born in the early 2000’s when Peter returns as Spider-Man in the comics (though she notably first appears briefly in the finale of the early 1990's Spider-Man cartoon). A third child, Annie Mary Parker is introduced in the comics in ITTL 2014.
[2] - This won’t factor outside of comics for a while, but there will be a sort of earlier ITTL version of Miles Morales who gets introduced in the early 2000’s. To make a long story short, despite Marvel’s editorial mostly preferring Ben Reilly over Peter due to Ben’s single status and the more story possibilities they believe Ben offers, Marvel ultimately feels they have to bring Peter back as sales of Spider-Man continue to decline into the 2000’s. Part of this is believed to be due to new readers having a hard time wrapping their head around the Ben Reilly clone origin, which Marvel editorial feels in hindsight is taking away from the realism and ability to relate to Spider-Man. This means they feel forced to bring back Peter, despite many of the editorial staff (and fans) feeling that Peter has had his perfect ending and most writers at Marvel editorial feeling that Peter has ‘aged out’ of the role since he’s married with kids.
The solution to this ends up being introducing a third new Spider-Man named Stanley O’Brian, based on a suggestion by new writer Brian Michael Bendis, during Tom Defalco’s ITTL third run as a writer for The Amazing Spider-Man. O’Brian is basically a young teenage half-Irish Jewish kid who manages to get powers just like Peter (well more like OTL Miguel o’Hara, if you want a better comparison of power sets) when he also gets bitten by a radioactive Spider, leading Peter to return as Spider-Man to mentor him following the temporary depowering of Ben Reilly. Eventually O’Brian would get his own spinoff comic series written by Brian Michael Bendis, which is basically the ITTL equivalent to OTL's Ultimate Spider-Man but set in Earth 616. So basically picture Ultimate Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Miguel O’Hara mixed into one character and you get Stanley O’Brian, the ITTL third Spider-Man.
[3] - Tandy would pass away in 1994 in both OTL and ITTL.
[4] - For more about this, you can read my Oscar Bait film guest post here. Fay Masterson will go on to have a major A-list career ITTL following her departure from Spider-Man, which she arguably wouldn’t have had if she had stayed and continued playing Mary Jane for 6 films. If she had stayed, she more than likely would have ended up like Kristen Dunst, who’s promising career basically withered away after playing Mary Jane.
[5] - Alicia Witt, coincidentally enough, was the actress whom Sam Raimi originally wanted for the role of Mary Jane Watson in OTL’s Spider-Man 1 before Kristen Dunst was cast. Ultimately Dunst was cast due to expressing interest in the role after Tobey Maguire himself got cast, and due to her being a bigger name than Witt, Sony forced Raimi to cast Dunst instead. ITTL she successfully manages to get the role even earlier than she would have in OTL.
[6] - In-universe this is basically explained as Mary Jane has begun to adopt a party-girl personality like she did in the comics for the same reasons she did there, as a way of escaping and keeping her mind off of the difficulties of her bad home life and abusive father. The major difference here to the comics frankly is that unlike the comics, in the ITTL Spider-Man films Peter first meets MJ mostly before she took on that personality defense mechanism, which she only begins to adopts by Spider-Man 2 and goes fully into by Spider-Man 3, and would eventually play a big factor in her relationship with Peter and Gwen in that film.
[7] - One interesting aspect of the ITTL Seth Green films will be that certain smaller but still major Spider-Man villains like Shocker, Sandman, Rhino, and Vulture will appear in short bits or be referenced, to demonstrate that Peter has indeed fought other villains between films. Mainly these will be villains that won’t headline any film, but will be confirmed to exist. Later on, most of these villains will return and get their chance to finally shine in the 6th and final ITTL Seth Green Spider-Man film, which will feature the Sinister Six lead by Harry Osborn’s Hobgoblin.
[8] - Similar to the original intended final battle against Electro in the PS1 Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro game and the final battle in Insomniac’s Spider-Man game.
[9] - With Peter about to retire in the comics and the massive success of the first film, Marvel and Disney begin loosening the rule they had in the first film which prevented Gwen and Norman from appearing.
[10] - To go further into this, the tech used to create Doc Ocks arms would eventually help innovate audio animatronics used at the parks by increasing the quality, speed, and flow of movement of animatronic arms, helping to make them much closer to today’s A-100 audio animatronics from OTL (like the Na’vi animatronic in Animal Kingdom’s Pandora) then the ones from OTL 1990’s at this point in time.
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Anyways, that's that. Hope you enjoyed!
So um... any other ground rules than the ones at the first post? How do you contribute, how do you pitch ideas? Do you just plop them here or do they have to be PMed to Geekis or a designated editor?
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PM to Geekhis Khan is your best best, though if you want to pitch an idea to the wider community first, please use the Speculations and Questions thread for this timeline:
Hensonverse Speculation and Commentary
Since @Geekhis Khan’s A Hippie in the House of Mouse and Book II, When You wish upon a Frog, plus the Guest Post thread came out us fans have speculated and commented on the Hensonverse story to the point where it slightly details the thread(s), thus encouraged by the author themselves to...
www.alternatehistory.com
Loved the series at the times and here IRL Italy it was Moriarty and the two henchmen that basically steal the show even due to the actor dubbing him (Mauro Bosco) hamming up at eleven and using a lot of piedmontese accent and words plus always calling his two assistant the stupid cat and the dumb fox (il gatto tonto e la volpe scema)
Ha! Fascinating to hear! It was bought for me a few years back thanks to my appreciation of Miyazaki, and it's become something of a comfort series to watch ever since. And yeah, Moriarty's a hoot, not surprised he was a big hit in other languages. The English dub's Hamilton Camp did an excellent job of chewing up every bit of scenery, and it's surprising how much of the slapstick still holds up. I was very sad that I had to butterfly away his involvement in the show IITL.
What font did you use for the logo?
An more "retro-y" version of the famous teal slime planet logo, used from May 2002 until September 2005. Made by me @Otakuninja2006 .
Lost World Found
INT – STUDIO
NATHAN sits on a chair, as SAM RAIMI, TIM BURTON, CAROLINE THOMPSON and WINONA RYDER all sit on a sofa opposite to him.
[1] - A lot of Burton's statements here are true of OTL - he's not a big fan of doing sequels, and was essentially chained to Batman Returns by Warner. Here, obviously, he's got a lot more clout than he ever did OTL - however, I can imagine him having quite an attachment to JP ITTL, so I assumed that he'd remain in a producing capacity.
[2] - Might as well get the cat out the bag here now - Nic Cage is TTL's Tony Stark! More on him later.
[3] - To the best of my knowledge, they have never met OTL - without the infamously troubled production of Island of Dr. Moreau (stay tuned on that), Stanley's obviously a far bigger name. Given their shared sensibilities, I'd imagine they'd get on quite well.
[4] - This was meant to be the opening of the film OTL. And, yeah, John Leguizamo plays Marty Guitterez and Michael Keaton plays Lewis Dodgson - because really, why not?
[5] - What happens there? Stay tuned.
NATHAN sits on a chair, as SAM RAIMI, TIM BURTON, CAROLINE THOMPSON and WINONA RYDER all sit on a sofa opposite to him.
Nathan
Aaand, we're back! Hi, welcome to MonsterChat from a sleepy little town called Crosby, on a tiny island you might have heard of called the UK, I’m your host, Nathan the Nefarious, and today, we are talking about Jurassic Park’s followup, The Lost World! And, again, in our new, proper studio!
(He gestures around the room)
Unfortunately, as you can see, my co-host/sister/pain-in-my-arse couldn’t make it today (she’s busy writing something for a supehero blog post about famous heroines), so I’m going to have to do this all by me lonesome… well, not really, because I’ve got a group of people who are very knowledgeable about the film… the wickedly clever Tim Burton (in his second appearance on this show), the talented Caroline Thompson, the beautiful Winona Ryder… oh, and Sam Raimi, too.
Tim
Thank you, Nathan.
Caroline
(smiles and waves)
Winona
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Sam
Yeah – it’s a pleasure to be here. We’re actually big fans of your show, anyway, so…
Nathan
(mock-flirtatiously)
Why Mr. Raimi, I didn’t know you felt that way…
Winona
Get a room!
(everyone laughs)
Nathan
So, anyway, the story of The Lost World starts in all the way back in 1993, just after Jurassic Park was the big hit that summer – and a sequel was put into the works. Tim, could you tell us what the genesis of the project was?
Tim
Gladly. So, after Jurassic Park’s success – both the novel and the movie – there was a clamour for a follow-up. Michael [Crichton] told me that, after Jurassic Park, most of the letters he got were from kids asking when the sequel was coming out.. The Disney/MGM board were really keen on the idea of a sequel – I knew Steve was really interested in the notion… and I’ll be honest, since I’d enjoyed making the film, I was a little too. When Michael Crichton confirmed that he was writing another novel, Steve and I sat down and began discussing what we were gonna do.
Nathan
But, as I understand it, you were out as director from the very start.
Tim
Yeah. The first thing I said to Steve was that I wasn’t going to come back as director [1] – I’m not a big fan of doing sequels… and I think different directors can bring different qualities to a film. Look at Marvel and Star Wars. So I said, “I’m just as attached to this franchise as you are, Steve, and I want to be involved in some capacity, but not as director.” So I ended up as executive producer and Steve and I started pulling everything together.
Nathan
And that, Caroline, is where you come in.
Caroline
Yeah, I was a script doctor on the first Jurassic Park – I did a couple of uncredited rewrites on Michael Crichton’s script. With Michael Crichton unavailable, Tim and Steve Spielberg asked me to write the script to provide a sense of continuity between the first film and the second – someone whose head had already been in that world.
Nathan
Now, I seem to recall Crichton’s original idea was to bring Malcolm Morrison back from the dead… he mentioned the idea offhand in an interview, I think. But that didn’t end up happening – for a multitude of reason. What’s the full story behind that?
Tim
So Steve and I remained in contact with Michael Crichton throughout for a bit of synergy with what he was doing and what Caroline was doing, and one of the things he said was “I’m bringing back Malcolm Morrison – like Conan Doyle did Sherlock Holmes”. And Malcolm could be seen as a Holmes-type character, so… it was appropriate.
Nathan
However, as I understand it, Johnny Depp nixed that…
Tim
(sighs)
Well, shortly after that news dropped, Johnny gives me a call and says, “Look, Tim, I’ve made a decision – I’m not going to do what Bob Downey and Gary Oldman and Nic Cage are doing. I don’t care about the spray-painted action figures – I don’t buy into all that shit. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be in on this – I’ve got a Lovecraft movie with Richard Stanley in the pipeline.’ This was, I think, two days after it was coming out that Nic Cage was in negotiations to play Tony Stark[2] – a role I knew Johnny had turned down. So I had to pass it on to Michael Crichton that… resurrecting Malcolm wasn’t going to happen because we weren’t going to get Johnny to do it.
Nathan
That must have been a weird conversation. And, anyway, you can see why he spent a while avoiding big franchises – considering that it’s widely believed to be the greater public scrutiny that resulted from playing Supes that made Downey to hit the wall in the 90’s, culminating in his earnest attempt to break the land speed record… And we got Colour Out of Space from it, which is also good.
Tim
Yeah, Johnny and Richard [Stanley] [3] are good friends of mine and I was very happy for them – I loved the hell out of the film. So, anyway, the book became about Ian Grant searching for Site B – parallels to Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger. So the book was published just as we were putting together the crew for the sequel – and Steve, Caroline [Thompson] and I put together a rough outline – keeping in contact with Michael Crichton throughout… We just needed a director.
Nathan
So, anyway, that’s where you, Sam Raimi, come in.
Sam
That I do.
Nathan
So, anyway, this was the mid 90’s and you had been… I don’t know if kicked out is the appropriate word.
Sam
Oh, no, kicked out works just fine.
Nathan
Okay. You’d been kicked out of the DC movie universe (that you’d created, the ungrateful bastards) and whatever you had planned for Justice League ended up in the shredder… which is honestly a shame. Would have been a thousand times better than what we got. Hank Azaria was great as Aquaman, though – brilliant casting.
Sam
Thanks – and, yeah, I’d cast Hank before I was canned. He threatened to kick up a stink when I was removed, but I told him to leave it. This was his big break into film and I didn’t want him putting himself on the line for me.
Nathan
Aw, that’s nice of him. So, anyway you shunted from pillar to post for a while and then ended up mostly at Disney/MGM and Amblin, and to a lesser extent Fox… weirdly, appropriating some of the ideas you’d had for DC for the Marvel movies. In particular, a lot of the stuff with Galactus, if I recall correctly, was appropriated from the stuff you had in mind for Darkseid and the Apokoliptians… however, we’re getting off track here.
Sam
Hey, something for another day – there’s always next time.
Nathan
Oh, absolutely – people have been clamouring to have you on. So, anyway, you ended up directing Lost World… at Tim’s request, if I recall correctly.
Tim
Yup. Firstly, because Sam is a good friend of mine and I really wanted to help him out – Warner and Katzenberg had both screwed him over and, secondly, Sam shares a lot of my sensibilities, so it'd help with the sense of continuity between the two films. The other reason is… I have a special attachment to Jurassic Park and I knew that Sam would do Lost World justice.
Sam
And I jumped at the chance – I really wanted to work with Tim in an official capacity. We’d known each other for such a long time and we’d always said we should do a film together – and I loved Jurassic Park. It’s one of the highlights of Tim’s career – and I’ve told him that a thousand times over the years. So me and Caroline sat down and began fleshing out the screenplay…
Nathan
I understand the script had to be retooled quite dramatically early on … because of Brosnan’s other commitments.
Sam
Yeah – we were really getting through the first few drafts on the script, in which Grant was the lead and the film was about the search for Isla Sorna… then, someone at MGM says ‘Actually, Brosnan’s in Fantastic Four, so he might not have the time for a substantial role’… so we had go back and totally overhaul the story!
Caroline
Yeah, that was pretty fun – we had to retool the entire film in a weekend. Fortunately, we had a replacement in the form of Sarah Harding.
Winona
(laughs)
Glad to be of service.
Nathan
So, anyway, the film starts in style, with a fishing boat off Costa Rica hauling up a dead Parasaurolophus [3]. Now, I move in a lot of Fortean circles, and I, and others, have always wondered… was that scene meant to be a deliberate homage to the Zuiyo-maru carcass? For the uninitiated, the Zuiyo-maru carcass is a carcass that was hauled up by a trawler that some believed to be a plesiosaur – however, it’s more likely it was a decomposing basking shark…
Sam
You are correct – it was absolutely a homage to the Zuiyo-maru carcass. We were looking for different ideas in the opening scene and Tim suggested that a trawler haul up a dead dinosaur, like Zuiyo-maru. When Tim suggested it, we just thought there was something immediately arresting about that idea – a prehistoric animal being hauled out from the depths. Even though, as you say, it was probably just a dead basking shark…
Nathan
But, obviously, this is part of a big prologue, which details a bunch of strange incidents – dinosaur sightings, carcasses washing up – that seem to relate to dinosaurs on the mainland. Now, obviously, this is a condensation of events that happened in the Michael Crichton novel, with Marty Guitterez, once again played by John Leguizamo, investigating them… despite InGen’s attempts to cover up everything. Could you please tell us a bit more about that?
Sam
Absolutely. For Guiterrez, what we needed was to have someone who was a bit more knowledgeable about the InGen connection to the previous film investigating these incidents – and we loved John as Gutierrez in the first film. So it made sense to bring him back. It also helped establish InGen’s PR offensive to deny the connection between these incidents and Site B, with their new CEO… Peter Ludlow.
Nathan
Played by the terrific Bruce Campbell. I’m going to ask here – because, in the book, obviously, it’s all Lewis Dodgson, however, in the film, you split the role between him and Ludlow, with Dodgson (once again played by Michael Keaton) appearing in a much, much smaller role – I’m going to ask what the rationale for that was. Somebody once told me that Keaton had other commitments, others told me that this happened as the script changed…
Sam
More the second than the first – Michael was totally up for it. As we fleshed out the story of the film, we found that the story we were trying to tell was about Harmon’s legacy – how this man with a vision changed the world and what we choose to do with what these visionaries left behind, for better or for worse. So we realised the moral foe in this story should be an “enemy within”, as it were, rather than some outside force – and that was Ludlow, who worked perfectly as his uncle’s foil.
Caroline
We distinguished Ludlow from Harmon in one major way - as short-sighted and greedy as Harmon was, he still had that… maybe not respect for nature, but certainly an awe of it. Deep down, he was that little boy who believed in flea circuses and wanted to make real miracles. Ludlow doesn’t have that – he’s just greedy and scheming. He’s all the worst aspects of human nature.
Nathan
And Bruce was just so odious in the part… I think we have a clip.
[Clip starts]
DOGDSON
Where are my specimens, Ludlow?
LUDLOW
There was a… complication on Sorna, so rather sadly your specimens will have to wait – however, you’re getting enough to tide you over, for now… and, you can wait a while. Patience, Lewis, patience.
DOGDSON
(scowls)
Remember our deal, Ludlow… I get my specimens, you get my info on Site B, so you can make your little petting zoo. (briefly pauses and looks mock-disapproving) Tsk, tsk, I wonder what your uncle would think if he were here – he’d find your vision awfully small. And making a deal with our nefarious name? That’s another bit of bad PR you simply you don’t need…
LUDLOW
Oh Lewis… you shouldn’t have done that. Firstly, a reminder of our positions… I came to you. Not the other way around. Secondly, my uncle was a visionary - you know what happens to visionaries? They fly too close to the sun – their reach exceeds their grasp in the end. Mine doesn’t…. so you really should stop comparing us. His legacy is failure – mine will not be. That’s the difference between him and me. (his voice becomes colder) And, besides, you’re the only one with the bad PR – I can simply say “I was manipulated – why I just wanted to honour my uncle’s vision!” So… I wouldn’t go around making threats. (snarls) You get that?
(Dodgson takes a couple of steps back – this was a tiger he should not have poked.)
[Clip ends]
Sam
So, Ludlow is plotting to open a new Jurassic Park in San Diego – he’s also working with Dodgson. Basically, Dodgson and BioSyn get vivisection rights to the Site B dinosaurs in exchange for whatever info BioSyn have on Site B. However, he needs someone to lead the expedition to the island…
Nathan
And that, Winona, is where your character, Sarah Harding, comes in.
Winona
Yup.
Nathan
Obviously this character is… not as prominent in the book, but in this film she’s pretty much the main character. I understand a lot of this was retooled because of Brosnan’s other commitments – he has maybe two scenes in the finished film (with Geena Davis)…
Sam
Yeah. Harding in the book is sort of the Malone character, split with the kids, if we’re continuing with the Conan Doyle parallels – whilst the kids are the total outsiders who need to be explained everything, Harding, being an animal behaviourist, can talk with Grant and Marcus on an equal level, but is unfamiliar with the incident at Jurassic Park. When we found out Pierce wasn’t going to be doing it, we had to retool the entire film to make Harding the main character – which meant expanding her character greatly.
Winona
Interesting fact, I actually auditioned for Marcus in the first Jurassic Park – before the part was aged up and Geena Davis was cast. I’d worked with Tim a number of times – and whenever we met before the film came out, Tim said, “If there’s a sequel, you’re going to be in it.” So… yeah – I called up Tim and said (mock-little girl voice) “You pwomised…”
(Everyone laughs)
Nathan
As I understand it, you did a shitload of research for the part – on the advice of Pierce Brosnan, apparently.
Winona
Yeah – Pierce told me that, if my character’s giving exposition, it has to be as accurate as possible. Sarah Harding wouldn’t make those errors, so Winona Ryder has to make sure what Sarah Harding says is right! (laughs) So Pierce contacted Jack Horner, who he’d struck up sort of a friendship with, and I went to one of his digs in Montana to get a sense of what palaeontologist camp life was like. In addition, since my character was also an animal behaviourist, I talked to a shitload of animal behaviourists, including George Schaller, to make sure the exposition Sarah would be delivering was as accurate as possible.
Nathan
You picked up quite a few titbits from that, as I recall. Speaking as someone who has also studied animal behaviour, I was surprised, rewatching it recently, how accurate a lot of the exposition was – because, generally, what annoys me in movies (and what takes me out of proceedings very quickly) is when characters who are supposed to know better make whopping great mistakes in exposition.
Winona
Glad I could be of service, I guess.
Nathan
So, anyway, Harding is recruited by Ludlow to lead the expedition to the island – ostensibly to study the dinosaurs- and is introduced to the rest of the team… and my favourite character, Roland Tembo, played by Tom “Tiny” Lister Jr.. Any info on him?
Sam
Oh, absolutely – Steve and Tim came up with this “big game hunter” type character who’d sort of be the “noble demon” kind of character – somebody who’d be on Ludlow’s side, but who’d have standards. He was written as a white guy – I think we were looking at somebody like Pete Posthelwaite or Ian McKellen to play him – but Tom blew it out of the water in the audition, so we cast him.
Winona
Tom is such a great actor – and such fun to work with. He gave Tembo such nuance – his respect towards Harding, his growing disquiet with the whole shebang and, ultimately his redemption was beautifully done. Tom was also incredibly fun on set. He’s just a really nice guy.
Nathan
What I like about the whole introduction is there’s this sinister undercurrent – the whole notion that there’s this secret that everyone but Harding is in on. It’s a very different scene rewatching it!
Sam
Absolutely. It was very important that there be these subtle cues in their behaviour that there’s some sinister agenda going on that Harding is being kept in the dark about. Tembo’s uncomfortableness when first introduced to her, the kind of faked friendliness from the rest of the team and Nick’s evasiveness when he’s asked why he’s accompanying them… these all foreshadow that Harding is being strung along.
Nathan
So, we head to the island and, of course, I’ve left someone out…
Sam
I think I can guess…
Nathan
Harding finds out that Kelly, her daughter, played by the wonderful Vanessa Lee Chester, has stowed away on one of the transports. And, as you can imagine, she isn’t happy.
HARDING
I told you that where I was going was too dangerous. I told you weren’t allowed to come. I don’t want to hear what excuse you have for-
KELLY
But mom, I thought-
HARDING
And now I have to hear it
NICK
Do you see the family resemblance?
TEMBO
I’m glad you asked… No.
Nathan
Now, there are two kids in the book – Kelly and another character named Arby, who’s a bit of a nerd and whose arc is basically “learns not to be such a wimp”.
Winona
(laughs)
That’s really reductive.
Nathan
It’s true either way. But he was removed and a lot of him was condensed into Kelly. I’m wondering if that was the decision from the beginning…
Sam
Originally there were two kids in the script – however, when we were storyboarding the film, we found that the best element of the book was that relationship between Kelly and Harding. We don’t see many of these big movies where the emotional core is a mom-daughter relationship – and we see even less when it’s a stepparent-stepchild relationship. Steve specifically recommended Vanessa to us and she and Winona had this wonderful chemistry.
Winona
I was only 26 at the time, so I thought… do I look that old? Then I got clarification that Kelly was Harding’s stepdaughter. And Vanessa is just a wonderful actress – we became really close making this movie together.
Caroline
In addition, we found that it created an interesting parallel between Harding and the T-rex pair – especially during the rampage at the end – in the sense that both are motivated by defence of their offspring. It helped us see the dinosaurs as characters – in the sense that aspects of their motivations parallel those of the human characters.
Nathan
So we begin exploring the island and it’s important to note here that we don’t skimp on the dinosaurs in this film – most of the species that were in the first film return… and there’s a bunch of new ones – from the honking, scavenging Oviraptors to the head-butting Pachycephalosaurus.
Sam
The idea was that the Site B facility on the island on Sorna, abandoned after the disaster at Jurassic Park and Harmon’s death, was destroyed in a hurricane, enabling the dinosaurs to escape, proliferate and form this sort of artificial ecosystem. Since Site B was the… factory floor, as it were, we figured that we could put more dinosaurs in.
Nathan
Any personal favourites?
Winona
Personally? I love the Oviraptors – they’re just so… weirdly adorable. Like, they’re these ugly, dirty scavengers, but at the same time, they’re kind of cute. I always found it funny whenever they came on.
Sam
I mean, I like ‘em all really, but if I had to pick… I’ve gotta say the Pachycephalosaurus – it just has this wonderful Tasmanian Devil vibe, where it’s just this destructive whirlwind. Writing it, and directing it, was incredibly fun.
Caroline
I’m unoriginal – I’d say the T-rex is my favourite. In particular, I liked how we were able to give it a bit of a sensitive side that we couldn’t really in the first one – in the first one, the T-rex was just big, growling and hungry… here it’s got a bit more of a character arc.
Tim
Ever since the first film, I’ve always had a fondness for the Velociraptors. Because they’re this incredibly intelligent species and it’s always fun to imagine how they might relate and co-exist with us. You could argue that that’s the whole series-wide arc with them – in all the movies, there’s this running theme of going from seeing us as prey to heading towards co-existing with us.
Nathan
Another thing I should mention is that the dinosaurs – well, the Velociraptors and Oviraptors – have a protofeather coating this time round. As I understand it, Tim, you wanted feathered dinosaurs in the first film, but Spielberg overruled you…
Tim
Yeah. Basically, based on the advice of our palaeontological consultants, we drew up raptor designs with a prototfeather covering – however, Steve didn’t like them. He was worried they didn’t look “scary” enough. However, for this one, I convinced him to let us use the feathered designs.
Caroline
The in-story rationale we used is that these raptors are an earlier… iteration, as it were. These raptors hatched out with protofeathers, Harmon didn’t like the look, so he sent them back to Site B. As well as providing us a rationale for the change, it showed that Harmon wasn't entirely heartless - he didn't want to see the dinosaurs die just for looking wrong, so he just had them sent back to Site B.
Nathan
Anyway, before the paleo-nerd in me gets too far down the rabbit hole…. Unfortunately, when they find the T-rex nest, Harding finds Tembo’s only in this to hunt a T-rex – breaking the juvenile’s leg to lure out its parents. Harding manages to heal the baby rex – and escape being eaten by its parents – and heads back to camp to realise… it was all a con. Ludlow’s men aren’t in this to study the dinosaurs, but to take them to the mainland.
Sam
Well, not all of them – turns out Nick’s not a documentary filmmaker, but someone sent in to sabotage the expedition. Apparently, some InGen board members loyal to Lex and Tim planted him in as a mole.
Nathan
That was deus ex machina’d.
Caroline
True, but we didn’t quite have a choice – we needed some way for Kelly and Harding to be able to quickly take down the entire operation. So basically, Nick releases the dinosaurs and they go on a rampage in the camp – things go to shit very quickly. They end up forced into an uneasy alliance with Ludlow’s men… and there’s some awkwardness between Harding and Tembo – these two people who’d gotten on, who had come to respect one another… obviously the betrayal’s going to sting.
Nathan
So, fleeing the ruined camp, the remainder of the InGen team, Nick, Kelly and Harding end up in raptor territory. In the sequence, most of Ludlow’s hunters are killed and Nick sacrifices himself to draw the raptors away, so Harding and Kelly can escape. In both the raptor scene and the scene in the rex nest, there’s a bit of a survival horror vibe to these scenes – it’s a different kind of horror to the first film.
Sam
Yeah. For Lost World, both Steve and Tim were insistent that it stand out from the first film. A lot of the dinosaur scenes in the first film took place in artificial environments or had artificial things in the background – in Lost World… we don’t have that. This isn’t an environment where we’ve lost control, this is one where we’ve never had it to begin with. We tried to restore that whole “rats hiding from dinosaurs” idea – now, we humans are what mammals were during the dinosaur era.
Nathan
As I understand it, Winona, you didn’t have a stunt double for most of these scenes… so that must have been fun.
Winona
I mean, yeah, I’d never done anything quite like Lost World before – that sort of an action-heavy movie. The closest thing I’d ever done was Dracula. So I, perhaps foolishly, thought ‘This should be easy – of course I’ll do all my own stunts!’
I was dating River Phoenix at the time – and I was coming home every night battered and bleeding. And he said, “At what point in this movie do they stone you?”
Nathan
Oh my word!
Winona
Well, I married him in the end, so I forgave him. And, besides, it was fun – I started doing more of these action films after Lost World – Sam got me the part of Lady Sif in the Marvel movies right after we did Lost World, so I forgave Sam too.
Nathan
So, anyway, the finale has to be big… Like T-rex rampaging through San Diego big!
Sam
Yup – you see, Ludlow’s team managed to capture the T-rex pair and their infant. Arriving on the island to collect them, Ludlow offers Tembo and Harding positions at the San Diego park, but they both refuse – Harding because of the depth of Ludlow’s deception and Tembo because he has now come to realise the folly of the whole endeavour… and the depths of Ludlow’s ego.
Nathan
Which takes us to… the finale!
Sam
In San Diego, Harding, Kelly and a redeemed Tembo attempt to warn Ludlow about the possible consequences of his actions, but to no avail. In a deliberate homage to King Kong, the Tyrannosaur pair are presented to a crowd… however, they manage to escape and go on a rampage, with Tembo sacrificing himself to distract them so people can be safely evacuated, apologising to Harding for the deception as he does so. And we have our finale!
Caroline
Yeah, the whole T-rex rampage idea was something that Tim and Steve had stipulated early on – in the novel, it just ends with the protagonists escaping the island, but they felt something grander was needed.
Tim
The T-rex ending was something Steve and I initially came up with for a hypothetical third movie… but then I ended up having another idea for a third movie in which that sequence didn’t fit, so we decided… why not repurpose it in this? We were coming out a few weeks before Godzilla, so Sam could get some revenge on Jeff Katzenberg!
Sam
(chuckles)
Yeah. So the T-rex pair wreak havoc in San Diego – the military attempt to capture them, but to no avail. However, Harding manages to stop the military from moving on to the kill plan by theorising that the T-rex pair are looking for their baby… which must be back at Ludlow’s base of operations. So the plan becomes using recordings of the baby’s calls to lead them back to the docks.
Nathan
But… Dogdson and Ludlow aren’t out for the count yet.
Sam
Hey, you telling this story or am I?
Nathan
I’m sorry, Sam, go on.
Sam
So, Dodgson and Ludlow attempt to escape with the baby T-rex – attempting to cut their losses and run. Unfortunately, the T-rex pair smash through the Jeep and retrieve their infant - Dodgson is ripped in half in a tug-o-war and eaten, whilst Ludlow is crippled and used as hunting practice for the baby.
Nathan
Couldn’t have happened to nicer blokes.
Sam
Harsh, but fair. Really, though, the karma was always the intent – Ludlow and Dodgson attempted to control nature for their own gain and failed. It created an interesting counterpoint to Harmon’s death – there was always an element of tragedy to Harmon’s death, being eaten by a swarm of compys. However, there’s nothing tragic about these deaths – they got exactly what they deserved.
Nathan
So, we have the ending of the film… which is strangely happy – the T-rex family are sent back to Sorna and Lex and Tim end up with InGen and reveal Sorna to the world, declaring it an international wildlife preserve. And yet there’s this sense that there’s more to come on the horizon…
Sam
Tim and Steve – who have pretty much emerged as this franchise’s custodians – always said “If Lost World does well enough, we’ll start production on a third movie”. Tim told me he had a few ideas for a possible story in number three[5], so the ending had to be open-ended.
Caroline
I never saw the ending as particularly happy – the Tyrannosaurus family are home, most of the characters you care about have a happy ending and the dinosaurs are going to be protected, sure. But Sorna being revealed to the world will have consequences – and every character is aware of that. It’s a happy ending for now – which, sometimes, is as good as you get.
Nathan
Obviously, Lost World was a lot darker than its predecessor, so Disney/MGM took care to limit direct marketing to kids – obviously, there was a merchandising blitz, but really it was made clear that this wasn’t for younger kids. Plenty of them went to see it, but I’m going to ask… where did that come from?
Tim
We got away with it for Jurassic Park because, quite simply, it relied heavily on “show, don’t tell” – it wasn’t out-and-out gory, but at the same time maintained that horror feeling. Lost World was a bit more brutal – every death in this movie still makes me flinch. And I helped make it!
Sam
I mean, Jim was very conscious that Lost World was, unlike its predecessor, not really appropriate for younger kids. The idea was to have Lost World and Dinotopia release simultaneously, so the younger kids and the older kids could have a dinosaur movie…
Nathan
The “Dinosaur Summer”, I believe it was called.
Sam
Yeah, the “Dinosaur Summer” – the idea was they’d have Dinotopia, Lost World and a Land Before Time release – in order to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Unfortunately, the release date on Dinotopia got pushed back, because there was a shitload of competition - Terminator 3, the Fantastic Four, and Godzilla, as well as Lost World – all in the original release window.
Nathan
Speaking of which… there’s a Hard-R cut that you, Tim, and Brian Henson did that ended up in limited circulation… which, apparently pissed off the Big Kahuna.
Tim
(chuckles)
Sam
Oh, yeah… basically, Tim, Brian and I had secretly conspired to make a bloodier cut of the film – gorier death scenes… basically, so brutal it made the theatrical cut look tame. Jim was pissed when he found out what we’d done behind his back - but I think he came to understand what use it could be.
Nathan
Yeah - I suppose it didn't make the Haysites happy, but for struggling cinemas, it proved to be a bit of a godsend. And with that, we are out of time. I just wanna extend a warm thanks for all of you for taking the time to come today - and for you viewers, remember to subscribe and stay notified.
Aaand, we're back! Hi, welcome to MonsterChat from a sleepy little town called Crosby, on a tiny island you might have heard of called the UK, I’m your host, Nathan the Nefarious, and today, we are talking about Jurassic Park’s followup, The Lost World! And, again, in our new, proper studio!
(He gestures around the room)
Unfortunately, as you can see, my co-host/sister/pain-in-my-arse couldn’t make it today (she’s busy writing something for a supehero blog post about famous heroines), so I’m going to have to do this all by me lonesome… well, not really, because I’ve got a group of people who are very knowledgeable about the film… the wickedly clever Tim Burton (in his second appearance on this show), the talented Caroline Thompson, the beautiful Winona Ryder… oh, and Sam Raimi, too.
Tim
Thank you, Nathan.
Caroline
(smiles and waves)
Winona
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Sam
Yeah – it’s a pleasure to be here. We’re actually big fans of your show, anyway, so…
Nathan
(mock-flirtatiously)
Why Mr. Raimi, I didn’t know you felt that way…
Winona
Get a room!
(everyone laughs)
Nathan
So, anyway, the story of The Lost World starts in all the way back in 1993, just after Jurassic Park was the big hit that summer – and a sequel was put into the works. Tim, could you tell us what the genesis of the project was?
Tim
Gladly. So, after Jurassic Park’s success – both the novel and the movie – there was a clamour for a follow-up. Michael [Crichton] told me that, after Jurassic Park, most of the letters he got were from kids asking when the sequel was coming out.. The Disney/MGM board were really keen on the idea of a sequel – I knew Steve was really interested in the notion… and I’ll be honest, since I’d enjoyed making the film, I was a little too. When Michael Crichton confirmed that he was writing another novel, Steve and I sat down and began discussing what we were gonna do.
Nathan
But, as I understand it, you were out as director from the very start.
Tim
Yeah. The first thing I said to Steve was that I wasn’t going to come back as director [1] – I’m not a big fan of doing sequels… and I think different directors can bring different qualities to a film. Look at Marvel and Star Wars. So I said, “I’m just as attached to this franchise as you are, Steve, and I want to be involved in some capacity, but not as director.” So I ended up as executive producer and Steve and I started pulling everything together.
Nathan
And that, Caroline, is where you come in.
Caroline
Yeah, I was a script doctor on the first Jurassic Park – I did a couple of uncredited rewrites on Michael Crichton’s script. With Michael Crichton unavailable, Tim and Steve Spielberg asked me to write the script to provide a sense of continuity between the first film and the second – someone whose head had already been in that world.
Nathan
Now, I seem to recall Crichton’s original idea was to bring Malcolm Morrison back from the dead… he mentioned the idea offhand in an interview, I think. But that didn’t end up happening – for a multitude of reason. What’s the full story behind that?
Tim
So Steve and I remained in contact with Michael Crichton throughout for a bit of synergy with what he was doing and what Caroline was doing, and one of the things he said was “I’m bringing back Malcolm Morrison – like Conan Doyle did Sherlock Holmes”. And Malcolm could be seen as a Holmes-type character, so… it was appropriate.
Nathan
However, as I understand it, Johnny Depp nixed that…
Tim
(sighs)
Well, shortly after that news dropped, Johnny gives me a call and says, “Look, Tim, I’ve made a decision – I’m not going to do what Bob Downey and Gary Oldman and Nic Cage are doing. I don’t care about the spray-painted action figures – I don’t buy into all that shit. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be in on this – I’ve got a Lovecraft movie with Richard Stanley in the pipeline.’ This was, I think, two days after it was coming out that Nic Cage was in negotiations to play Tony Stark[2] – a role I knew Johnny had turned down. So I had to pass it on to Michael Crichton that… resurrecting Malcolm wasn’t going to happen because we weren’t going to get Johnny to do it.
Nathan
That must have been a weird conversation. And, anyway, you can see why he spent a while avoiding big franchises – considering that it’s widely believed to be the greater public scrutiny that resulted from playing Supes that made Downey to hit the wall in the 90’s, culminating in his earnest attempt to break the land speed record… And we got Colour Out of Space from it, which is also good.
Tim
Yeah, Johnny and Richard [Stanley] [3] are good friends of mine and I was very happy for them – I loved the hell out of the film. So, anyway, the book became about Ian Grant searching for Site B – parallels to Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger. So the book was published just as we were putting together the crew for the sequel – and Steve, Caroline [Thompson] and I put together a rough outline – keeping in contact with Michael Crichton throughout… We just needed a director.
Nathan
So, anyway, that’s where you, Sam Raimi, come in.
Sam
That I do.
Nathan
So, anyway, this was the mid 90’s and you had been… I don’t know if kicked out is the appropriate word.
Sam
Oh, no, kicked out works just fine.
Nathan
Okay. You’d been kicked out of the DC movie universe (that you’d created, the ungrateful bastards) and whatever you had planned for Justice League ended up in the shredder… which is honestly a shame. Would have been a thousand times better than what we got. Hank Azaria was great as Aquaman, though – brilliant casting.
Sam
Thanks – and, yeah, I’d cast Hank before I was canned. He threatened to kick up a stink when I was removed, but I told him to leave it. This was his big break into film and I didn’t want him putting himself on the line for me.
Nathan
Aw, that’s nice of him. So, anyway you shunted from pillar to post for a while and then ended up mostly at Disney/MGM and Amblin, and to a lesser extent Fox… weirdly, appropriating some of the ideas you’d had for DC for the Marvel movies. In particular, a lot of the stuff with Galactus, if I recall correctly, was appropriated from the stuff you had in mind for Darkseid and the Apokoliptians… however, we’re getting off track here.
Sam
Hey, something for another day – there’s always next time.
Nathan
Oh, absolutely – people have been clamouring to have you on. So, anyway, you ended up directing Lost World… at Tim’s request, if I recall correctly.
Tim
Yup. Firstly, because Sam is a good friend of mine and I really wanted to help him out – Warner and Katzenberg had both screwed him over and, secondly, Sam shares a lot of my sensibilities, so it'd help with the sense of continuity between the two films. The other reason is… I have a special attachment to Jurassic Park and I knew that Sam would do Lost World justice.
Sam
And I jumped at the chance – I really wanted to work with Tim in an official capacity. We’d known each other for such a long time and we’d always said we should do a film together – and I loved Jurassic Park. It’s one of the highlights of Tim’s career – and I’ve told him that a thousand times over the years. So me and Caroline sat down and began fleshing out the screenplay…
Nathan
I understand the script had to be retooled quite dramatically early on … because of Brosnan’s other commitments.
Sam
Yeah – we were really getting through the first few drafts on the script, in which Grant was the lead and the film was about the search for Isla Sorna… then, someone at MGM says ‘Actually, Brosnan’s in Fantastic Four, so he might not have the time for a substantial role’… so we had go back and totally overhaul the story!
Caroline
Yeah, that was pretty fun – we had to retool the entire film in a weekend. Fortunately, we had a replacement in the form of Sarah Harding.
Winona
(laughs)
Glad to be of service.
Nathan
So, anyway, the film starts in style, with a fishing boat off Costa Rica hauling up a dead Parasaurolophus [3]. Now, I move in a lot of Fortean circles, and I, and others, have always wondered… was that scene meant to be a deliberate homage to the Zuiyo-maru carcass? For the uninitiated, the Zuiyo-maru carcass is a carcass that was hauled up by a trawler that some believed to be a plesiosaur – however, it’s more likely it was a decomposing basking shark…
Sam
You are correct – it was absolutely a homage to the Zuiyo-maru carcass. We were looking for different ideas in the opening scene and Tim suggested that a trawler haul up a dead dinosaur, like Zuiyo-maru. When Tim suggested it, we just thought there was something immediately arresting about that idea – a prehistoric animal being hauled out from the depths. Even though, as you say, it was probably just a dead basking shark…
Nathan
But, obviously, this is part of a big prologue, which details a bunch of strange incidents – dinosaur sightings, carcasses washing up – that seem to relate to dinosaurs on the mainland. Now, obviously, this is a condensation of events that happened in the Michael Crichton novel, with Marty Guitterez, once again played by John Leguizamo, investigating them… despite InGen’s attempts to cover up everything. Could you please tell us a bit more about that?
Sam
Absolutely. For Guiterrez, what we needed was to have someone who was a bit more knowledgeable about the InGen connection to the previous film investigating these incidents – and we loved John as Gutierrez in the first film. So it made sense to bring him back. It also helped establish InGen’s PR offensive to deny the connection between these incidents and Site B, with their new CEO… Peter Ludlow.
Nathan
Played by the terrific Bruce Campbell. I’m going to ask here – because, in the book, obviously, it’s all Lewis Dodgson, however, in the film, you split the role between him and Ludlow, with Dodgson (once again played by Michael Keaton) appearing in a much, much smaller role – I’m going to ask what the rationale for that was. Somebody once told me that Keaton had other commitments, others told me that this happened as the script changed…
Sam
More the second than the first – Michael was totally up for it. As we fleshed out the story of the film, we found that the story we were trying to tell was about Harmon’s legacy – how this man with a vision changed the world and what we choose to do with what these visionaries left behind, for better or for worse. So we realised the moral foe in this story should be an “enemy within”, as it were, rather than some outside force – and that was Ludlow, who worked perfectly as his uncle’s foil.
Caroline
We distinguished Ludlow from Harmon in one major way - as short-sighted and greedy as Harmon was, he still had that… maybe not respect for nature, but certainly an awe of it. Deep down, he was that little boy who believed in flea circuses and wanted to make real miracles. Ludlow doesn’t have that – he’s just greedy and scheming. He’s all the worst aspects of human nature.
Nathan
And Bruce was just so odious in the part… I think we have a clip.
[Clip starts]
DOGDSON
Where are my specimens, Ludlow?
LUDLOW
There was a… complication on Sorna, so rather sadly your specimens will have to wait – however, you’re getting enough to tide you over, for now… and, you can wait a while. Patience, Lewis, patience.
DOGDSON
(scowls)
Remember our deal, Ludlow… I get my specimens, you get my info on Site B, so you can make your little petting zoo. (briefly pauses and looks mock-disapproving) Tsk, tsk, I wonder what your uncle would think if he were here – he’d find your vision awfully small. And making a deal with our nefarious name? That’s another bit of bad PR you simply you don’t need…
LUDLOW
Oh Lewis… you shouldn’t have done that. Firstly, a reminder of our positions… I came to you. Not the other way around. Secondly, my uncle was a visionary - you know what happens to visionaries? They fly too close to the sun – their reach exceeds their grasp in the end. Mine doesn’t…. so you really should stop comparing us. His legacy is failure – mine will not be. That’s the difference between him and me. (his voice becomes colder) And, besides, you’re the only one with the bad PR – I can simply say “I was manipulated – why I just wanted to honour my uncle’s vision!” So… I wouldn’t go around making threats. (snarls) You get that?
(Dodgson takes a couple of steps back – this was a tiger he should not have poked.)
[Clip ends]
Sam
So, Ludlow is plotting to open a new Jurassic Park in San Diego – he’s also working with Dodgson. Basically, Dodgson and BioSyn get vivisection rights to the Site B dinosaurs in exchange for whatever info BioSyn have on Site B. However, he needs someone to lead the expedition to the island…
Nathan
And that, Winona, is where your character, Sarah Harding, comes in.
Winona
Yup.
Nathan
Obviously this character is… not as prominent in the book, but in this film she’s pretty much the main character. I understand a lot of this was retooled because of Brosnan’s other commitments – he has maybe two scenes in the finished film (with Geena Davis)…
Sam
Yeah. Harding in the book is sort of the Malone character, split with the kids, if we’re continuing with the Conan Doyle parallels – whilst the kids are the total outsiders who need to be explained everything, Harding, being an animal behaviourist, can talk with Grant and Marcus on an equal level, but is unfamiliar with the incident at Jurassic Park. When we found out Pierce wasn’t going to be doing it, we had to retool the entire film to make Harding the main character – which meant expanding her character greatly.
Winona
Interesting fact, I actually auditioned for Marcus in the first Jurassic Park – before the part was aged up and Geena Davis was cast. I’d worked with Tim a number of times – and whenever we met before the film came out, Tim said, “If there’s a sequel, you’re going to be in it.” So… yeah – I called up Tim and said (mock-little girl voice) “You pwomised…”
(Everyone laughs)
Nathan
As I understand it, you did a shitload of research for the part – on the advice of Pierce Brosnan, apparently.
Winona
Yeah – Pierce told me that, if my character’s giving exposition, it has to be as accurate as possible. Sarah Harding wouldn’t make those errors, so Winona Ryder has to make sure what Sarah Harding says is right! (laughs) So Pierce contacted Jack Horner, who he’d struck up sort of a friendship with, and I went to one of his digs in Montana to get a sense of what palaeontologist camp life was like. In addition, since my character was also an animal behaviourist, I talked to a shitload of animal behaviourists, including George Schaller, to make sure the exposition Sarah would be delivering was as accurate as possible.
Nathan
You picked up quite a few titbits from that, as I recall. Speaking as someone who has also studied animal behaviour, I was surprised, rewatching it recently, how accurate a lot of the exposition was – because, generally, what annoys me in movies (and what takes me out of proceedings very quickly) is when characters who are supposed to know better make whopping great mistakes in exposition.
Winona
Glad I could be of service, I guess.
Nathan
So, anyway, Harding is recruited by Ludlow to lead the expedition to the island – ostensibly to study the dinosaurs- and is introduced to the rest of the team… and my favourite character, Roland Tembo, played by Tom “Tiny” Lister Jr.. Any info on him?
Sam
Oh, absolutely – Steve and Tim came up with this “big game hunter” type character who’d sort of be the “noble demon” kind of character – somebody who’d be on Ludlow’s side, but who’d have standards. He was written as a white guy – I think we were looking at somebody like Pete Posthelwaite or Ian McKellen to play him – but Tom blew it out of the water in the audition, so we cast him.
Winona
Tom is such a great actor – and such fun to work with. He gave Tembo such nuance – his respect towards Harding, his growing disquiet with the whole shebang and, ultimately his redemption was beautifully done. Tom was also incredibly fun on set. He’s just a really nice guy.
Nathan
What I like about the whole introduction is there’s this sinister undercurrent – the whole notion that there’s this secret that everyone but Harding is in on. It’s a very different scene rewatching it!
Sam
Absolutely. It was very important that there be these subtle cues in their behaviour that there’s some sinister agenda going on that Harding is being kept in the dark about. Tembo’s uncomfortableness when first introduced to her, the kind of faked friendliness from the rest of the team and Nick’s evasiveness when he’s asked why he’s accompanying them… these all foreshadow that Harding is being strung along.
Nathan
So, we head to the island and, of course, I’ve left someone out…
Sam
I think I can guess…
Nathan
Harding finds out that Kelly, her daughter, played by the wonderful Vanessa Lee Chester, has stowed away on one of the transports. And, as you can imagine, she isn’t happy.
HARDING
I told you that where I was going was too dangerous. I told you weren’t allowed to come. I don’t want to hear what excuse you have for-
KELLY
But mom, I thought-
HARDING
And now I have to hear it
NICK
Do you see the family resemblance?
TEMBO
I’m glad you asked… No.
Nathan
Now, there are two kids in the book – Kelly and another character named Arby, who’s a bit of a nerd and whose arc is basically “learns not to be such a wimp”.
Winona
(laughs)
That’s really reductive.
Nathan
It’s true either way. But he was removed and a lot of him was condensed into Kelly. I’m wondering if that was the decision from the beginning…
Sam
Originally there were two kids in the script – however, when we were storyboarding the film, we found that the best element of the book was that relationship between Kelly and Harding. We don’t see many of these big movies where the emotional core is a mom-daughter relationship – and we see even less when it’s a stepparent-stepchild relationship. Steve specifically recommended Vanessa to us and she and Winona had this wonderful chemistry.
Winona
I was only 26 at the time, so I thought… do I look that old? Then I got clarification that Kelly was Harding’s stepdaughter. And Vanessa is just a wonderful actress – we became really close making this movie together.
Caroline
In addition, we found that it created an interesting parallel between Harding and the T-rex pair – especially during the rampage at the end – in the sense that both are motivated by defence of their offspring. It helped us see the dinosaurs as characters – in the sense that aspects of their motivations parallel those of the human characters.
Nathan
So we begin exploring the island and it’s important to note here that we don’t skimp on the dinosaurs in this film – most of the species that were in the first film return… and there’s a bunch of new ones – from the honking, scavenging Oviraptors to the head-butting Pachycephalosaurus.
Sam
The idea was that the Site B facility on the island on Sorna, abandoned after the disaster at Jurassic Park and Harmon’s death, was destroyed in a hurricane, enabling the dinosaurs to escape, proliferate and form this sort of artificial ecosystem. Since Site B was the… factory floor, as it were, we figured that we could put more dinosaurs in.
Nathan
Any personal favourites?
Winona
Personally? I love the Oviraptors – they’re just so… weirdly adorable. Like, they’re these ugly, dirty scavengers, but at the same time, they’re kind of cute. I always found it funny whenever they came on.
Sam
I mean, I like ‘em all really, but if I had to pick… I’ve gotta say the Pachycephalosaurus – it just has this wonderful Tasmanian Devil vibe, where it’s just this destructive whirlwind. Writing it, and directing it, was incredibly fun.
Caroline
I’m unoriginal – I’d say the T-rex is my favourite. In particular, I liked how we were able to give it a bit of a sensitive side that we couldn’t really in the first one – in the first one, the T-rex was just big, growling and hungry… here it’s got a bit more of a character arc.
Tim
Ever since the first film, I’ve always had a fondness for the Velociraptors. Because they’re this incredibly intelligent species and it’s always fun to imagine how they might relate and co-exist with us. You could argue that that’s the whole series-wide arc with them – in all the movies, there’s this running theme of going from seeing us as prey to heading towards co-existing with us.
Nathan
Another thing I should mention is that the dinosaurs – well, the Velociraptors and Oviraptors – have a protofeather coating this time round. As I understand it, Tim, you wanted feathered dinosaurs in the first film, but Spielberg overruled you…
Tim
Yeah. Basically, based on the advice of our palaeontological consultants, we drew up raptor designs with a prototfeather covering – however, Steve didn’t like them. He was worried they didn’t look “scary” enough. However, for this one, I convinced him to let us use the feathered designs.
Caroline
The in-story rationale we used is that these raptors are an earlier… iteration, as it were. These raptors hatched out with protofeathers, Harmon didn’t like the look, so he sent them back to Site B. As well as providing us a rationale for the change, it showed that Harmon wasn't entirely heartless - he didn't want to see the dinosaurs die just for looking wrong, so he just had them sent back to Site B.
Nathan
Anyway, before the paleo-nerd in me gets too far down the rabbit hole…. Unfortunately, when they find the T-rex nest, Harding finds Tembo’s only in this to hunt a T-rex – breaking the juvenile’s leg to lure out its parents. Harding manages to heal the baby rex – and escape being eaten by its parents – and heads back to camp to realise… it was all a con. Ludlow’s men aren’t in this to study the dinosaurs, but to take them to the mainland.
Sam
Well, not all of them – turns out Nick’s not a documentary filmmaker, but someone sent in to sabotage the expedition. Apparently, some InGen board members loyal to Lex and Tim planted him in as a mole.
Nathan
That was deus ex machina’d.
Caroline
True, but we didn’t quite have a choice – we needed some way for Kelly and Harding to be able to quickly take down the entire operation. So basically, Nick releases the dinosaurs and they go on a rampage in the camp – things go to shit very quickly. They end up forced into an uneasy alliance with Ludlow’s men… and there’s some awkwardness between Harding and Tembo – these two people who’d gotten on, who had come to respect one another… obviously the betrayal’s going to sting.
Nathan
So, fleeing the ruined camp, the remainder of the InGen team, Nick, Kelly and Harding end up in raptor territory. In the sequence, most of Ludlow’s hunters are killed and Nick sacrifices himself to draw the raptors away, so Harding and Kelly can escape. In both the raptor scene and the scene in the rex nest, there’s a bit of a survival horror vibe to these scenes – it’s a different kind of horror to the first film.
Sam
Yeah. For Lost World, both Steve and Tim were insistent that it stand out from the first film. A lot of the dinosaur scenes in the first film took place in artificial environments or had artificial things in the background – in Lost World… we don’t have that. This isn’t an environment where we’ve lost control, this is one where we’ve never had it to begin with. We tried to restore that whole “rats hiding from dinosaurs” idea – now, we humans are what mammals were during the dinosaur era.
Nathan
As I understand it, Winona, you didn’t have a stunt double for most of these scenes… so that must have been fun.
Winona
I mean, yeah, I’d never done anything quite like Lost World before – that sort of an action-heavy movie. The closest thing I’d ever done was Dracula. So I, perhaps foolishly, thought ‘This should be easy – of course I’ll do all my own stunts!’
I was dating River Phoenix at the time – and I was coming home every night battered and bleeding. And he said, “At what point in this movie do they stone you?”
Nathan
Oh my word!
Winona
Well, I married him in the end, so I forgave him. And, besides, it was fun – I started doing more of these action films after Lost World – Sam got me the part of Lady Sif in the Marvel movies right after we did Lost World, so I forgave Sam too.
Nathan
So, anyway, the finale has to be big… Like T-rex rampaging through San Diego big!
Sam
Yup – you see, Ludlow’s team managed to capture the T-rex pair and their infant. Arriving on the island to collect them, Ludlow offers Tembo and Harding positions at the San Diego park, but they both refuse – Harding because of the depth of Ludlow’s deception and Tembo because he has now come to realise the folly of the whole endeavour… and the depths of Ludlow’s ego.
Nathan
Which takes us to… the finale!
Sam
In San Diego, Harding, Kelly and a redeemed Tembo attempt to warn Ludlow about the possible consequences of his actions, but to no avail. In a deliberate homage to King Kong, the Tyrannosaur pair are presented to a crowd… however, they manage to escape and go on a rampage, with Tembo sacrificing himself to distract them so people can be safely evacuated, apologising to Harding for the deception as he does so. And we have our finale!
Caroline
Yeah, the whole T-rex rampage idea was something that Tim and Steve had stipulated early on – in the novel, it just ends with the protagonists escaping the island, but they felt something grander was needed.
Tim
The T-rex ending was something Steve and I initially came up with for a hypothetical third movie… but then I ended up having another idea for a third movie in which that sequence didn’t fit, so we decided… why not repurpose it in this? We were coming out a few weeks before Godzilla, so Sam could get some revenge on Jeff Katzenberg!
Sam
(chuckles)
Yeah. So the T-rex pair wreak havoc in San Diego – the military attempt to capture them, but to no avail. However, Harding manages to stop the military from moving on to the kill plan by theorising that the T-rex pair are looking for their baby… which must be back at Ludlow’s base of operations. So the plan becomes using recordings of the baby’s calls to lead them back to the docks.
Nathan
But… Dogdson and Ludlow aren’t out for the count yet.
Sam
Hey, you telling this story or am I?
Nathan
I’m sorry, Sam, go on.
Sam
So, Dodgson and Ludlow attempt to escape with the baby T-rex – attempting to cut their losses and run. Unfortunately, the T-rex pair smash through the Jeep and retrieve their infant - Dodgson is ripped in half in a tug-o-war and eaten, whilst Ludlow is crippled and used as hunting practice for the baby.
Nathan
Couldn’t have happened to nicer blokes.
Sam
Harsh, but fair. Really, though, the karma was always the intent – Ludlow and Dodgson attempted to control nature for their own gain and failed. It created an interesting counterpoint to Harmon’s death – there was always an element of tragedy to Harmon’s death, being eaten by a swarm of compys. However, there’s nothing tragic about these deaths – they got exactly what they deserved.
Nathan
So, we have the ending of the film… which is strangely happy – the T-rex family are sent back to Sorna and Lex and Tim end up with InGen and reveal Sorna to the world, declaring it an international wildlife preserve. And yet there’s this sense that there’s more to come on the horizon…
Sam
Tim and Steve – who have pretty much emerged as this franchise’s custodians – always said “If Lost World does well enough, we’ll start production on a third movie”. Tim told me he had a few ideas for a possible story in number three[5], so the ending had to be open-ended.
Caroline
I never saw the ending as particularly happy – the Tyrannosaurus family are home, most of the characters you care about have a happy ending and the dinosaurs are going to be protected, sure. But Sorna being revealed to the world will have consequences – and every character is aware of that. It’s a happy ending for now – which, sometimes, is as good as you get.
Nathan
Obviously, Lost World was a lot darker than its predecessor, so Disney/MGM took care to limit direct marketing to kids – obviously, there was a merchandising blitz, but really it was made clear that this wasn’t for younger kids. Plenty of them went to see it, but I’m going to ask… where did that come from?
Tim
We got away with it for Jurassic Park because, quite simply, it relied heavily on “show, don’t tell” – it wasn’t out-and-out gory, but at the same time maintained that horror feeling. Lost World was a bit more brutal – every death in this movie still makes me flinch. And I helped make it!
Sam
I mean, Jim was very conscious that Lost World was, unlike its predecessor, not really appropriate for younger kids. The idea was to have Lost World and Dinotopia release simultaneously, so the younger kids and the older kids could have a dinosaur movie…
Nathan
The “Dinosaur Summer”, I believe it was called.
Sam
Yeah, the “Dinosaur Summer” – the idea was they’d have Dinotopia, Lost World and a Land Before Time release – in order to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Unfortunately, the release date on Dinotopia got pushed back, because there was a shitload of competition - Terminator 3, the Fantastic Four, and Godzilla, as well as Lost World – all in the original release window.
Nathan
Speaking of which… there’s a Hard-R cut that you, Tim, and Brian Henson did that ended up in limited circulation… which, apparently pissed off the Big Kahuna.
Tim
(chuckles)
Sam
Oh, yeah… basically, Tim, Brian and I had secretly conspired to make a bloodier cut of the film – gorier death scenes… basically, so brutal it made the theatrical cut look tame. Jim was pissed when he found out what we’d done behind his back - but I think he came to understand what use it could be.
Nathan
Yeah - I suppose it didn't make the Haysites happy, but for struggling cinemas, it proved to be a bit of a godsend. And with that, we are out of time. I just wanna extend a warm thanks for all of you for taking the time to come today - and for you viewers, remember to subscribe and stay notified.
[1] - A lot of Burton's statements here are true of OTL - he's not a big fan of doing sequels, and was essentially chained to Batman Returns by Warner. Here, obviously, he's got a lot more clout than he ever did OTL - however, I can imagine him having quite an attachment to JP ITTL, so I assumed that he'd remain in a producing capacity.
[2] - Might as well get the cat out the bag here now - Nic Cage is TTL's Tony Stark! More on him later.
[3] - To the best of my knowledge, they have never met OTL - without the infamously troubled production of Island of Dr. Moreau (stay tuned on that), Stanley's obviously a far bigger name. Given their shared sensibilities, I'd imagine they'd get on quite well.
[4] - This was meant to be the opening of the film OTL. And, yeah, John Leguizamo plays Marty Guitterez and Michael Keaton plays Lewis Dodgson - because really, why not?
[5] - What happens there? Stay tuned.
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Yuri and Valentyn
From the CNN article “Ukrainian Made, American Refined: The Rise of Valentyn Davydenko”, September 29th, 2019
By Reggie Denning and Anton York
Guest post by @ajm8888 with assistance from Mr. Harris Syed
Introduction:
Valentyn Davydenko. When you think of prominent businessmen and women from the USR who have made an impact on history, Davydenko comes to mind. The Russian business mogul of Ukrainian descent founded Sunray Bank Holdings and has owned stakes in the MLB’s Mexico City Red Devils[1] and the Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort for two decades. We previously covered Davydenko in “The World Kovalenko Built: How A Mysterious Figure Shaped International Crime'' where we discussed Davydenko’s personal history in relation to infamous arms dealer Yuri Kovalenko. In this two-part article, we will cover how Valentyn Davydenko established his foothold in America and built up the business empire we know today.
Valentyn’s Early American Exploits:
New York City, circa 1995 (Image source; flickr.com)
In June of 1995, Valentyn Davydenko had arrived in the United States for the first time to officially conduct business in the country and establish a local branch of Sunray Bank. Davydenko already had a presence in North America the year prior through his dealings with President Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta of Mexico[2] but now he was finally in the States and saw his arrival as the first step into transforming Sunray into one of the largest banks in the world aside from his forthcoming plans to bring the Mexican League’s Mexico City Red Devils to the MLB with Alfredo Harp Helu. Going to America was always part of the plan just as was opening an office in Britain in August of 1993, not in the City of London but close enough to have access. Davydenko felt if he was to be a major player in international banking and finance he needed proximity to the major banks of America and Europe outside of the Union of Sovereign Republics. His community banks in Mexico which were a group of small independent banks which he helped set up and allowed him access to the unstable Mexican market but he would try to right the instability. The access he gained through being a peacemaker in the Zapatista conflict and the First San Cristobal Agreement[3] earned him international attention. One of his first covers on a non-USR magazine was Time doing a piece on him being a peacemaker in Mexico. It did not take long for larger banks to notice him.
“Valentyn wanted to change things. He was a Young Pioneer[4], a guy who felt things could be better, he was a good little communist kid but he saw the world outside and found ways to be devious. He wanted to have money, power, and wealth, but he also wanted to help people. He saw how people lived in the USSR. He saw how a non-party member took years to get a new apartment or car, while a guy in the party with juice could get Western luxuries easily. He admits he participated in the black market, something as an old GRU operative[5] could have gotten him into trouble. His foray into the black market and the Western world was Disney. He was involved at the end of the USSR, purchasing illegal VHS tapes. He could not have Western films as they were deemed anti-Soviet by the authorities. But he did purchase films like Snow White, The Absent Minded Professor, and Herbie Rides Again. Due to his knowledge of English he did not need the poorly done Russian or Ukrainian subtitles. He even told me he remembers in 1987 shortly before the ban was lifted, they started seeing anime from Japan. He was not as big of a fan but Russians, Ukranians and other citizens of the USSR were as interested in it as Americans.” said longtime confidant Michael Davies recalling a tale Valentyn told him. By the time the USSR had reformed into the USR, Valentyn had already gained knowledge of the West and looked to banking to support his family after the GRU disbanded starting with Ukraine before expanding his operations to much of the world.
As his fledgling international banking empire was starting to just gain its wings in America, Davydenko was enjoying his experiences in his new home. He took his family to several Disneytowns and the main Disney parks in the States themselves. He visited several National Parks with his family like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Badlands, Grand Teton, Yosemite, and others. He bought homes in wealthy American neighborhoods just like he did in Britain. He got his first private jet (albeit used) he even got a small yacht and helicopter. His success in Mexico and the Caribbean was great. He was amazingly successful for an immigrant from the former USSR.
As he grew confident Davydenko would make an encounter with a man he would quickly grow to resent if not hate. That man was Aleksei Tyschenko otherwise known as the infamous arms dealer Yuri Kovalenko. This is in no small part to a recurring theory that Valentyn Davydenko and Yuri Kovalenko were one and the same, a theory now debunked but one that was popular from the mid-1990s to 2006. The “Davydenko is Kovalenko” theory still remains popular on some internet conspiracy forums but has largely faded from most popular culture. But it was an immensely popular theory that crime shows would latch onto.
“I would be shadowboxing Yuri Kovalenko for years. I knew or at very least suspected where he had his tentacles, but often I could do little. Back home, in Ukraine, I had tried to free many businesses from him but he kept coming back. And that was if I succeeded, often Yuri’s sway was greater than mine. It was a choice between silver or lead[6], many picked silver as he provided jobs, but some who stood up got beaten or worse. And even now if he is in prison I don’t expect him to stay there the rest of his life.” Valentyn Davydenko said in a 60 Minutes news segment in 2008.
In spite of his hatred of Yuri Kovalenko, Davydenko plowed ahead. He had plans to move forward and make his bank the biggest in Europe or at least one of the biggest in the world but that would require partners, he would find them in New York and other cities in America. It surprised everyone that besides pushing his banks Davydenko was pushing the economy of the USR as viable for Western investment. He was looking at companies in America and Europe that did river cruise, regular cruise lines, and tour companies for the tourism sector. But he had much more ambition.
“Metals, mining, defense industries, automotive, aerospace, chemicals, and agriculture. Agriculture besides tourism was his major push.” Dick Fuld, then CEO of Lehman Brothers remembers. “Valentyn was knocking on the doors of any major bank in the country from Lehman, J.P. Morgan, Bank of New York, Mellon Financial, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Citibank, and other banks in the city. He also looked away from New York City and dreamed of global expansion as a Ukrainian proud of his heritage but it wouldn't be easy as his journey to establishing Sunray in America. And that would be Odessa Resorts.
Odessa Resorts:
“Odessa Resorts was mostly Yevgeny’s idea.” Davydenko told the Wall Street Journal in 1999. Yevgeny refers to Valentyn Davydenko’s longtime friend Yevgeny Novikov[7], a Russian national of Ukrainian descent born in Rostov, Russia and who served with Valentyn in the Soviet military as a fellow GRU soldier in the 1980s. They were both in the war economics department and bounced around in other departments, like Yevgeny being in Asian department at times due to his moderate knowledge of the Japanese language and interest in Japanese culture. But Yevgeny Novikov had ties due to running illegal gambling games for GRU higher ups in the late 1980s[8]. He was knowledgeable about gambling and he could be trusted not to screw over the top level people. But Yevgeny was not as knowledgeable as he wanted to be. Before the May Day purge of senior Communist Party officials and the dissolution of the KGB, Yevgenny had resigned from the old GRU. Much like his friend Valentyn would later go on, Yevgenny would go on a voyage of his own across the world which brought him to the States. First, he would get a green card and go to work in the United States at a casino. His first casino he worked at was the Bally’s in Atlantic City, New Jersey but Yevgeny hated it for the pay and working conditions though he was good at poker so he was a dealer at the poker tables. But Yevgeny was a curious mind; he would learn about every game in the casino, blackjack, roulette, craps, video poker, baccarat, and other games. He was learning how to run the games so he could run a casino. For a few months Yevgeny worked at Harrah’s Atlantic City before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada and started working at Harrah’s Las Vegas Casino, where he still maintains close friendships with executives and staff. When Valentyn offered Vevgeny stock in his company after Yevgeny had moved to Las Vegas, Yevgeny said yes.
While working under his friend, Yevgeny Novikov learned how to run a business and that method which many now call the Davydenko method, a careful but still risk taking business model. Yevgeny as he made sure to find every legal paper to sign to ensure his casino could be run and would not encounter problems. It was then Yevgeny announced the first Odessa Resort would be built in Atlantic City with approval from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. Atlantic City was chosen as the site of the new resort not just because Novikov was there but because it was a seaside town that reminded him of Odessa and felt that it was the perfect place to start a Russian-style casino in America modeled after the recently opened ones in the USR.
“I was ensuring the problems others had, I would avoid as many as I could. I paid people on time, tried to keep the unions happy, I made sure that we stayed on budget, and that the Casino Control Commission would not think I lacked capital or was a mobster. Also Valentyn ensured Odessa was not built with junk bonds but while we were working to that objective we got good news.” Yevgeny wrote in an interview for Made in the USR: Russian Expatriate Businessmen and Women in the Post-Soviet Era, published in 2011 by N. Cognito Hanssen[9].
The Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre, in the USR city of Odessa, the inspiration for the casino area exterior of the casino hotel.
The first Odessa Resort known as the Odessa Hotel and Casino was not on the Boardwalk but in the Marina District which is on the other side of the barrier island that Atlantic City is on. The Marina was started when the gambling chain Harrah’s put a new casino there. While not as glamorous as the boardwalk it allowed the Odessa room to grow, something Novikov planned on.
“After Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal was removed from operating casinos in Las Vegas and the skim was ended, laws and legislation were passed to put in strict anti-money laundering measures as casinos are cash heavy enterprises. Novikov and Davydenko wanted to ensure they avoided the thought that they were two Russian mobsters that came to launder money.
After numerous audits the casino was given the green light to operate. While it was not cheap, such audits ensured authorities that any impropriety that may have happened under other bosses, would not happen under Novikov.
“Novikov wanted to build a hotel that was not just a state-of-the-art casino but had great catering and customer service to visitors from around the world.” Davydenko wrote in his diary as quoted by Made in the USR. “Yevgeny would have the best Ukrainian and Russian cuisine at the Odessa Casino and various restaurants elsewhere. He’s got a French place in one of the redone hotels, he stole the best French chef he could get from Tokyo, surprisingly a large number of French chefs there working in Japan. He got top steakhouse guys from all over America at another restaurant. Yevgeny would become friends with Anthony Bourdain, a New York chef but he never got Bourdain to be his head chef.”
By the end of 1999 right before the new millennium, The Odessa had its grand opening to rave reception. Though like most modern casinos it had a soft opening mostly to test out systems to avoid opening day problems. The Odessa Hotel and Casino would attract many tourists from Atlantic City and elsewhere to place their bets, dine on the finest Russian and Ukrainian dishes and have a great hotel experience. The meteoric success of the Odessa Hotel and Casino would lead Davydenko and Novikov to build more Odessa Resorts in America and other countries such as Britain or Davydenko and Novikov’s native USR.
“You could say that this was a success in the making. Looking back at the Grand Opening of the Odessa Hotel and Casino, it was a monumental moment for me and Yevgeny” said Davydenko in a Wall Street Journal article on the Odessa’s 20th anniversary.
Tokyo in Vegas:
Even before the Odessa Hotel and Casino was eventually finished, Davydenko and Novikov had the idea to go to the biggest market for casinos in America, Las Vegas. And he had a location on the strip for a property which was the El Rancho Hotel and Casino. The El Rancho had remained empty since October 6th, 1992 because it could not compete with the new megaresort casinos opening up on the Strip and its days as one of Las Vegas’ famous casinos were numbered. There were attempts to redevelop the property however, many never came to fruition. Other attempts to buy the property involved tearing down the casino and building a new one most notably the one billion dollar Starship Orion developed by penny stock organizer Robert E. Brennan who dropped the plan after a year. Another was Countryland USA owned by Nunizo DeSantis and former Democratic Congressman Tony Coelho of California though much like Starship Orion it did not go anywhere.
El Rancho Hotel and Casino prior to it’s eventual closing (Image source; CasinoCyclopedia)
As the old El Rancho sat abandoned it was quickly becoming an eyesore for the city of Las Vegas since no one else was willing to buy it. That is until Davydenko and Novikov eventually made their move and bought El Rancho at the end of 1997. This move was expedited by an investigation by local NBC affiliate KVBC on the status of the empty building on the other major problem in the older building, asbestos. Specialist asbestos removal companies were brought in by Odessa Resorts and Las Vegas. But at the initial announcement of the purchase there was only a vague plan for the resort which involved buying El Rancho and retheming it. But this only lasted one month when they announced that El Rancho would be demolished and replaced with Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort[10]. Tokyo, Las Vegas, would be a Japanese-themed resort named after the city of the same name and have the tallest resort towers in the city at 67 stories including a particularly massive one, world-class Japanese cuisine and classic art from the feudal period. Construction on Tokyo, Las Vegas started in August 1999 and lasted until May 2005. For its opening, Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort had a dozen taiko drummers as a part of the ceremony, Shinto priests blessing the property, and they even invited representatives from the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles and Japanese Embassy in Washington DC respectively.
The resort was something to behold for many as it would be a centre of Japanese culture in America and offer great games, food and wine. It was unlike anything Vegas had seen before or since with an unmistakably foreign flavor that made it stand out from the other resorts in Las Vegas along with a massive tower built near it which has become as iconic as the resort itself but the most noticeable icon of the resort beside the massive tower was a smaller replica of Tokyo Tower. Inside the resort, the gaming space of the casino had various themes for the areas all inspired by the various neighborhoods and wards of Tokyo[11]. At 173,000 feet of gaming space it was one of the largest casinos in the city at that time. The Tokyo-themed areas also applied to some non-gaming areas for instance the Ginza and Harajuku areas of the casino were for clothing and fashion while the Kasumigaseki area was done very respectfully as a place to buy pamphlets, English translated Japanese books and other tourist materials about Japan in honor of the 1,327 victims that died during the 4/15 attacks of 1995 and the Akihabara area of the casino was used as a display for anime, manga, technology, and other bits of Japanese pop culture that were gaining popularity overseas. On the food side there were izakaya and various forms of Japanese cuisine near every gaming area, Americanized but still would allow people a chance to enjoy Japanese food and while there were Western restaurants in the resort such as McDonald’s or KFC[12] in the hotel, which served a menu that had many Japan-exclusive items along with familiar staples from the American restaurants. Tokyo, Las Vegas also made a deal for rights to have Japanese beers and whiskeys to be sold with Suntory and other companies. Most rooms were Western style but some of the rooms were Japanese style with tatami mats, paper doors, and bedrolls. The Penthouse was the peak of modernity with early automated toilets, baths, showers, and zen rock garden. In the main spa area there were onsen baths but unlike Japan, people wore swimsuits instead of going nude, which was bizarre for Japanese guests but they’d figure it was a culture clash, though bathing before and leaving the onsen still a part of it. The casino’s entertainment area would have rights to pop acts and would get musicians and comedians from Japan or abroad to do jokes there. One of the more unknown acts that was surprisingly popular in Mexico and Argentina was Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra; they were frequent guests in the many music halls of Tokyo, Las Vegas. The casino would also host sumo wrestling events as a sport event and the wrestlers and their managers were comped with their rooms and gambling. The casino also provided Japanese arts to a wide audience like kabuki, noh, and bunraku puppetry. There were also videos of Japanese martial arts and examples of Japanese swords from the katana to the odachi[13].
Besides roulette, baccarat, poker, slots, video poker, and many other games, one Japanese game that was introduced into America via the Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort was pachinko, a mix of pinball and slot machine. Pachinko was viewed as low stakes, low strategy by non-Japanese guests but the Tokyo, Las Vegas was able to build up an audience for pachinko overseas by offering a different way of people getting their winnings and prizes. While gambling for cash was not illegal in the state of Nevada it was illegal in Japan which meant that pachinko parlors paid out in prizes or in a card that allowed an exchange of the balls or prize worth to be paid out by the parlor often in a shop around the corner. More often than not at Tokyo, Las Vegas, most customers took the cash option. While many casino owners thought this was madness, the fact people put so much money into the machines for small payouts amazed them and pachinko became the most popular game in Tokyo, Las Vegas.
On Tokyo, Las Vegas, Novikov said, “You could say that I made pachinko popular in America, at least outside of Guam. I made sure to change this town like many before me. I changed things in this town, Las Vegas would not be seeing the last of me or Valentyn.” Novikov told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015.
Korolev:
As 1999 was coming to a close, Davydenko had successful investments in resorts, casinos and other ventures around the world. Unlike many of his Russian and Ukrainian peers from the Sovereign Union[14], Davydenko had not ordered a massive yacht, he bought a midsized one but he had put his money into a venture he called the Korolev Space Company named after Soviet space engineer Sergei Korolev. No one, outside of a small number of people knew what Korolev was but soon after the Odessa opened Davydenko revealed it.
“Space is our future, we must go into space to study it. While I doubt I will be able to put a man on the moon in the following decade by myself, I hope our space company will help propel mankind back into cosmos and put a man and a woman on our natural satellite, the Moon. With that I announce that I am creating the Korolev Space Company, named after the great Ukrainian, human being, scientist, and a man who put the first man-made satellite into orbit, the first dog into orbit, and the first human into orbit, Sergei Korolev”. Davydenko said in a special press conference in New Jersey announcing the formation of Korolev in November of 1999.
Davydenko showed the progress on two floating oil platforms he was at that time converting into sea based launchers. He was working with several rocket companies in the USR and the West to get the parts for the rockets. It was a long term investment that many in the Russian and Western markets doubted could even be profitable for Davydenko as a private satellite launch in China ended in disaster in 1996[15]. Davydenko would ensure such disasters could not occur as he would ensure close working conditions between the companies and countries that wanted satellites and the rocket makers. The executive committee of the company had the commanders of Apollo-Soyuz, Alexei Lenov and Thomas Stafford as co-chairman of the executive committee with numerous other astronauts and cosmonauts as well as former figures from the American and Russian space programs.
It was not the first attempt at a private space venture but with Davydenko and many titans of space industries behind him, it seemed it had a better shot than most. Though it was going to be years before there were results, Davydenko’s efforts paid off and would lead to what many would call, “The Space Boom”[16]. Without Davydenko and Korolev kicking off the Space Boom, many space technology firms would not get the start they desperately needed.
[1] Stay tuned for how the Red Devils joined the MLB.
[2] Recall in the Yuri no trama nada bueno post that Davydenko’s security team saved Colosio from being assassinated by Mario Aburto Martinez in Tijuana, circa 1994. Colosio went on to serve a single six-year term per the Mexican Constitution of 1917 all thanks to Davydenko.
[3] To elaborate on the San Cristobal Agreement, the first one was signed on March 13th, 1995 while the second and more well-known one was signed on February 16th, 1996. The agreement was also a factor in Davydenko’s eventual arrival in the States since his newfound fame partially led him to set up shop there to expand Sunray.
[4] The Young Pioneers of the Soviet youth organization Komsomol were essentially the USSR’s answer to the Scouting Movement in some parts of Europe and North America.
[5] The Soviet GRU is referred to as the old GRU or the original GRU to distinguish it from the USR GRU which is commonly called the new GRU.
[6] A phrase used by Colombian and other Latin American drug cartels which in Spanish means Plata o plomo.
[7] Another original-to-TTL character in the Hensonverse who influences world events in some shape or form like Lamarr Jackson in the 1992 LA Riots or Kenichi Hoshino assassinating Shoko Asahara in 1995.
[8] Gambling was illegal under the Soviet Union however it still happened for higher level officials and many others. It was legalized in 1988 under Mikhail Gorbachev and since then gambling has been thriving in the USSR’s successor state the USR with Moscow and Odessa as the top gambling destinations for locals and especially foreign tourists. There are a lot more illegal gambling establishments than legal ones however but that is for a separate post.
[9] Davydenko and Novikov aren’t the only Russian-born business moguls abroad. There are numerous other businessmen and women going to the rest of Europe, North America, East Asia (particularly the USR’s former rival China) and Australasia to establish or buy stakes in various companies whether it’s OTL individuals or original-to-TTL individuals.
[10] IOTL, El Rancho was eventually bought out by Turnberry Associates who later demolished the place and began building Fontainebleau Resort. ITTL, Davydenko and Norikov’s burgeoning resort business in America means they will snatch up the hotel to clean it up of asbestos and replace it instead.
[11] The capital of Japan has 23 special wards established in the 1947 Local Autonomy Law and they’re essentially the Japanese equivalent to city council districts in Western cities. For example, the cages for the Casino were called Marunouchi as a reference to the banking center of Chiyoda Ward and Tokyo which is essentially the Japanese version of Wall Street.
[12] KFC is one of the most popular foreign restaurants in Japan with many references to Colonel Harland Sanders in Japanese media and culture most infamously the Curse of the Colonel for the Nishinomiya-based Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Naturally, Novikov did research into Japanese culture and found that KFC was popular in the Land of the Rising Sun hence it’s inclusion in Tokyo, Las Vegas. On a replica Colonel Sanders statue there is a sign with a joke in English and in Japanese which reads “Please don’t throw the Colonel into a river or your favorite team won’t win”
[13] Odachi is a Japanese sword that is the largest of it’s kind and was used by the clans of feudal Japan to showcase their might. The Western equivalent to this sword would be the German/Holy Roman Zweihander or the Scottish Claymore in terms of size.
[14] Sovereign Union is an alternate name for the USR and a shout out to @CountDVB’s America Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond who also included an event similar to the timeline with Jim Henson and Bernie Brillstein buying a stake in Disney.
[15] The incident in question is a reference to the Intelsat 708 incident of 1996 which still occurred in TTL.
[16] Spoilers
By Reggie Denning and Anton York
Guest post by @ajm8888 with assistance from Mr. Harris Syed
Introduction:
Valentyn Davydenko. When you think of prominent businessmen and women from the USR who have made an impact on history, Davydenko comes to mind. The Russian business mogul of Ukrainian descent founded Sunray Bank Holdings and has owned stakes in the MLB’s Mexico City Red Devils[1] and the Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort for two decades. We previously covered Davydenko in “The World Kovalenko Built: How A Mysterious Figure Shaped International Crime'' where we discussed Davydenko’s personal history in relation to infamous arms dealer Yuri Kovalenko. In this two-part article, we will cover how Valentyn Davydenko established his foothold in America and built up the business empire we know today.
Valentyn’s Early American Exploits:
New York City, circa 1995 (Image source; flickr.com)
In June of 1995, Valentyn Davydenko had arrived in the United States for the first time to officially conduct business in the country and establish a local branch of Sunray Bank. Davydenko already had a presence in North America the year prior through his dealings with President Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta of Mexico[2] but now he was finally in the States and saw his arrival as the first step into transforming Sunray into one of the largest banks in the world aside from his forthcoming plans to bring the Mexican League’s Mexico City Red Devils to the MLB with Alfredo Harp Helu. Going to America was always part of the plan just as was opening an office in Britain in August of 1993, not in the City of London but close enough to have access. Davydenko felt if he was to be a major player in international banking and finance he needed proximity to the major banks of America and Europe outside of the Union of Sovereign Republics. His community banks in Mexico which were a group of small independent banks which he helped set up and allowed him access to the unstable Mexican market but he would try to right the instability. The access he gained through being a peacemaker in the Zapatista conflict and the First San Cristobal Agreement[3] earned him international attention. One of his first covers on a non-USR magazine was Time doing a piece on him being a peacemaker in Mexico. It did not take long for larger banks to notice him.
“Valentyn wanted to change things. He was a Young Pioneer[4], a guy who felt things could be better, he was a good little communist kid but he saw the world outside and found ways to be devious. He wanted to have money, power, and wealth, but he also wanted to help people. He saw how people lived in the USSR. He saw how a non-party member took years to get a new apartment or car, while a guy in the party with juice could get Western luxuries easily. He admits he participated in the black market, something as an old GRU operative[5] could have gotten him into trouble. His foray into the black market and the Western world was Disney. He was involved at the end of the USSR, purchasing illegal VHS tapes. He could not have Western films as they were deemed anti-Soviet by the authorities. But he did purchase films like Snow White, The Absent Minded Professor, and Herbie Rides Again. Due to his knowledge of English he did not need the poorly done Russian or Ukrainian subtitles. He even told me he remembers in 1987 shortly before the ban was lifted, they started seeing anime from Japan. He was not as big of a fan but Russians, Ukranians and other citizens of the USSR were as interested in it as Americans.” said longtime confidant Michael Davies recalling a tale Valentyn told him. By the time the USSR had reformed into the USR, Valentyn had already gained knowledge of the West and looked to banking to support his family after the GRU disbanded starting with Ukraine before expanding his operations to much of the world.
As his fledgling international banking empire was starting to just gain its wings in America, Davydenko was enjoying his experiences in his new home. He took his family to several Disneytowns and the main Disney parks in the States themselves. He visited several National Parks with his family like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Badlands, Grand Teton, Yosemite, and others. He bought homes in wealthy American neighborhoods just like he did in Britain. He got his first private jet (albeit used) he even got a small yacht and helicopter. His success in Mexico and the Caribbean was great. He was amazingly successful for an immigrant from the former USSR.
As he grew confident Davydenko would make an encounter with a man he would quickly grow to resent if not hate. That man was Aleksei Tyschenko otherwise known as the infamous arms dealer Yuri Kovalenko. This is in no small part to a recurring theory that Valentyn Davydenko and Yuri Kovalenko were one and the same, a theory now debunked but one that was popular from the mid-1990s to 2006. The “Davydenko is Kovalenko” theory still remains popular on some internet conspiracy forums but has largely faded from most popular culture. But it was an immensely popular theory that crime shows would latch onto.
“I would be shadowboxing Yuri Kovalenko for years. I knew or at very least suspected where he had his tentacles, but often I could do little. Back home, in Ukraine, I had tried to free many businesses from him but he kept coming back. And that was if I succeeded, often Yuri’s sway was greater than mine. It was a choice between silver or lead[6], many picked silver as he provided jobs, but some who stood up got beaten or worse. And even now if he is in prison I don’t expect him to stay there the rest of his life.” Valentyn Davydenko said in a 60 Minutes news segment in 2008.
In spite of his hatred of Yuri Kovalenko, Davydenko plowed ahead. He had plans to move forward and make his bank the biggest in Europe or at least one of the biggest in the world but that would require partners, he would find them in New York and other cities in America. It surprised everyone that besides pushing his banks Davydenko was pushing the economy of the USR as viable for Western investment. He was looking at companies in America and Europe that did river cruise, regular cruise lines, and tour companies for the tourism sector. But he had much more ambition.
“Metals, mining, defense industries, automotive, aerospace, chemicals, and agriculture. Agriculture besides tourism was his major push.” Dick Fuld, then CEO of Lehman Brothers remembers. “Valentyn was knocking on the doors of any major bank in the country from Lehman, J.P. Morgan, Bank of New York, Mellon Financial, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Citibank, and other banks in the city. He also looked away from New York City and dreamed of global expansion as a Ukrainian proud of his heritage but it wouldn't be easy as his journey to establishing Sunray in America. And that would be Odessa Resorts.
Odessa Resorts:
“Odessa Resorts was mostly Yevgeny’s idea.” Davydenko told the Wall Street Journal in 1999. Yevgeny refers to Valentyn Davydenko’s longtime friend Yevgeny Novikov[7], a Russian national of Ukrainian descent born in Rostov, Russia and who served with Valentyn in the Soviet military as a fellow GRU soldier in the 1980s. They were both in the war economics department and bounced around in other departments, like Yevgeny being in Asian department at times due to his moderate knowledge of the Japanese language and interest in Japanese culture. But Yevgeny Novikov had ties due to running illegal gambling games for GRU higher ups in the late 1980s[8]. He was knowledgeable about gambling and he could be trusted not to screw over the top level people. But Yevgeny was not as knowledgeable as he wanted to be. Before the May Day purge of senior Communist Party officials and the dissolution of the KGB, Yevgenny had resigned from the old GRU. Much like his friend Valentyn would later go on, Yevgenny would go on a voyage of his own across the world which brought him to the States. First, he would get a green card and go to work in the United States at a casino. His first casino he worked at was the Bally’s in Atlantic City, New Jersey but Yevgeny hated it for the pay and working conditions though he was good at poker so he was a dealer at the poker tables. But Yevgeny was a curious mind; he would learn about every game in the casino, blackjack, roulette, craps, video poker, baccarat, and other games. He was learning how to run the games so he could run a casino. For a few months Yevgeny worked at Harrah’s Atlantic City before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada and started working at Harrah’s Las Vegas Casino, where he still maintains close friendships with executives and staff. When Valentyn offered Vevgeny stock in his company after Yevgeny had moved to Las Vegas, Yevgeny said yes.
While working under his friend, Yevgeny Novikov learned how to run a business and that method which many now call the Davydenko method, a careful but still risk taking business model. Yevgeny as he made sure to find every legal paper to sign to ensure his casino could be run and would not encounter problems. It was then Yevgeny announced the first Odessa Resort would be built in Atlantic City with approval from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. Atlantic City was chosen as the site of the new resort not just because Novikov was there but because it was a seaside town that reminded him of Odessa and felt that it was the perfect place to start a Russian-style casino in America modeled after the recently opened ones in the USR.
“I was ensuring the problems others had, I would avoid as many as I could. I paid people on time, tried to keep the unions happy, I made sure that we stayed on budget, and that the Casino Control Commission would not think I lacked capital or was a mobster. Also Valentyn ensured Odessa was not built with junk bonds but while we were working to that objective we got good news.” Yevgeny wrote in an interview for Made in the USR: Russian Expatriate Businessmen and Women in the Post-Soviet Era, published in 2011 by N. Cognito Hanssen[9].
The Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre, in the USR city of Odessa, the inspiration for the casino area exterior of the casino hotel.
The first Odessa Resort known as the Odessa Hotel and Casino was not on the Boardwalk but in the Marina District which is on the other side of the barrier island that Atlantic City is on. The Marina was started when the gambling chain Harrah’s put a new casino there. While not as glamorous as the boardwalk it allowed the Odessa room to grow, something Novikov planned on.
“After Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal was removed from operating casinos in Las Vegas and the skim was ended, laws and legislation were passed to put in strict anti-money laundering measures as casinos are cash heavy enterprises. Novikov and Davydenko wanted to ensure they avoided the thought that they were two Russian mobsters that came to launder money.
After numerous audits the casino was given the green light to operate. While it was not cheap, such audits ensured authorities that any impropriety that may have happened under other bosses, would not happen under Novikov.
“Novikov wanted to build a hotel that was not just a state-of-the-art casino but had great catering and customer service to visitors from around the world.” Davydenko wrote in his diary as quoted by Made in the USR. “Yevgeny would have the best Ukrainian and Russian cuisine at the Odessa Casino and various restaurants elsewhere. He’s got a French place in one of the redone hotels, he stole the best French chef he could get from Tokyo, surprisingly a large number of French chefs there working in Japan. He got top steakhouse guys from all over America at another restaurant. Yevgeny would become friends with Anthony Bourdain, a New York chef but he never got Bourdain to be his head chef.”
By the end of 1999 right before the new millennium, The Odessa had its grand opening to rave reception. Though like most modern casinos it had a soft opening mostly to test out systems to avoid opening day problems. The Odessa Hotel and Casino would attract many tourists from Atlantic City and elsewhere to place their bets, dine on the finest Russian and Ukrainian dishes and have a great hotel experience. The meteoric success of the Odessa Hotel and Casino would lead Davydenko and Novikov to build more Odessa Resorts in America and other countries such as Britain or Davydenko and Novikov’s native USR.
“You could say that this was a success in the making. Looking back at the Grand Opening of the Odessa Hotel and Casino, it was a monumental moment for me and Yevgeny” said Davydenko in a Wall Street Journal article on the Odessa’s 20th anniversary.
Tokyo in Vegas:
Even before the Odessa Hotel and Casino was eventually finished, Davydenko and Novikov had the idea to go to the biggest market for casinos in America, Las Vegas. And he had a location on the strip for a property which was the El Rancho Hotel and Casino. The El Rancho had remained empty since October 6th, 1992 because it could not compete with the new megaresort casinos opening up on the Strip and its days as one of Las Vegas’ famous casinos were numbered. There were attempts to redevelop the property however, many never came to fruition. Other attempts to buy the property involved tearing down the casino and building a new one most notably the one billion dollar Starship Orion developed by penny stock organizer Robert E. Brennan who dropped the plan after a year. Another was Countryland USA owned by Nunizo DeSantis and former Democratic Congressman Tony Coelho of California though much like Starship Orion it did not go anywhere.
El Rancho Hotel and Casino prior to it’s eventual closing (Image source; CasinoCyclopedia)
As the old El Rancho sat abandoned it was quickly becoming an eyesore for the city of Las Vegas since no one else was willing to buy it. That is until Davydenko and Novikov eventually made their move and bought El Rancho at the end of 1997. This move was expedited by an investigation by local NBC affiliate KVBC on the status of the empty building on the other major problem in the older building, asbestos. Specialist asbestos removal companies were brought in by Odessa Resorts and Las Vegas. But at the initial announcement of the purchase there was only a vague plan for the resort which involved buying El Rancho and retheming it. But this only lasted one month when they announced that El Rancho would be demolished and replaced with Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort[10]. Tokyo, Las Vegas, would be a Japanese-themed resort named after the city of the same name and have the tallest resort towers in the city at 67 stories including a particularly massive one, world-class Japanese cuisine and classic art from the feudal period. Construction on Tokyo, Las Vegas started in August 1999 and lasted until May 2005. For its opening, Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort had a dozen taiko drummers as a part of the ceremony, Shinto priests blessing the property, and they even invited representatives from the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles and Japanese Embassy in Washington DC respectively.
The resort was something to behold for many as it would be a centre of Japanese culture in America and offer great games, food and wine. It was unlike anything Vegas had seen before or since with an unmistakably foreign flavor that made it stand out from the other resorts in Las Vegas along with a massive tower built near it which has become as iconic as the resort itself but the most noticeable icon of the resort beside the massive tower was a smaller replica of Tokyo Tower. Inside the resort, the gaming space of the casino had various themes for the areas all inspired by the various neighborhoods and wards of Tokyo[11]. At 173,000 feet of gaming space it was one of the largest casinos in the city at that time. The Tokyo-themed areas also applied to some non-gaming areas for instance the Ginza and Harajuku areas of the casino were for clothing and fashion while the Kasumigaseki area was done very respectfully as a place to buy pamphlets, English translated Japanese books and other tourist materials about Japan in honor of the 1,327 victims that died during the 4/15 attacks of 1995 and the Akihabara area of the casino was used as a display for anime, manga, technology, and other bits of Japanese pop culture that were gaining popularity overseas. On the food side there were izakaya and various forms of Japanese cuisine near every gaming area, Americanized but still would allow people a chance to enjoy Japanese food and while there were Western restaurants in the resort such as McDonald’s or KFC[12] in the hotel, which served a menu that had many Japan-exclusive items along with familiar staples from the American restaurants. Tokyo, Las Vegas also made a deal for rights to have Japanese beers and whiskeys to be sold with Suntory and other companies. Most rooms were Western style but some of the rooms were Japanese style with tatami mats, paper doors, and bedrolls. The Penthouse was the peak of modernity with early automated toilets, baths, showers, and zen rock garden. In the main spa area there were onsen baths but unlike Japan, people wore swimsuits instead of going nude, which was bizarre for Japanese guests but they’d figure it was a culture clash, though bathing before and leaving the onsen still a part of it. The casino’s entertainment area would have rights to pop acts and would get musicians and comedians from Japan or abroad to do jokes there. One of the more unknown acts that was surprisingly popular in Mexico and Argentina was Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra; they were frequent guests in the many music halls of Tokyo, Las Vegas. The casino would also host sumo wrestling events as a sport event and the wrestlers and their managers were comped with their rooms and gambling. The casino also provided Japanese arts to a wide audience like kabuki, noh, and bunraku puppetry. There were also videos of Japanese martial arts and examples of Japanese swords from the katana to the odachi[13].
Besides roulette, baccarat, poker, slots, video poker, and many other games, one Japanese game that was introduced into America via the Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort was pachinko, a mix of pinball and slot machine. Pachinko was viewed as low stakes, low strategy by non-Japanese guests but the Tokyo, Las Vegas was able to build up an audience for pachinko overseas by offering a different way of people getting their winnings and prizes. While gambling for cash was not illegal in the state of Nevada it was illegal in Japan which meant that pachinko parlors paid out in prizes or in a card that allowed an exchange of the balls or prize worth to be paid out by the parlor often in a shop around the corner. More often than not at Tokyo, Las Vegas, most customers took the cash option. While many casino owners thought this was madness, the fact people put so much money into the machines for small payouts amazed them and pachinko became the most popular game in Tokyo, Las Vegas.
On Tokyo, Las Vegas, Novikov said, “You could say that I made pachinko popular in America, at least outside of Guam. I made sure to change this town like many before me. I changed things in this town, Las Vegas would not be seeing the last of me or Valentyn.” Novikov told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015.
Korolev:
As 1999 was coming to a close, Davydenko had successful investments in resorts, casinos and other ventures around the world. Unlike many of his Russian and Ukrainian peers from the Sovereign Union[14], Davydenko had not ordered a massive yacht, he bought a midsized one but he had put his money into a venture he called the Korolev Space Company named after Soviet space engineer Sergei Korolev. No one, outside of a small number of people knew what Korolev was but soon after the Odessa opened Davydenko revealed it.
“Space is our future, we must go into space to study it. While I doubt I will be able to put a man on the moon in the following decade by myself, I hope our space company will help propel mankind back into cosmos and put a man and a woman on our natural satellite, the Moon. With that I announce that I am creating the Korolev Space Company, named after the great Ukrainian, human being, scientist, and a man who put the first man-made satellite into orbit, the first dog into orbit, and the first human into orbit, Sergei Korolev”. Davydenko said in a special press conference in New Jersey announcing the formation of Korolev in November of 1999.
Davydenko showed the progress on two floating oil platforms he was at that time converting into sea based launchers. He was working with several rocket companies in the USR and the West to get the parts for the rockets. It was a long term investment that many in the Russian and Western markets doubted could even be profitable for Davydenko as a private satellite launch in China ended in disaster in 1996[15]. Davydenko would ensure such disasters could not occur as he would ensure close working conditions between the companies and countries that wanted satellites and the rocket makers. The executive committee of the company had the commanders of Apollo-Soyuz, Alexei Lenov and Thomas Stafford as co-chairman of the executive committee with numerous other astronauts and cosmonauts as well as former figures from the American and Russian space programs.
It was not the first attempt at a private space venture but with Davydenko and many titans of space industries behind him, it seemed it had a better shot than most. Though it was going to be years before there were results, Davydenko’s efforts paid off and would lead to what many would call, “The Space Boom”[16]. Without Davydenko and Korolev kicking off the Space Boom, many space technology firms would not get the start they desperately needed.
[1] Stay tuned for how the Red Devils joined the MLB.
[2] Recall in the Yuri no trama nada bueno post that Davydenko’s security team saved Colosio from being assassinated by Mario Aburto Martinez in Tijuana, circa 1994. Colosio went on to serve a single six-year term per the Mexican Constitution of 1917 all thanks to Davydenko.
[3] To elaborate on the San Cristobal Agreement, the first one was signed on March 13th, 1995 while the second and more well-known one was signed on February 16th, 1996. The agreement was also a factor in Davydenko’s eventual arrival in the States since his newfound fame partially led him to set up shop there to expand Sunray.
[4] The Young Pioneers of the Soviet youth organization Komsomol were essentially the USSR’s answer to the Scouting Movement in some parts of Europe and North America.
[5] The Soviet GRU is referred to as the old GRU or the original GRU to distinguish it from the USR GRU which is commonly called the new GRU.
[6] A phrase used by Colombian and other Latin American drug cartels which in Spanish means Plata o plomo.
[7] Another original-to-TTL character in the Hensonverse who influences world events in some shape or form like Lamarr Jackson in the 1992 LA Riots or Kenichi Hoshino assassinating Shoko Asahara in 1995.
[8] Gambling was illegal under the Soviet Union however it still happened for higher level officials and many others. It was legalized in 1988 under Mikhail Gorbachev and since then gambling has been thriving in the USSR’s successor state the USR with Moscow and Odessa as the top gambling destinations for locals and especially foreign tourists. There are a lot more illegal gambling establishments than legal ones however but that is for a separate post.
[9] Davydenko and Novikov aren’t the only Russian-born business moguls abroad. There are numerous other businessmen and women going to the rest of Europe, North America, East Asia (particularly the USR’s former rival China) and Australasia to establish or buy stakes in various companies whether it’s OTL individuals or original-to-TTL individuals.
[10] IOTL, El Rancho was eventually bought out by Turnberry Associates who later demolished the place and began building Fontainebleau Resort. ITTL, Davydenko and Norikov’s burgeoning resort business in America means they will snatch up the hotel to clean it up of asbestos and replace it instead.
[11] The capital of Japan has 23 special wards established in the 1947 Local Autonomy Law and they’re essentially the Japanese equivalent to city council districts in Western cities. For example, the cages for the Casino were called Marunouchi as a reference to the banking center of Chiyoda Ward and Tokyo which is essentially the Japanese version of Wall Street.
[12] KFC is one of the most popular foreign restaurants in Japan with many references to Colonel Harland Sanders in Japanese media and culture most infamously the Curse of the Colonel for the Nishinomiya-based Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Naturally, Novikov did research into Japanese culture and found that KFC was popular in the Land of the Rising Sun hence it’s inclusion in Tokyo, Las Vegas. On a replica Colonel Sanders statue there is a sign with a joke in English and in Japanese which reads “Please don’t throw the Colonel into a river or your favorite team won’t win”
[13] Odachi is a Japanese sword that is the largest of it’s kind and was used by the clans of feudal Japan to showcase their might. The Western equivalent to this sword would be the German/Holy Roman Zweihander or the Scottish Claymore in terms of size.
[14] Sovereign Union is an alternate name for the USR and a shout out to @CountDVB’s America Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond who also included an event similar to the timeline with Jim Henson and Bernie Brillstein buying a stake in Disney.
[15] The incident in question is a reference to the Intelsat 708 incident of 1996 which still occurred in TTL.
[16] Spoilers
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This was supposed to have Trump in it... but consulting with admins decided it was too risky and we removed it.From the CNN article “Ukrainian Made, American Refined: The Rise of Valentyn Davydenko”, September 29th, 2019
By Reggie Denning and Anton York
Guest post by @ajm8888 with assistance from Mr. Harris Syed, @Plateosaurus and @MNM041
Introduction:
Valentyn Davydenko. When you think of prominent businessmen and women from the USR who have made an impact on history, Davydenko comes to mind. The Russian business mogul of Ukrainian descent founded Sunray Bank Holdings and has owned stakes in the MLB’s Mexico City Red Devils[1] and the Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort for two decades. We previously covered Davydenko in “The World Kovalenko Built: How A Mysterious Figure Shaped International Crime'' where we discussed Davydenko’s personal history in relation to infamous arms dealer Yuri Kovalenko. In this two-part article, we will cover how Valentyn Davydenko established his foothold in America and built up the business empire we know today.
Valentyn’s Early American Exploits:
New York City, circa 1995 (Image source; flickr.com)
In June of 1995, Valentyn Davydenko had arrived in the United States for the first time to officially conduct business in the country and establish a local branch of Sunray Bank. Davydenko already had a presence in North America the year prior through his dealings with President Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta of Mexico[2] but now he was finally in the States and saw his arrival as the first step into transforming Sunray into one of the largest banks in the world aside from his forthcoming plans to bring the Mexican League’s Mexico City Red Devils to the MLB with Alfredo Harp Helu. Going to America was always part of the plan just as was opening an office in Britain in August of 1993, not in the City of London but close enough to have access. Davydenko felt if he was to be a major player in international banking and finance he needed proximity to the major banks of America and Europe outside of the Union of Sovereign Republics. His community banks in Mexico which were a group of small independent banks which he helped set up and allowed him access to the unstable Mexican market but he would try to right the instability. The access he gained through being a peacemaker in the Zapatista conflict and the First San Cristobal Agreement[3] earned him international attention. One of his first covers on a non-USR magazine was Time doing a piece on him being a peacemaker in Mexico. It did not take long for larger banks to notice him.
“Valentyn wanted to change things. He was a Young Pioneer[4], a guy who felt things could be better, he was a good little communist kid but he saw the world outside and found ways to be devious. He wanted to have money, power, and wealth, but he also wanted to help people. He saw how people lived in the USSR. He saw how a non-party member took years to get a new apartment or car, while a guy in the party with juice could get Western luxuries easily. He admits he participated in the black market, something as an old GRU operative[5] could have gotten him into trouble. His foray into the black market and the Western world was Disney. He was involved at the end of the USSR, purchasing illegal VHS tapes. He could not have Western films as they were deemed anti-Soviet by the authorities. But he did purchase films like Snow White, The Absent Minded Professor, and Herbie Rides Again. Due to his knowledge of English he did not need the poorly done Russian or Ukrainian subtitles. He even told me he remembers in 1987 shortly before the ban was lifted, they started seeing anime from Japan. He was not as big of a fan but Russians, Ukranians and other citizens of the USSR were as interested in it as Americans.” said longtime confidant Michael Davies recalling a tale Valentyn told him. By the time the USSR had reformed into the USR, Valentyn had already gained knowledge of the West and looked to banking to support his family after the GRU disbanded starting with Ukraine before expanding his operations to much of the world.
As his fledgling international banking empire was starting to just gain its wings in America, Davydenko was enjoying his experiences in his new home. He took his family to several Disneytowns and the main Disney parks in the States themselves. He visited several National Parks with his family like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Badlands, Grand Teton, Yosemite, and others. He bought homes in wealthy American neighborhoods just like he did in Britain. He got his first private jet (albeit used) he even got a small yacht and helicopter. His success in Mexico and the Caribbean was great. He was amazingly successful for an immigrant from the former USSR.
As he grew confident Davydenko would make an encounter with a man he would quickly grow to resent if not hate. That man was Aleksei Tyschenko otherwise known as the infamous arms dealer Yuri Kovalenko. This is in no small part to a recurring theory that Valentyn Davydenko and Yuri Kovalenko were one and the same, a theory now debunked but one that was popular from the mid-1990s to 2006. The “Davydenko is Kovalenko” theory still remains popular on some internet conspiracy forums but has largely faded from most popular culture. But it was an immensely popular theory that crime shows would latch onto.
“I would be shadowboxing Yuri Kovalenko for years. I knew or at very least suspected where he had his tentacles, but often I could do little. Back home, in Ukraine, I had tried to free many businesses from him but he kept coming back. And that was if I succeeded, often Yuri’s sway was greater than mine. It was a choice between silver or lead[6], many picked silver as he provided jobs, but some who stood up got beaten or worse. And even now if he is in prison I don’t expect him to stay there the rest of his life.” Valentyn Davydenko said in a 60 Minutes news segment in 2008.
In spite of his hatred of Yuri Kovalenko, Davydenko plowed ahead. He had plans to move forward and make his bank the biggest in Europe or at least one of the biggest in the world but that would require partners, he would find them in New York and other cities in America. It surprised everyone that besides pushing his banks Davydenko was pushing the economy of the USR as viable for Western investment. He was looking at companies in America and Europe that did river cruise, regular cruise lines, and tour companies for the tourism sector. But he had much more ambition.
“Metals, mining, defense industries, automotive, aerospace, chemicals, and agriculture. Agriculture besides tourism was his major push.” Dick Fuld, then CEO of Lehman Brothers remembers. “Valentyn was knocking on the doors of any major bank in the country from Lehman, J.P. Morgan, Bank of New York, Mellon Financial, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Citibank, and other banks in the city. He also looked away from New York City and dreamed of global expansion as a Ukrainian proud of his heritage but it wouldn't be easy as his journey to establishing Sunray in America. And that would be Odessa Resorts.
Odessa Resorts:
“Odessa Resorts was mostly Yevgeny’s idea.” Davydenko told the Wall Street Journal in 1999. Yevgeny refers to Valentyn Davydenko’s longtime friend Yevgeny Novikov[7], a Russian national of Ukrainian descent born in Rostov, Russia and who served with Valentyn in the Soviet military as a fellow GRU soldier in the 1980s. They were both in the war economics department and bounced around in other departments, like Yevgeny being in Asian department at times due to his moderate knowledge of the Japanese language and interest in Japanese culture. But Yevgeny Novikov had ties due to running illegal gambling games for GRU higher ups in the late 1980s[8]. He was knowledgeable about gambling and he could be trusted not to screw over the top level people. But Yevgeny was not as knowledgeable as he wanted to be. Before the May Day purge of senior Communist Party officials and the dissolution of the KGB, Yevgenny had resigned from the old GRU. Much like his friend Valentyn would later go on, Yevgenny would go on a voyage of his own across the world which brought him to the States. First, he would get a green card and go to work in the United States at a casino. His first Casino he worked at was the Bally’s in Atlantic City, New Jersey but Yevgeny hated it for the pay and working conditions though he was good at poker so he was a dealer at the poker tables. But Yevgeny was a curious mind; he would learn about every game in the casino, blackjack, roulette, craps, video poker, baccarat, and other games. He was learning how to run the games so he could run a casino. For a few months Yevgeny worked at Harrah’s Atlantic City before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada and started working at Harrah’s Las Vegas Casino, where he still maintains close friendships with executives and staff. When Valentyn offered Vevgeny stock in his company after Yevgeny had moved to Las Vegas, Yevgeny said yes.
While working under his friend, Yevgeny Novikov learned how to run a business and that method which many now call the Davydenko method, a careful but still risk taking business model. Yevgeny as he made sure to find every legal paper to sign to ensure his casino could be run and would not encounter problems. It was then Yevgeny announced the first Odessa Resort would be built in Atlantic City with approval from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. Atlantic City was chosen as the site of the new resort not just because Novikov was there but because it was a seaside town that reminded him of Odessa and felt that it was the perfect place to start a Russian-style casino in America modeled after the recently opened ones in the USR.
“I was ensuring the problems others had, I would avoid as many as I could. I paid people on time, tried to keep the unions happy, I made sure that we stayed on budget, and that the Casino Control Commission would not think I lacked capital or was a mobster. Also Valentyn ensured Odessa was not built with junk bonds but while we were working to that objective we got good news.” Yevgeny wrote in an interview for Made in the USR: Russian Expatriate Businesmen and Women in the Post-Soviet Era, a book about USR-born businessmen and women published in 2011 by N. Cognito Hanssen[9].
The Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre, in the USR city of Odessa, the inspiration for the casino area exterior of the casino hotel.
The first Odessa Resort known as the Odessa Hotel and Casino was not on the Boardwalk but in the Marina District which is on the other side of the barrier island that Atlantic City is on. The Marina was started when the gambling chain Harrah’s put a new casino there. While not as glamorous as the boardwalk it allowed the Odessa room to grow, something Novikov planned on.
“After Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal was removed from operating casinos in Las Vegas and the skim was ended, laws and legislation were passed to put in strict anti-money laundering measures as casinos are cash heavy enterprises. Novikov and Davydenko wanted to ensure they avoided the thought that they were two Russian mobsters that came to launder money.
After numerous audits the casino was given the green light to operate. While it was not cheap, such audits ensured authorities that any impropriety that may have happened under other bosses, would not happen under Novikov.
“Novikov wanted to build a hotel that was not just a state-of-the-art casino but had great catering and customer service to visitors from around the world.” Davydenko wrote in his diary as quoted by Made in the USR. “Yevgeny would have the best Ukrainian and Russian cuisine at the Odessa Casino and various restaurants elsewhere. He’s got a French place in one of the redone hotels, he stole the best French chef he could get from Tokyo, surprisingly a large number of French chefs there working in Japan. He got top steakhouse guys from all over America at another restaurant. Yevgeny would become friends with Anthony Bourdain, a New York chef but he never got Bourdain to be his head chef.”
By the end of 1999 right before the new millennium, The Odessa had its grand opening to rave reception. Though like most modern casinos it had a soft opening mostly to test out systems to avoid opening day problems. The Odessa Hotel and Casino would attract many tourists from Atlantic City and elsewhere to place their bets, dine on the finest Russian and Ukrainian dishes and have a great hotel experience. The meteoric success of the Odessa Hotel and Casino would lead Davydenko and Novikov to build more Odessa Resorts in America and other countries such as Britain or Davydenko and Novikov’s native USR.
“You could say that this was a success in the making. Looking back at the Grand Opening of the Odessa Hotel and Casino, it was a monumental moment for me and Yevgeny” said Davydenko in a Wall Street Journal article on the Odessa’s 20th anniversary.
Tokyo in Vegas:
Even before the Odessa Hotel and Casino was eventually finished, Davydenko and Novikov had the idea to go to the biggest market for casinos in America, Las Vegas. And he had a location on the strip for a property which was the El Rancho Hotel and Casino. The El Rancho had remained empty since October 6th, 1992 because it could not compete with the new megaresort casinos opening up on the Strip and its days as one of Las Vegas’ famous casinos were numbered. There were attempts to redevelop the property however, many never came to fruition. Other attempts to buy the property involved tearing down the casino and building a new one most notably the one billion dollar Starship Orion developed by penny stock organizer Robert E. Brennan who dropped the plan after a year. Another was Countryland USA owned by Nunizo DeSantis and former Democratic Congressman Tony Coelho of California though much like Starship Orion it did not go anywhere.
El Rancho Hotel and Casino prior to it’s eventual closing (Image source; CasinoCyclopedia)
As the old El Rancho sat abandoned it was quickly becoming an eyesore for the city of Las Vegas since no one else was willing to buy it. That is until Davydenko and Novikov eventually made their move and bought El Rancho at the end of 1997. This move was expedited by an investigation by local NBC affiliate KVBC on the status of the empty building on the other major problem in the older building, asbestos. Specialist asbestos removal companies were brought in by Odessa Resorts and Las Vegas. But at the initial announcement of the purchase there was only a vague plan for the resort which involved buying El Rancho and retheming it. But this only lasted one month when they announced that El Rancho would be demolished and replaced with Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort[10]. Tokyo, Las Vegas, would be a Japanese-themed resort named after the city of the same name and have the tallest resort towers in the city at 67 stories including a particularly massive one, world-class Japanese cuisine and classic art from the feudal period. Construction on Tokyo, Las Vegas started in August 1999 and lasted until May 2005. For its opening, Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort had a dozen taiko drummers as a part of the ceremony, Shinto priests blessing the property, and they even invited representatives from the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles and Japanese Embassy in Washington DC respectively.
The resort was something to behold for many as it would be a centre of Japanese culture in America and offer great games, food and wine. It was unlike anything Vegas had seen before or since with an unmistakably foreign flavor that made it stand out from the other resorts in Las Vegas along with a massive tower built near it which has become as iconic as the resort itself but the most noticeable icon of the resort beside the massive tower was a smaller replica of Tokyo Tower. Inside the resort, the gaming space of the casino had various themes for the areas all inspired by the various neighborhoods and wards of Tokyo[11]. At 173,000 feet of gaming space it was one of the largest casinos in the city at that time. The Tokyo-themed areas also applied to some non-gaming areas for instance the Ginza and Harajuku areas of the casino were for clothing and fashion while the Kasumigaseki area was done very respectfully as a place to buy pamphlets, English translated Japanese books other tourist materials about Japan in honor of the 1,327 victims that died during the 4/15 attacks of 1995 and the Akihabara area of the casino was used as a display for anime, manga, technology, and other bits of Japanese pop culture that were gaining popularity overseas. On the food side there were izakaya and various forms of Japanese cuisine near every gaming area, Americanized but still would allow people a chance to enjoy Japanese food and while there were Western restaurants in the resort such as McDonald’s or KFC[12] in the hotel, which served a menu that had many Japan-exclusive items along with familiar staples from the American restaurants. Tokyo, Las Vegas also made a deal for rights to have Japanese beers and whiskeys to be sold with Suntory and other companies. Most rooms were Western style but some of the rooms were Japanese style with tatami mats, paper doors, and bedrolls. The Penthouse was the peak of modernity with early automated toilets, baths, showers, and zen rock garden. In the main spa area there were onsen baths but unlike Japan, people wore swimsuits instead of going nude, which was bizarre for Japanese guests but they’d figure it was a culture clash, though bathing before and leaving the onsen still a part of it. The casino’s entertainment area would have rights to pop acts and would get musicians and comedians from Japan or abroad to do jokes there. One of the more unknown acts that was surprisingly popular in Mexico and Argentina was Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra; they were frequent guests in the many music halls of Tokyo, Las Vegas. The casino would also host sumo wrestling events as a sport event and the wrestlers and their managers were comped with their rooms and gambling. The casino also provided Japanese arts to a wide audience like kabuki, noh, and bunraku puppetry. There were also videos of Japanese martial arts and examples of Japanese swords from the katana to the odachi[13].
Besides roulette, baccarat, poker, slots, video poker, and many other games, one Japanese game that was introduced into America via the Tokyo, Las Vegas Casino and Resort was pachinko, a mix of pinball and slot machine. Pachinko was viewed as low stakes, low strategy by non-Japanese guests but the Tokyo, Las Vegas was able to build up an audience for pachinko overseas by offering a different way of people getting their winnings and prizes. While gambling for cash was not illegal in the state of Nevada it was illegal in Japan which meant that pachinko parlors paid out in prizes or in a card that allowed an exchange of the balls or prize worth to be paid out by the parlor often in a shop around the corner. More often than not at Tokyo, Las Vegas, most customers took the cash option. While many casino owners thought this was madness, the fact people put so much money into the machines for small payouts amazed them and pachinko became the most popular game in Tokyo, Las Vegas.
On Tokyo, Las Vegas, Novikov said, “You could say that I made pachinko popular in America, at least outside of Guam. I made sure to change this town like many before me. I changed things in this town, Las Vegas would not be seeing the last of me or Valentyn.” Novikov told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015.
Korolev:
As 1999 was coming to a close, Davydenko had successful investments in resorts, casinos and other ventures around the world. Unlike many of his Russian and Ukrainian peers from the Sovereign Union[14], Davydenko had not ordered a massive yacht, he bought a midsized one but he had put his money into a venture he called the Korolev Space Company named after Soviet space engineer Sergei Korolev. No one, outside of a small number of people knew what Korolev was but soon after the Odessa opened Davydenko revealed it.
“Space is our future, we must go into space to study it. While I doubt I will be able to put a man on the moon in the following decade by myself, I hope our space company will help propel mankind back into cosmos and put a man and a woman on our natural satellite, the Moon. With that I announce that I am creating the Korolev Space Company, named after the great Ukrainian, human being, scientist, and a man who put the first man-made satellite into orbit, the first dog into orbit, and the first human into orbit, Sergei Korolev”. Davydenko said in a special press conference in New Jersey announcing the formation of Korolev in November of 1999.
Davydenko showed the progress on two floating oil platforms he was at that time converting into sea based launchers. He was working with several rocket companies in the USR and the West to get the parts for the rockets. It was a long term investment that many in the Russian and Western markets doubted could even be profitable for Davydenko as a private satellite launch in China ended in disaster in 1996[15]. Davydenko would ensure such disasters could not occur as t he would ensure close working conditions between the companies and countries that wanted satellites and the rocket makers. The executive committee of the company had the commanders of Apollo-Soyuz, Alexei Lenov and Thomas Stafford as co-chairman of the executive committee with numerous other astronauts and cosmonauts as well as former figures from the American and Russian space programs.
It was not the first attempt at a private space venture but with Davydenko and many titans of space industries behind him, it seemed it had a better shot than most. Though it was going to be years before there were results, Davydenko’s efforts paid off and would lead to what many would call, “The Space Boom”[16]. Without Davydenko and Korolev kicking off the Space Boom, many space technology firms would not get the start they desperately needed.
[1] Stay tuned for how the Red Devils joined the MLB.
[2] Recall in the Yuri no trama nada bueno post that Davydenko’s security team saved Colosio from being assassinated by Mario Aburto Martinez in Tijuana, circa 1994. Colosio went on to serve a single six-year term per the Mexican Constitution of 1917 all thanks to Davydenko.
[3] To elaborate on the San Cristobal Agreement, the first one was signed on March 13th, 1995 while the second and more well-known one was signed on February 16th, 1996. The agreement was also a factor in Davydenko’s eventual arrival in the States since his newfound fame partially led him to set up shop there to expand Sunray.
[4] The Young Pioneers of the Soviet youth organization Komsomol were essentially the USSR’s answer to the Scouting Movement in some parts of Europe and North America.
[5] The Soviet GRU is referred to as the old GRU or the original GRU to distinguish it from the USR GRU which is commonly called the new GRU.
[6] A phrase used by Colombian and other Latin American drug cartels which in Spanish means Plata o plomo.
[7] Another original-to-TTL character in the Hensonverse who influences world events in some shape or form like Lamarr Jackson in the 1992 LA Riots or Kenichi Hoshino assassinating Shoko Asahara in 1995.
[8] Gambling was illegal under the Soviet Union however it still happened for higher level officials and many others. It was legalized in 1988 under Mikhail Gorbachev and since then gambling has been thriving in the USSR’s successor state the USR with Moscow and Odessa as the top gambling destinations for locals and especially foreign tourists. There are a lot more illegal gambling establishments than legal ones however but that is for a separate post.
[9] Davydenko and Novikov aren’t the only Russian-born business moguls abroad. There are numerous other businessmen and women going to the rest of Europe, North America, East Asia (particularly the USR’s former rival China) and Australasia to establish or buy stakes in various companies whether it’s OTL individuals or original-to-TTL individuals.
[10] IOTL, El Rancho was eventually bought out by Turnberry Associates who later demolished the place and began building Fontainebleau Resort. ITTL, Davydenko and Norikov’s burgeoning resort business in America means they will snatch up the hotel to clean it up of asbestos and replace it instead.
[11] The capital of Japan has 23 special wards established in the 1947 Local Autonomy Law and they’re essentially the Japanese equivalent to city council districts in Western cities. For example, the cages for the Casino were called Marunouchi as a reference to the banking center of Chiyoda Ward and Tokyo which is essentially the Japanese version of Wall Street.
[12] KFC is one of the most popular foreign restaurants in Japan with many references to Colonel Harland Sanders in Japanese media and culture most infamously the Curse of the Colonel for the Nishinomiya-based Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Naturally, Novikov did research into Japanese culture and found that KFC was popular in the Land of the Rising Sun hence it’s inclusion in Tokyo, Las Vegas. On a replica Colonel Sanders statue there is a sign with a joke in English and in Japanese which reads “Please don’t throw the Colonel into a river or your favorite team won’t win”
[13] Odachi is a Japanese sword that is the largest of it’s kind and was used by the clans of feudal Japan to showcase their might. The Western equivalent to this sword would be the German/Holy Roman Zweihander or the Scottish Claymore in terms of size.
[14] Sovereign Union is an alternate name for the USR and a shout out to @CountDVB’s America Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond who also included an event similar to the timeline with Jim Henson and Bernie Brillstein buying a stake in Disney.
[15] The incident in question is a reference to the Intelsat 708 incident of 1996 which still occurred in TTL.
[16] Spoilers
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The Strategeries of League Leadership
Chapter 6: Bush and Consequences - The Game: Inside The Secret World of Major League Baseball[1]
By Jon Pessah
Guest post by @jpj1421 with assistance from Mr. Harris Syed
The early nineties economic crunch extended into America’s national pastime. NBC, ABC[2], and ESPN all saw ratings lower than expectations leading to all three networks losing about $200 million on MLB through 1993. The owners, also feeling the crunch, were restless though they turned the ire at Commissioner Fay Vincent, who had taken a number of steps since taking over in 1989 that grated the owners. In 1990 he had intervened to end the lockout in an arrangement that owners felt was too favorable to players. He banned the New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for a number of unsavory actions much to the chagrin of the American League, even though the owners asked Vincent to decide the matter, they only received $30 million in expansion fees to the National League’s $100 million[3] in 1991. And in 1992 Vincent was in a prolonged litigation battle with the Chicago Cubs as Fay sought to realign the National League, with the intention of sending the Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals from East to West and the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds from West to East. With the Commissioner publicly feuding with four teams, the owners who felt Vincent was hurting their bottom line decided that the fall of 1992 was the time to make a move to install one of their own in the job. The ringleader of the coup was Bud Selig, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, whose financial situation was in such dire straits that if things didn’t change soon the team he brought to Milwaukee might be forced to move to a bigger market. Because the MLB’s Constitution had no mechanism for removing a Commissioner it was decided that 18 team owners, just under 2/3, would be needed to box Vincent in and force him to see he had no choice but to resign.
Though Fay Vincent had pissed off most of the owners in his time as Commissioner, he wasn’t without his supporters. Most obvious, and vocal was George W. Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush and minority owner of the Texas Rangers[4]. Vincent’s best friend was Bucky Bush, the President’s brother, and the ever loyal W was squarely on the side of the family friend; it didn’t hurt that W. also fancied himself a potential future Commissioner, if politics didn’t work out and a fight like this is the sort of thing that builds credentials[5]. Bush had been the man in owners’ meetings defending Vincent from any and every attack, while also quietly pushing Vincent to keep out of any future negotiations and maybe listen to the owners on the idea of a salary cap and revenue sharing to dampen some of the anger; Vincent, for his part, felt his job was to make sure all sides were heard while also thinking both ideas were pretty lousy. With Vincent unwilling to compromise, Bush would have to wrangle owners to support the Commissioner against their instincts. Outside the clubhouse Vincent had garnered the respect of game aficionados, especially in California after his handling, just after taking the Commissioner gig the month before, an earthquake interrupting Game 3 of the World Series. The sports press were largely favorable towards Vincent’s cause. There was even a rumored phone call from Disney’s Ron Miller to family friend Gene Autry, then owner of the Anaheim Angels on Vincent’s behalf. There was a cloud of uncertainty as the owners met that September.
Pictured: George W. Bush with then-Commissioner Fay Vincent, circa 1990 (Image source; The New York Times)
George W. Bush’s head count going into the meeting was that he had 9[6] teams, two shy of the threshold the plotters agreed would be enough to undermine the motion that he sure was going to vote down any effort to oust Vincent. The meeting convened with the American League and National League separated in the room, per custom[7]. What followed were speeches for and against Vincent[8], with a few seeking a compromise solution where the role of Commissioner is restructured. When some of the most elder statesmen[9] of baseball, notably Fred Kuhlmann of the St. Louis Cardinals; Bill Giles of the Philadelphia Phillies; Stanton Cook of the Chicago Cubs; and Peter O’Malley of the Los Angeles Dodgers spoke against VIncent it seemed the coup plotters were going to win the day. That feeling dissipated when a number of owners declined to speak one way or the other. In the end the final vote was close, 14-13-1[10], a clear sign that there was dissatisfaction amongst the owners but not enough the strong showing the plotters wanted. When the vote went public, Fay Vincent quickly responded that he would continue as Commissioner at least until the end of the term he had inherited from his deceased successor, which would be in 1994.
The fallout was immediate. Having failed to remove Vincent, the owners scrap plans to reopen negotiations with the players’ union and table their plans to open their books, to help plan for those salary cap and revenue sharing ideas. Vincent successfully sued the Cubs in court to realign the National League East and West and also quashing, at least at the time, splitting the leagues into 3 divisions a proposal floating around until the East/West realignment fight. If there were any thought of a second attempt on removing Vincent before his term was up, the coup plotters found that the other owners couldn’t agree on a path forward. This dissension was made worse when, in the 1993 season the Braves went on a run to beat out a resurgent Phillies[11] for the NL pennant, immediately sapping the anger out of Atlanta over the realignment while the San Francisco Giants took the NL West pennant before beating the Braves on their way to the World Series. Vincent, still reigning, would congratulate the Toronto Blue Jays on their 7th[12] game win over the Giants at the SkyDome. Vincent clearly relished the moment, even as he expected it to be his final major act as Commissioner. His term was up by March 31, 1994 and he didn’t expect to be given another five year term. The question going into the post-World Series owners’ meeting is who would emerge as the Commissioner for the next five years.
As it turned out, the next Commissioner was none other than George W. Bush. He was the well liked scion of a political family and Bush was courted by the Texas Republican Party to get into politics, but that was not where his own passions lay coupled with his father’s sex scandal during the 1992 election[13]. Bush had always been an ardent, and somewhat old school fan of baseball and could see himself as the next Commissioner. For the inner circle of Major League Baseball, Bush actually made quite a bit of sense as he was friends with, and successful defender of the current Commissioner while as a minority owner being sympathetic to the concerns of the other owners and a figure that could potentially bridge the divides in the MLB. Vincent put his support behind Bush early, he certainly didn’t want any of the men who had tried to push him out to follow him into the office, while Bush worked on winning over the others to his side. It proved easier than the two expected, despite Bush siding with Vincent the other owners didn’t hold that against Bush and they did see him as one of their own. Selig, having failed to seize the job for himself, found his attention drawn back to Milwaukee where problems over funding a new stadium would become his sole focus. When the owners met in the spring of 1994 they would vote on two measures that would change the face of baseball over the next decade. George W. Bush would be unanimously elected Commissioner and an expansion committee would be voted into existence for determining how many teams should be added to the AL and NL over the next few years[14].
[1] The real book I, jpj1421, pulled this information from.
[2] IOTL, CBS underbid the Summer Olympics so they could drop $1 billion on monopolizing baseball coverage for years to shore up what was seen as a week primetime lineup. This would commit them to $250 million being paid to MLB every year which the MLB refused to refund any of even as CBS took a $500 million loss. Ted Turner’s CBS wants the Olympics with an eye on 1996 and so commits about half a billion to securing those rights, apologies to my wife who grew up with NBC’s Bob Costas as the face of the Olympics, rather than baseball which was instead split between NBC and ABC for another six years (1990-1995) as it had been throughout the 80s. ITTL the commitment from the networks is smaller and shared making things more sustainable compared to IOTL.
[3] To account for less of money from the networks, this is ~70% of the IOTL amounts. $42 million to the AL and $148 million to the NL, respectively.
[4] Given that the elder Bush had a sex scandal of sorts during the 1992 election if you recall in the second Election ‘92 Live Coverage post, W. never goes into politics and becomes a fairly well known figure in the MLB other than being the part-time owner of the Rangers.
[5] All of this is true in OTL.
[6] The IOTL 9 that voted with Vincent: The Athletics, Astros, Expos, Marlins, Mets, Orioles, Rangers, Red Sox and Royals.
[7] Mentioned because IOTL they were intermingled to keep Vincent allies separate.
[8] The OTL meeting was frontloaded with anti-Vincent speakers to set the tone for removal.
[9] This phrase and the following list of such are straight from OTL’s The Game, specifically page 22.
[10] The Angels, Giants, Mariners and Tigers are Yes votes IOTL that vote No here. The Reds owner Marge Schott, with all of her demons, abstains as per IOTL. These seemed like the teams most likely to stick with Fay Vincent with some butterfly wings flapping.
[11] Apologies to my beloved Phillies
[12] The Giants were a better team than the Phillies that year, kept out of the playoffs by 1 game in their division IOTL, so they take the Series to the last game.
[13] It’s pulled straight from OTL and the fact that George H.W. Bush got himself in trouble discouraged his son from ever pursuing the Presidency or the Governorship of Texas which resulted in Ann Richards getting re-elected for another term instead. Stay tuned for what she will be doing in the Texas sports landscape.
[14] Let’s just say that this expansion will be very different from OTL and Mexico City will be one of the new teams for reasons that will be elaborated in the next post.
By Jon Pessah
Guest post by @jpj1421 with assistance from Mr. Harris Syed
The early nineties economic crunch extended into America’s national pastime. NBC, ABC[2], and ESPN all saw ratings lower than expectations leading to all three networks losing about $200 million on MLB through 1993. The owners, also feeling the crunch, were restless though they turned the ire at Commissioner Fay Vincent, who had taken a number of steps since taking over in 1989 that grated the owners. In 1990 he had intervened to end the lockout in an arrangement that owners felt was too favorable to players. He banned the New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for a number of unsavory actions much to the chagrin of the American League, even though the owners asked Vincent to decide the matter, they only received $30 million in expansion fees to the National League’s $100 million[3] in 1991. And in 1992 Vincent was in a prolonged litigation battle with the Chicago Cubs as Fay sought to realign the National League, with the intention of sending the Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals from East to West and the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds from West to East. With the Commissioner publicly feuding with four teams, the owners who felt Vincent was hurting their bottom line decided that the fall of 1992 was the time to make a move to install one of their own in the job. The ringleader of the coup was Bud Selig, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, whose financial situation was in such dire straits that if things didn’t change soon the team he brought to Milwaukee might be forced to move to a bigger market. Because the MLB’s Constitution had no mechanism for removing a Commissioner it was decided that 18 team owners, just under 2/3, would be needed to box Vincent in and force him to see he had no choice but to resign.
Though Fay Vincent had pissed off most of the owners in his time as Commissioner, he wasn’t without his supporters. Most obvious, and vocal was George W. Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush and minority owner of the Texas Rangers[4]. Vincent’s best friend was Bucky Bush, the President’s brother, and the ever loyal W was squarely on the side of the family friend; it didn’t hurt that W. also fancied himself a potential future Commissioner, if politics didn’t work out and a fight like this is the sort of thing that builds credentials[5]. Bush had been the man in owners’ meetings defending Vincent from any and every attack, while also quietly pushing Vincent to keep out of any future negotiations and maybe listen to the owners on the idea of a salary cap and revenue sharing to dampen some of the anger; Vincent, for his part, felt his job was to make sure all sides were heard while also thinking both ideas were pretty lousy. With Vincent unwilling to compromise, Bush would have to wrangle owners to support the Commissioner against their instincts. Outside the clubhouse Vincent had garnered the respect of game aficionados, especially in California after his handling, just after taking the Commissioner gig the month before, an earthquake interrupting Game 3 of the World Series. The sports press were largely favorable towards Vincent’s cause. There was even a rumored phone call from Disney’s Ron Miller to family friend Gene Autry, then owner of the Anaheim Angels on Vincent’s behalf. There was a cloud of uncertainty as the owners met that September.
Pictured: George W. Bush with then-Commissioner Fay Vincent, circa 1990 (Image source; The New York Times)
George W. Bush’s head count going into the meeting was that he had 9[6] teams, two shy of the threshold the plotters agreed would be enough to undermine the motion that he sure was going to vote down any effort to oust Vincent. The meeting convened with the American League and National League separated in the room, per custom[7]. What followed were speeches for and against Vincent[8], with a few seeking a compromise solution where the role of Commissioner is restructured. When some of the most elder statesmen[9] of baseball, notably Fred Kuhlmann of the St. Louis Cardinals; Bill Giles of the Philadelphia Phillies; Stanton Cook of the Chicago Cubs; and Peter O’Malley of the Los Angeles Dodgers spoke against VIncent it seemed the coup plotters were going to win the day. That feeling dissipated when a number of owners declined to speak one way or the other. In the end the final vote was close, 14-13-1[10], a clear sign that there was dissatisfaction amongst the owners but not enough the strong showing the plotters wanted. When the vote went public, Fay Vincent quickly responded that he would continue as Commissioner at least until the end of the term he had inherited from his deceased successor, which would be in 1994.
The fallout was immediate. Having failed to remove Vincent, the owners scrap plans to reopen negotiations with the players’ union and table their plans to open their books, to help plan for those salary cap and revenue sharing ideas. Vincent successfully sued the Cubs in court to realign the National League East and West and also quashing, at least at the time, splitting the leagues into 3 divisions a proposal floating around until the East/West realignment fight. If there were any thought of a second attempt on removing Vincent before his term was up, the coup plotters found that the other owners couldn’t agree on a path forward. This dissension was made worse when, in the 1993 season the Braves went on a run to beat out a resurgent Phillies[11] for the NL pennant, immediately sapping the anger out of Atlanta over the realignment while the San Francisco Giants took the NL West pennant before beating the Braves on their way to the World Series. Vincent, still reigning, would congratulate the Toronto Blue Jays on their 7th[12] game win over the Giants at the SkyDome. Vincent clearly relished the moment, even as he expected it to be his final major act as Commissioner. His term was up by March 31, 1994 and he didn’t expect to be given another five year term. The question going into the post-World Series owners’ meeting is who would emerge as the Commissioner for the next five years.
As it turned out, the next Commissioner was none other than George W. Bush. He was the well liked scion of a political family and Bush was courted by the Texas Republican Party to get into politics, but that was not where his own passions lay coupled with his father’s sex scandal during the 1992 election[13]. Bush had always been an ardent, and somewhat old school fan of baseball and could see himself as the next Commissioner. For the inner circle of Major League Baseball, Bush actually made quite a bit of sense as he was friends with, and successful defender of the current Commissioner while as a minority owner being sympathetic to the concerns of the other owners and a figure that could potentially bridge the divides in the MLB. Vincent put his support behind Bush early, he certainly didn’t want any of the men who had tried to push him out to follow him into the office, while Bush worked on winning over the others to his side. It proved easier than the two expected, despite Bush siding with Vincent the other owners didn’t hold that against Bush and they did see him as one of their own. Selig, having failed to seize the job for himself, found his attention drawn back to Milwaukee where problems over funding a new stadium would become his sole focus. When the owners met in the spring of 1994 they would vote on two measures that would change the face of baseball over the next decade. George W. Bush would be unanimously elected Commissioner and an expansion committee would be voted into existence for determining how many teams should be added to the AL and NL over the next few years[14].
[1] The real book I, jpj1421, pulled this information from.
[2] IOTL, CBS underbid the Summer Olympics so they could drop $1 billion on monopolizing baseball coverage for years to shore up what was seen as a week primetime lineup. This would commit them to $250 million being paid to MLB every year which the MLB refused to refund any of even as CBS took a $500 million loss. Ted Turner’s CBS wants the Olympics with an eye on 1996 and so commits about half a billion to securing those rights, apologies to my wife who grew up with NBC’s Bob Costas as the face of the Olympics, rather than baseball which was instead split between NBC and ABC for another six years (1990-1995) as it had been throughout the 80s. ITTL the commitment from the networks is smaller and shared making things more sustainable compared to IOTL.
[3] To account for less of money from the networks, this is ~70% of the IOTL amounts. $42 million to the AL and $148 million to the NL, respectively.
[4] Given that the elder Bush had a sex scandal of sorts during the 1992 election if you recall in the second Election ‘92 Live Coverage post, W. never goes into politics and becomes a fairly well known figure in the MLB other than being the part-time owner of the Rangers.
[5] All of this is true in OTL.
[6] The IOTL 9 that voted with Vincent: The Athletics, Astros, Expos, Marlins, Mets, Orioles, Rangers, Red Sox and Royals.
[7] Mentioned because IOTL they were intermingled to keep Vincent allies separate.
[8] The OTL meeting was frontloaded with anti-Vincent speakers to set the tone for removal.
[9] This phrase and the following list of such are straight from OTL’s The Game, specifically page 22.
[10] The Angels, Giants, Mariners and Tigers are Yes votes IOTL that vote No here. The Reds owner Marge Schott, with all of her demons, abstains as per IOTL. These seemed like the teams most likely to stick with Fay Vincent with some butterfly wings flapping.
[11] Apologies to my beloved Phillies
[12] The Giants were a better team than the Phillies that year, kept out of the playoffs by 1 game in their division IOTL, so they take the Series to the last game.
[13] It’s pulled straight from OTL and the fact that George H.W. Bush got himself in trouble discouraged his son from ever pursuing the Presidency or the Governorship of Texas which resulted in Ann Richards getting re-elected for another term instead. Stay tuned for what she will be doing in the Texas sports landscape.
[14] Let’s just say that this expansion will be very different from OTL and Mexico City will be one of the new teams for reasons that will be elaborated in the next post.
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Another Marvel Poster? Surely you are spoiling us. Ahem.
”THE FANTASTIC FOUR” (1997, Leonard Nimoy, MGM, Marvel Productions LTD.)
”THE FANTASTIC FOUR” (1997, Leonard Nimoy, MGM, Marvel Productions LTD.)
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When this releases and over time I imagine this living long and prospering (Star Trek reference intended due to the director)
It's a Bush League after all...
Chapter 7 - The Changing Face of Baseball - The Game: Inside The Secret World of Major League Baseball
By Jon Pessah
Guest post by @jpj1421 and Mr. Harris Syed
George W. Bush, former minority owner of the Texas Rangers and new Commissioner of the MLB (Image source; The New York Times)
George W. Bush was picked as Commissioner to strike a balance between baseball history and the ownership push to modernize the sport. Coming through the recession without too much of a hit followed by the banner years of 1993 and 1994, the MLB would announce an expansion committee in March one year after the addition of the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins. The expansion committee was comprised of Bill Gilles of the Philadelphia Phillies, Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago Red Sox, George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees, Stanton Cook of the Cleveland Indians, Stan Kasten of the Atlanta Braves, American League President Bobby Brown and National League President Leonard S. Coleman Jr[1]. The original intent was to just add two teams, but after 10[2] cities across North America placed bids and with the continued success of the sport it was decided in late March 1995 to move forward with an expansion of four teams after the MLB had to resolve a short-lived lockout first through a deal made with the Major League Baseball Players Association that included a shortened spring training and a later regular season start[3]. Four extra teams had the benefit, beyond expanding to fanbases in new markets, of being able to drive a much needed change in the division structure that had been in place since 1969; rather than then current 2[4] divisions per league the 16 teams in each league could be split into four divisions which would mean four more teams, 2 in each division, entering the playoffs. Not to mention, that simply adding 2 teams would have meant an uneven number of teams in each League which would have left a team idle every day or necessitated a team switch from one of the Leagues for a division with an extra team or, in an idea horrifying to old school baseball folks, the creation of interleague play[5]. The expansion committee had to weigh the potential market value of any new city or region and the ability to meet league stadium standards; Buffalo, for its part, had actually built Pilot Field back in 1988 certain of being included in the last expansion despite MLB telling cities not to build stadiums unless selected first. Unfortunately for Buffalo they would be snubbed again since New York already had two teams downstate as well as the Blue Jays and Expos north of the border. The league would instead use this opportunity to expand its reach to Latin America with Mexico City as the prime candidate due to its large population of over 15 million and a suitable stadium in Parque Deportivo del Seguro Social, the home of the Mexican League’s Mexico City Red Devils owned by Alfredo Harp Helu and Valentyn Davydenko[6]. Another strong candidate for expansion was the Tampa Bay region of Florida thanks to its illustrious history of minor league baseball and the city of St. Petersburg had built the MLB-caliber Florida Suncoast Dome in 1990 coupled with former San Francisco Giants owner Vince Namoli already spearheading expansion efforts for the area as part of an agreement with the league after an unsuccessful effort to relocate the Giants to the area[7]. Washington DC was the next city in strong consideration for a new MLB team as the home of both iterations of the Senators and the RFK Memorial Stadium was suitable for a temporary home while a new ballpark would be built with Abe Pollin, the owner of the NBA’s Washington Bullets[8] and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, as the key figure in pushing for a new baseball team in the nation’s capital since his involvement in the DC Baseball Commission during the last expansion phase[9]. Pollin’s fellow NBA owner Jerry Colangelo of the Phoenix Suns was part of an ownership group wanting to bring Major League Baseball to Phoenix as it already had a well-established minor league team in the Triple-A Phoenix Firebirds and was a growing Sun Belt city much like Tampa. Other candidates for MLB expansion included Nashville, Orlando, Vancouver, Monterrey and Northern Virginia each with their groups submitting bids for a new team. Charlotte and Sacramento, two cities that were considered for expansion teams in 1993, ultimately made no attempt to acquire one and were the odd markets out much like Buffalo.
In the first few stages of the expansion process, Monterrey, Northern Virginia and Orlando were eliminated due to the strength of the Mexico City, Washington DC and Tampa Bay bids and the fact that they were smaller markets in the same areas as the latter three. By contrast, Nashville and Vancouver were able to make it past the initial stages thanks to the Music City's status as the home of the Southern League’s Sounds along with a long history of professional baseball while Canada’s third-largest metropolis had the multi-purpose BC Place which could also support baseball in addition to Canadian football as Montreal's Olympic Stadium did for the original Alouettes and Expos[10]. The expansion committee would later narrow down the field to six bids: Mexico City, Tampa Bay, Washington DC, Phoenix, Nashville and Vancouver. Namoli's involvement in the Tampa Bay bid made a team for the region virtually a done deal and Mexico City was the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world making it the ideal location to expand the MLB's footprint in Latin America. The other two contenders, Washington DC and Phoenix, were very attractive to the owners, particularly the latter despite the objections of Peter Angelos of the Baltimore Orioles since the team's home was relatively close to what was then the biggest media market without an MLB team. Vancouver had the baseball-ready BC Place and though any potential team would face some competition from the Blue Jays and the Expos not to mention that the Canadian dollar was still weak. Lastly, Nashville had a rich history of baseball and like Tampa Bay was a growing Southern city in the Sun Belt.
At an owners meeting in March 1996, the MLB awarded four new expansion teams to Tampa Bay, Mexico City, Washington DC and Phoenix respectively with Angelos as the lone No vote. Each team would pay a $145 million expansion fee to enter the league[11] and begin preparations to build new, state-of-the-art ballparks. Tampa Bay and Mexico City would begin their inaugural seasons in 1998 followed by Phoenix and Washington DC in 1999. The announcement disappointed the cities of Nashville and Vancouver who were left bitter after the league had turned down their bids. Nevertheless, the MLB under Bush had finally accomplished realignment with new markets to spread or reintroduce the national pastime and increased revenue with Phoenix and Tampa Bay in the American League while Mexico City and Washington DC would be slotted into the National League[12].
Although the expansion process for Tampa Bay, Washington DC and Phoenix would go rather smoothly there was some friction with Mexico City since the Mexican League feared that an MLB team would cut into their profits from the largest market and the league would file an antitrust lawsuit[13] against Helu and Davydenko but the fact that the successful bid received the backing of the Mexican government meant that this lawsuit would fail in the Supreme Court. As a compromise, the Mexican League would be given a new team in Mexico City set to play in 2000 and share the same stadium with Helu's new MLB team[14] though the Mexico City Tigers would continue operations. Additionally, the Mexican government mandated that half the roster of the Mexico City team would be stocked with native-born Mexican players.
In establishing the teams, Tampa Bay, Washington DC and Phoenix all had to start from scratch such as finding names or drafting new players though Mexico City simply brought the Red Devils of the Mexican League to join the MLB and retained their name. For Tampa Bay, they already had a stadium but not a name. Originally, Namoli wanted the Sting Rays as their name but discovered that the minor league Maui Stingrays owned the rights to the name and while they offered to sell the naming rights he chose to call the team the Tampa Bay Devil Rays instead even if some objected[15]. In Washington DC, the Senators was the favorite among fans given that it was the name of three baseball teams and Pollin preferred it for the new Washington MLB team but the Texas Rangers owned the naming rights and not everyone in the city government was on board with Senators as the name of the new team since the capital didn’t have representation in Congress so Pollin chose “Nationals” which was used by the original Senators team from 1905 to 1955[16] and Phoenix held a “Name the Team” contest with Coyotes, Rattlers, Scorpions and Diamondbacks with the latter winning out and the team representing the state of Arizona as opposed to just a single city. On the ballpark front, the Devil Rays began play in the Suncoast Dome whereas Mexico City would repurpose the Foro Sol as a sports venue when the Red Devils moved out of Parque del Seguro Social[17] which remained as the home of the Tigers while Phoenix and Washington DC had agreements to build new ballparks such as the retractable Hensley Park[18] and Nationals Field, built adjacent to the Senators’ old home RFK Memorial Stadium[19]. Additionally, two expansion drafts were held at the World Trade Center Mexico City (1998) and the Washington Convention Center (1999) respectively with the Devil Rays, Red Devils, Nationals and Diamondbacks picking over 70 players to fill up their rosters, the Red Devils in particular replaced their previous management and roster in preparation for their MLB debut. Since the late 1990s, all four teams have faced their fair share of ups and downs over the years from World Series wins to abysmal seasons though regardless the expansion changed the league for better or worse such as the MLB being the first American sports organization to have a team in Mexico or the return of professional baseball to the nation’s capital.
But while expansion was turning out very well, there was some trouble stirring within the Seattle Mariners. Despite the hiring of Lou Pinella, the Mariners struggled in the last three seasons with dismal records and the increasingly-outdated Kingdome being unsuitable as a long-term home for the team after four 15-pound ceiling tiles fell onto the seating bowl in 1993[20]. The team’s owners, Nintendo of America, wanted a new, publicly-funded stadium in downtown Seattle but the city was unwilling to provide the money needed to replace the Kingdome as the team’s new home after a failed referendum in 1995 and entreaties to Governor Ken Eikenberry and the Washington State legislature fell on deaf ears though there was a brief flicker of hope of changing minds during a hot streak near the end of the 1995 season that kept the possibility of a new home in Seattle after struggling for much of their schedule, but they fell a handful of games behind the Angels who, despite collapsing at the end of the season had banked a number of wins in the early spring to maintaining their first place position in the AL West. With a rather dismal season, Nintendo began exploring the possibility of selling the Mariners to a new ownership group[21]. Initially, Nintendo of America considered local businessmen and investors but they would receive offers from Vancouver, Buffalo and Nashville, the cities who didn’t make the cut for MLB expansion. Vancouver seemed attractive to the Mariners since it was relatively close to Seattle and the BC Place could support baseball coupled with a decent ownership group led by but the weak Canadian dollar was a major point of concern for Nintendo[22] especially as the NHL's Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets had relocated south to Denver and Phoenix respectively with the Edmonton Oilers soon to follow[23]. Buffalo already had Pilot Field for a potential MLB team to play in and Nashville still set its sights on going from minor league to major league with plans to have an MLB-caliber ballpark to replace Herschel Greer Stadium. For their part, the rest of the MLB were pushing Nintendo of America to go with either Vancouver or Nashville, to maintain the American League division balance as it had existed over the last number of years. After much consideration, NIntendo made an agreement with a Buffalo group led by Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs with the intent of relocating the team to his home city. At the end of the 1997 season, Nintendo and local representative John Ellis, announced that the Mariners would move to Buffalo in 1999. Suffice to say, many Mariners fans were not happy of this announcement since they were angry at Nintendo and Ellis as they put it “You Abandoned Us” and attendance numbers dwindled as a result of this announcement. Bush and the other MLB owners did not like the Mariners moving to Buffalo and there was a flurry of discussion over a potential veto vote by the MLB owners, that was only resolved through backroom negotiations backed up by Nintendo’s threat to pursue a potential strategy of getting baseball’s monopoly exemption lifted. In March 1998, the MLB voted to approve the Mariners relocation to Buffalo with plans to realign the divisions with the team heading east. The move left many fans of the Mariners heartbroken as they were going to have to say goodbye to their cherished team as they were moving to the other side of the country leaving the Emerald City as one of the largest markets with no MLB team. That said, the city of Seattle and the MLB learned from the debacle of the original Cleveland Browns relocating to St. Louis so a deal was made in which the records of the Mariners would be left behind for a hypothetical expansion team while Jacobs would be allowed to move the team to Buffalo. The city of Seattle would eventually build a brand new stadium known as Safeco Park in 2006 with the intent of acquiring a new MLB team and is adjacent to the Seattle Seahawks new home venue Alaska Airlines Field[24], the latter of which was built due to the influence of Paul Allen and the desire to keep the city’s NFL team from relocating to Baltimore. Over the years, Seattle has been the most popular candidate for the next wave of MLB expansion along with Vancouver and Nashville though it remains to be seen if the Mariners will return to Seattle[25].
With the Mariners having departed for Buffalo, it was time to pick a new name for the team. Unsurprisingly, Bisons was the overwhelming favorite due to it’s association with numerous sports teams in the Buffalo area over the years including baseball. Moreover, Jacobs would invite Robert E. Rich Jr to be a minority owner and he would negotiate with Minor League Baseball to have the name used for the new MLB team since he already owned the Triple-A Bisons[26]. Much like the Phoenix Firebirds, the Triple-A Bisons would fold to make way for their MLB counterpart in a passing of the torch for Buffalo sports in their last game. The hype surrounding the Bisons “coming” to the MLB was massive with many residents from the Buffalo area buying tickets and long lines of Buffalo sports shops buying MLB Bisons jerseys or other merchandise. Jacobs even remarked that the city’s anticipation for the Bisons was like “the second coming of Jesus” and was glad that there was an immense outpour of support for the new team. Since 1999, the Bisons have cultivated a loyal following of fans and are considered a cornerstone of Buffalo along with the NFL’s Bills and the NHL’s Sabres.
With the expansion, and Mariners relocation settled, the league structure had to be finalized going forward. The four divisions plan was already fait accompli by Bush and the owners so it was unanimously approved in a special meeting along with the Mariners move to Buffalo. The owners would approve a new schedule that would maintain the traditional 162 game season with 14 games against the three other teams in a division, and ten games against the 12 other teams within their League in March of 1999. The traditional East and West divisions would remain, but two new divisions would have to be created to assign teams to, and so the Central and Southeast division were born. The Central Division would logically consist of traditional Midwestern teams. The Southeast would end up being more of a catch-all division, particularly in the American League. Whereas the NL Southeast would consist of four teams south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the AL Southeast would have two such teams but also Cleveland and Kansas City to balance out the larger Midwestern presence in the American League. The post-1999 MLB would look as follows:
National League
American League
For the postseason, a third round of playoff games was created; The Division Series. The division winner with the best record would face the division winner with the worst record in a five game series, while the division winners with the 2nd and 3rd best records have their own five game series. The winner of each Division Series would move to the League Championship to determine who would head off to the World Series. While this new structure would be aggravating to well playing teams in a division with a juggernaut like the Braves or Expos where they’d languish in a respectable 2nd perhaps better than other less competitive division, it was seen as a mostly positive reform. It gave more teams a chance at the postseason attention and revenue, meaning more fans tuned into the playoffs, while maintaining in essence the division structure that had been in place since 1969.
The success, or failure, of the new structure would likely be at the forefront of the owners’ minds when deciding on the next Commissioner election in 1999. Bush was actively looking for another five year term, and if the expansion and restructure were successful would likely be a shoo in to win that second term. If not, there would likely be a move to find a new face for the sport.
[1] As per OTL.
[2] The cities considered for expansion by the MLB include Nashville, Orlando, Buffalo, Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, and Northern Virginia as per IOTL along with Mexico City and Monterrey which were eyed by MLB owners and in a slight change from IOTL, Washington DC given the former city’s history of baseball, its status as the nation’s capital along with a healthier, no 1994 strike and Pollin participating in the DC Baseball Commission’s 1993 expansion bid ITTL.
[3] This actually was the original recommendation IOTL (https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...w-teams/2497f97e-c4bb-4008-b30f-de3629154722/) but the realities of the MLB after the 1994 baseball strike led to just an expansion of two teams, Phoenix and Tampa Bay. With the 1994 strike averted and a shorter lockout, the MLB gets to expand to four teams.
[4] The modern 3 divisions were created the year after Bud Selig took over for Fay Vincent IOTL, which did not happen here.
[5] Both of these ended up happening IOTL. Allowing games between the AL and the NL before the World Series was controversial for a while within baseball, though it happened all the time with the American Football Conference and National Football Conference of the NFL, but advocates for interleague play have basically prevailed. Starting in the 2023 season IOTL, every team will play every other team in at least one series.
[6] According to a Mental Floss article, Helu did submit a bid for an MLB team in Mexico City but it was passed over. Since Helu wasn’t kidnapped, coupled with the success of the non-Anglophone city-based Montreal Expos and Davydenko's support, Mexico City becomes a viable candidate for MLB expansion.
[7] Recall in the Catch the Bus at Disneyland post that the Devil Rays already exist since they are mentioned by name as a forthcoming expansion team. Namoli will get to own the Devil Rays like OTL but as part of the four-team expansion.
[8] Given the violent crime rates of Washington DC, the Bullets are going to be renamed to something else.
[9] Washington DC was a city seen by many as a candidate for an expansion team for 1993 under the DC Baseball Commission but no ownership group from the capital ever submitted a bid in the 1998 MLB expansion wave. As the MLB’s TTL expansion is much larger, coupled with no 1994 strike, Pollin's DCBC membership and more than fifteen years of butterflies, DC will actually participate in the next expansion wave.
[10] Recall in the second A Bus and a Rock post that the original Cleveland Browns relocated to St. Louis to become the Stallions while the Browns records were left for a new team to continue it’s legacy in 1999. As a result of this move, the Canadian Football League’s American expansion would last slightly longer than IOTL with the Baltimore Stallions and the other remaining non-Canadian teams sticking around though only the Stallions would be successful enough to be financially viable at least until the NFL gave Baltimore a new team named the Marauders (after the American bomber plane) which led the Stallions to move up north to Montreal to revive the Alouettes in 2001.
[11] IOTL it was $130 million.
[12] The Phoenix/Arizona team went to the National League while Tampa Bay ended up in the American League. The desire to balance and realign the MLB means that Arizona and Tampa Bay went to the AL as intended in OTL.
[13] Mexico had an antitrust law after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was ratified hence the lawsuit.
[14] Obviously, the Mexican League’s new Mexico City team cannot use Red Devils since that is owned by the new MLB of the same name so they go with the Capitalinos (Capitals) as a reference to the city.
[15] Per OTL.
[16] From Mr. Harris Syed: “I will confess that I wanted to go with Senators to differentiate the team from OTL’s Nationals but the political climate of DC after the 1993 statehood referendum coupled with the Rangers owning the name means that the TTL expansion teams carries this name”.
[17] Similar to what happened with the Red Devils/Diablos Rojos in OTL.
[18] Basically, TTL’s Bank One Ballpark
[19] Washington DC officials really did consider building a ballpark next to RFK Memorial Stadium but went with Southeast Anacostia instead. Because of the different circumstances leading to baseball’s return to the capital, the RFK site was chosen instead.
[20] Just like OTL.
[21] This is what actually happened with voters narrowly defeating the measure and the Mariners ownership threatening to sell the team though the success of the Mariners in the 1995 season under Ken Griffey Jr, resulted in Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park being built. Here, the Mariners didn't do well enough in 1995 without Griffey Jr to justify a new stadium and thus they are sold to someone else.
[22] As noted by @Geekhis Khan, the Mariners still exist in 1997 and so the relocation to Vancouver has been completely retconned entirely from the Hensonverse to merely a potential buyer.
[23] Given that Winnipeg and Quebec City were small markets along with other issues, it's rather unavoidable that the Jets and Nordiques would leave. In the case of the Oilers, Peter Pocklington almost sold the team to Leslie Alexander who would have moved the team to Houston but the Edmonton Investors Group (EIG) raised enough money to keep the Oilers by reaching half of the $70 million amount. In TTL, Pocklington's asking price is $90 million due to some slight butterflies affecting the NHL and the Edmonton Investment Group isn't able to raise enough money resulting in the Oilers relocating to Houston under the name the Houston Roughnecks since Aeros was already taken by another team and to avoid confusion with the NFL's Houston Oilers. More on the Oilers in a future Fan Contribution post.
[24] Safeco Park is essentially TTL’s Safeco Field and was constructed along with Alaska Airlines Field (Lumen Field in OTL) as part of a new sports complex.
[25] Seattle’s status as the next MLB city is similar to Montreal in OTL after the Expos relocated to Washington DC to become the Nationals. It’s also akin to how it’s seen as the next NBA city when the SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City.
[26] Rich was involved in Buffalo’s failed 1993 MLB expansion bid where he would have been the majority owner. While he doesn’t get to own the MLB Bisons, he does have a controlling interest with the support of Jacobs who was one of the investors in the bid.
By Jon Pessah
Guest post by @jpj1421 and Mr. Harris Syed
George W. Bush, former minority owner of the Texas Rangers and new Commissioner of the MLB (Image source; The New York Times)
George W. Bush was picked as Commissioner to strike a balance between baseball history and the ownership push to modernize the sport. Coming through the recession without too much of a hit followed by the banner years of 1993 and 1994, the MLB would announce an expansion committee in March one year after the addition of the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins. The expansion committee was comprised of Bill Gilles of the Philadelphia Phillies, Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago Red Sox, George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees, Stanton Cook of the Cleveland Indians, Stan Kasten of the Atlanta Braves, American League President Bobby Brown and National League President Leonard S. Coleman Jr[1]. The original intent was to just add two teams, but after 10[2] cities across North America placed bids and with the continued success of the sport it was decided in late March 1995 to move forward with an expansion of four teams after the MLB had to resolve a short-lived lockout first through a deal made with the Major League Baseball Players Association that included a shortened spring training and a later regular season start[3]. Four extra teams had the benefit, beyond expanding to fanbases in new markets, of being able to drive a much needed change in the division structure that had been in place since 1969; rather than then current 2[4] divisions per league the 16 teams in each league could be split into four divisions which would mean four more teams, 2 in each division, entering the playoffs. Not to mention, that simply adding 2 teams would have meant an uneven number of teams in each League which would have left a team idle every day or necessitated a team switch from one of the Leagues for a division with an extra team or, in an idea horrifying to old school baseball folks, the creation of interleague play[5]. The expansion committee had to weigh the potential market value of any new city or region and the ability to meet league stadium standards; Buffalo, for its part, had actually built Pilot Field back in 1988 certain of being included in the last expansion despite MLB telling cities not to build stadiums unless selected first. Unfortunately for Buffalo they would be snubbed again since New York already had two teams downstate as well as the Blue Jays and Expos north of the border. The league would instead use this opportunity to expand its reach to Latin America with Mexico City as the prime candidate due to its large population of over 15 million and a suitable stadium in Parque Deportivo del Seguro Social, the home of the Mexican League’s Mexico City Red Devils owned by Alfredo Harp Helu and Valentyn Davydenko[6]. Another strong candidate for expansion was the Tampa Bay region of Florida thanks to its illustrious history of minor league baseball and the city of St. Petersburg had built the MLB-caliber Florida Suncoast Dome in 1990 coupled with former San Francisco Giants owner Vince Namoli already spearheading expansion efforts for the area as part of an agreement with the league after an unsuccessful effort to relocate the Giants to the area[7]. Washington DC was the next city in strong consideration for a new MLB team as the home of both iterations of the Senators and the RFK Memorial Stadium was suitable for a temporary home while a new ballpark would be built with Abe Pollin, the owner of the NBA’s Washington Bullets[8] and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, as the key figure in pushing for a new baseball team in the nation’s capital since his involvement in the DC Baseball Commission during the last expansion phase[9]. Pollin’s fellow NBA owner Jerry Colangelo of the Phoenix Suns was part of an ownership group wanting to bring Major League Baseball to Phoenix as it already had a well-established minor league team in the Triple-A Phoenix Firebirds and was a growing Sun Belt city much like Tampa. Other candidates for MLB expansion included Nashville, Orlando, Vancouver, Monterrey and Northern Virginia each with their groups submitting bids for a new team. Charlotte and Sacramento, two cities that were considered for expansion teams in 1993, ultimately made no attempt to acquire one and were the odd markets out much like Buffalo.
In the first few stages of the expansion process, Monterrey, Northern Virginia and Orlando were eliminated due to the strength of the Mexico City, Washington DC and Tampa Bay bids and the fact that they were smaller markets in the same areas as the latter three. By contrast, Nashville and Vancouver were able to make it past the initial stages thanks to the Music City's status as the home of the Southern League’s Sounds along with a long history of professional baseball while Canada’s third-largest metropolis had the multi-purpose BC Place which could also support baseball in addition to Canadian football as Montreal's Olympic Stadium did for the original Alouettes and Expos[10]. The expansion committee would later narrow down the field to six bids: Mexico City, Tampa Bay, Washington DC, Phoenix, Nashville and Vancouver. Namoli's involvement in the Tampa Bay bid made a team for the region virtually a done deal and Mexico City was the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world making it the ideal location to expand the MLB's footprint in Latin America. The other two contenders, Washington DC and Phoenix, were very attractive to the owners, particularly the latter despite the objections of Peter Angelos of the Baltimore Orioles since the team's home was relatively close to what was then the biggest media market without an MLB team. Vancouver had the baseball-ready BC Place and though any potential team would face some competition from the Blue Jays and the Expos not to mention that the Canadian dollar was still weak. Lastly, Nashville had a rich history of baseball and like Tampa Bay was a growing Southern city in the Sun Belt.
At an owners meeting in March 1996, the MLB awarded four new expansion teams to Tampa Bay, Mexico City, Washington DC and Phoenix respectively with Angelos as the lone No vote. Each team would pay a $145 million expansion fee to enter the league[11] and begin preparations to build new, state-of-the-art ballparks. Tampa Bay and Mexico City would begin their inaugural seasons in 1998 followed by Phoenix and Washington DC in 1999. The announcement disappointed the cities of Nashville and Vancouver who were left bitter after the league had turned down their bids. Nevertheless, the MLB under Bush had finally accomplished realignment with new markets to spread or reintroduce the national pastime and increased revenue with Phoenix and Tampa Bay in the American League while Mexico City and Washington DC would be slotted into the National League[12].
Although the expansion process for Tampa Bay, Washington DC and Phoenix would go rather smoothly there was some friction with Mexico City since the Mexican League feared that an MLB team would cut into their profits from the largest market and the league would file an antitrust lawsuit[13] against Helu and Davydenko but the fact that the successful bid received the backing of the Mexican government meant that this lawsuit would fail in the Supreme Court. As a compromise, the Mexican League would be given a new team in Mexico City set to play in 2000 and share the same stadium with Helu's new MLB team[14] though the Mexico City Tigers would continue operations. Additionally, the Mexican government mandated that half the roster of the Mexico City team would be stocked with native-born Mexican players.
In establishing the teams, Tampa Bay, Washington DC and Phoenix all had to start from scratch such as finding names or drafting new players though Mexico City simply brought the Red Devils of the Mexican League to join the MLB and retained their name. For Tampa Bay, they already had a stadium but not a name. Originally, Namoli wanted the Sting Rays as their name but discovered that the minor league Maui Stingrays owned the rights to the name and while they offered to sell the naming rights he chose to call the team the Tampa Bay Devil Rays instead even if some objected[15]. In Washington DC, the Senators was the favorite among fans given that it was the name of three baseball teams and Pollin preferred it for the new Washington MLB team but the Texas Rangers owned the naming rights and not everyone in the city government was on board with Senators as the name of the new team since the capital didn’t have representation in Congress so Pollin chose “Nationals” which was used by the original Senators team from 1905 to 1955[16] and Phoenix held a “Name the Team” contest with Coyotes, Rattlers, Scorpions and Diamondbacks with the latter winning out and the team representing the state of Arizona as opposed to just a single city. On the ballpark front, the Devil Rays began play in the Suncoast Dome whereas Mexico City would repurpose the Foro Sol as a sports venue when the Red Devils moved out of Parque del Seguro Social[17] which remained as the home of the Tigers while Phoenix and Washington DC had agreements to build new ballparks such as the retractable Hensley Park[18] and Nationals Field, built adjacent to the Senators’ old home RFK Memorial Stadium[19]. Additionally, two expansion drafts were held at the World Trade Center Mexico City (1998) and the Washington Convention Center (1999) respectively with the Devil Rays, Red Devils, Nationals and Diamondbacks picking over 70 players to fill up their rosters, the Red Devils in particular replaced their previous management and roster in preparation for their MLB debut. Since the late 1990s, all four teams have faced their fair share of ups and downs over the years from World Series wins to abysmal seasons though regardless the expansion changed the league for better or worse such as the MLB being the first American sports organization to have a team in Mexico or the return of professional baseball to the nation’s capital.
But while expansion was turning out very well, there was some trouble stirring within the Seattle Mariners. Despite the hiring of Lou Pinella, the Mariners struggled in the last three seasons with dismal records and the increasingly-outdated Kingdome being unsuitable as a long-term home for the team after four 15-pound ceiling tiles fell onto the seating bowl in 1993[20]. The team’s owners, Nintendo of America, wanted a new, publicly-funded stadium in downtown Seattle but the city was unwilling to provide the money needed to replace the Kingdome as the team’s new home after a failed referendum in 1995 and entreaties to Governor Ken Eikenberry and the Washington State legislature fell on deaf ears though there was a brief flicker of hope of changing minds during a hot streak near the end of the 1995 season that kept the possibility of a new home in Seattle after struggling for much of their schedule, but they fell a handful of games behind the Angels who, despite collapsing at the end of the season had banked a number of wins in the early spring to maintaining their first place position in the AL West. With a rather dismal season, Nintendo began exploring the possibility of selling the Mariners to a new ownership group[21]. Initially, Nintendo of America considered local businessmen and investors but they would receive offers from Vancouver, Buffalo and Nashville, the cities who didn’t make the cut for MLB expansion. Vancouver seemed attractive to the Mariners since it was relatively close to Seattle and the BC Place could support baseball coupled with a decent ownership group led by but the weak Canadian dollar was a major point of concern for Nintendo[22] especially as the NHL's Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets had relocated south to Denver and Phoenix respectively with the Edmonton Oilers soon to follow[23]. Buffalo already had Pilot Field for a potential MLB team to play in and Nashville still set its sights on going from minor league to major league with plans to have an MLB-caliber ballpark to replace Herschel Greer Stadium. For their part, the rest of the MLB were pushing Nintendo of America to go with either Vancouver or Nashville, to maintain the American League division balance as it had existed over the last number of years. After much consideration, NIntendo made an agreement with a Buffalo group led by Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs with the intent of relocating the team to his home city. At the end of the 1997 season, Nintendo and local representative John Ellis, announced that the Mariners would move to Buffalo in 1999. Suffice to say, many Mariners fans were not happy of this announcement since they were angry at Nintendo and Ellis as they put it “You Abandoned Us” and attendance numbers dwindled as a result of this announcement. Bush and the other MLB owners did not like the Mariners moving to Buffalo and there was a flurry of discussion over a potential veto vote by the MLB owners, that was only resolved through backroom negotiations backed up by Nintendo’s threat to pursue a potential strategy of getting baseball’s monopoly exemption lifted. In March 1998, the MLB voted to approve the Mariners relocation to Buffalo with plans to realign the divisions with the team heading east. The move left many fans of the Mariners heartbroken as they were going to have to say goodbye to their cherished team as they were moving to the other side of the country leaving the Emerald City as one of the largest markets with no MLB team. That said, the city of Seattle and the MLB learned from the debacle of the original Cleveland Browns relocating to St. Louis so a deal was made in which the records of the Mariners would be left behind for a hypothetical expansion team while Jacobs would be allowed to move the team to Buffalo. The city of Seattle would eventually build a brand new stadium known as Safeco Park in 2006 with the intent of acquiring a new MLB team and is adjacent to the Seattle Seahawks new home venue Alaska Airlines Field[24], the latter of which was built due to the influence of Paul Allen and the desire to keep the city’s NFL team from relocating to Baltimore. Over the years, Seattle has been the most popular candidate for the next wave of MLB expansion along with Vancouver and Nashville though it remains to be seen if the Mariners will return to Seattle[25].
With the Mariners having departed for Buffalo, it was time to pick a new name for the team. Unsurprisingly, Bisons was the overwhelming favorite due to it’s association with numerous sports teams in the Buffalo area over the years including baseball. Moreover, Jacobs would invite Robert E. Rich Jr to be a minority owner and he would negotiate with Minor League Baseball to have the name used for the new MLB team since he already owned the Triple-A Bisons[26]. Much like the Phoenix Firebirds, the Triple-A Bisons would fold to make way for their MLB counterpart in a passing of the torch for Buffalo sports in their last game. The hype surrounding the Bisons “coming” to the MLB was massive with many residents from the Buffalo area buying tickets and long lines of Buffalo sports shops buying MLB Bisons jerseys or other merchandise. Jacobs even remarked that the city’s anticipation for the Bisons was like “the second coming of Jesus” and was glad that there was an immense outpour of support for the new team. Since 1999, the Bisons have cultivated a loyal following of fans and are considered a cornerstone of Buffalo along with the NFL’s Bills and the NHL’s Sabres.
With the expansion, and Mariners relocation settled, the league structure had to be finalized going forward. The four divisions plan was already fait accompli by Bush and the owners so it was unanimously approved in a special meeting along with the Mariners move to Buffalo. The owners would approve a new schedule that would maintain the traditional 162 game season with 14 games against the three other teams in a division, and ten games against the 12 other teams within their League in March of 1999. The traditional East and West divisions would remain, but two new divisions would have to be created to assign teams to, and so the Central and Southeast division were born. The Central Division would logically consist of traditional Midwestern teams. The Southeast would end up being more of a catch-all division, particularly in the American League. Whereas the NL Southeast would consist of four teams south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the AL Southeast would have two such teams but also Cleveland and Kansas City to balance out the larger Midwestern presence in the American League. The post-1999 MLB would look as follows:
National League
| NL East | Montreal Expos | New York Mets | Philadelphia Phillies | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| NL Southeast | Atlanta Braves | Florida Marlins | Houston Astros | Washington Nationals |
| NL Central | Chicago Cubs | Cincinnati Reds | Colorado Rockies | St. Louis Cardinals |
| NL West | Los Angeles Dodgers | Mexico City Red Devils | San Diego Padres | San Francisco Giants |
American League
| AL East | Boston Red Sox | Buffalo Bisons (formerly Seattle Mariners) | New York Yankees | Toronto Blue Jays |
| AL Southeast | Baltimore Orioles | Cleveland Indians | Kansas City Royals | Tampa Bay Devil Rays |
| AL Central | Chicago White Sox | Detroit Tigers | Milwaukee Brewers | Minnesota Twins |
| AL West | Anaheim Angels | Arizona Diamondbacks | Oakland Athletics | Texas Rangers |
For the postseason, a third round of playoff games was created; The Division Series. The division winner with the best record would face the division winner with the worst record in a five game series, while the division winners with the 2nd and 3rd best records have their own five game series. The winner of each Division Series would move to the League Championship to determine who would head off to the World Series. While this new structure would be aggravating to well playing teams in a division with a juggernaut like the Braves or Expos where they’d languish in a respectable 2nd perhaps better than other less competitive division, it was seen as a mostly positive reform. It gave more teams a chance at the postseason attention and revenue, meaning more fans tuned into the playoffs, while maintaining in essence the division structure that had been in place since 1969.
The success, or failure, of the new structure would likely be at the forefront of the owners’ minds when deciding on the next Commissioner election in 1999. Bush was actively looking for another five year term, and if the expansion and restructure were successful would likely be a shoo in to win that second term. If not, there would likely be a move to find a new face for the sport.
[1] As per OTL.
[2] The cities considered for expansion by the MLB include Nashville, Orlando, Buffalo, Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, and Northern Virginia as per IOTL along with Mexico City and Monterrey which were eyed by MLB owners and in a slight change from IOTL, Washington DC given the former city’s history of baseball, its status as the nation’s capital along with a healthier, no 1994 strike and Pollin participating in the DC Baseball Commission’s 1993 expansion bid ITTL.
[3] This actually was the original recommendation IOTL (https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...w-teams/2497f97e-c4bb-4008-b30f-de3629154722/) but the realities of the MLB after the 1994 baseball strike led to just an expansion of two teams, Phoenix and Tampa Bay. With the 1994 strike averted and a shorter lockout, the MLB gets to expand to four teams.
[4] The modern 3 divisions were created the year after Bud Selig took over for Fay Vincent IOTL, which did not happen here.
[5] Both of these ended up happening IOTL. Allowing games between the AL and the NL before the World Series was controversial for a while within baseball, though it happened all the time with the American Football Conference and National Football Conference of the NFL, but advocates for interleague play have basically prevailed. Starting in the 2023 season IOTL, every team will play every other team in at least one series.
[6] According to a Mental Floss article, Helu did submit a bid for an MLB team in Mexico City but it was passed over. Since Helu wasn’t kidnapped, coupled with the success of the non-Anglophone city-based Montreal Expos and Davydenko's support, Mexico City becomes a viable candidate for MLB expansion.
[7] Recall in the Catch the Bus at Disneyland post that the Devil Rays already exist since they are mentioned by name as a forthcoming expansion team. Namoli will get to own the Devil Rays like OTL but as part of the four-team expansion.
[8] Given the violent crime rates of Washington DC, the Bullets are going to be renamed to something else.
[9] Washington DC was a city seen by many as a candidate for an expansion team for 1993 under the DC Baseball Commission but no ownership group from the capital ever submitted a bid in the 1998 MLB expansion wave. As the MLB’s TTL expansion is much larger, coupled with no 1994 strike, Pollin's DCBC membership and more than fifteen years of butterflies, DC will actually participate in the next expansion wave.
[10] Recall in the second A Bus and a Rock post that the original Cleveland Browns relocated to St. Louis to become the Stallions while the Browns records were left for a new team to continue it’s legacy in 1999. As a result of this move, the Canadian Football League’s American expansion would last slightly longer than IOTL with the Baltimore Stallions and the other remaining non-Canadian teams sticking around though only the Stallions would be successful enough to be financially viable at least until the NFL gave Baltimore a new team named the Marauders (after the American bomber plane) which led the Stallions to move up north to Montreal to revive the Alouettes in 2001.
[11] IOTL it was $130 million.
[12] The Phoenix/Arizona team went to the National League while Tampa Bay ended up in the American League. The desire to balance and realign the MLB means that Arizona and Tampa Bay went to the AL as intended in OTL.
[13] Mexico had an antitrust law after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was ratified hence the lawsuit.
[14] Obviously, the Mexican League’s new Mexico City team cannot use Red Devils since that is owned by the new MLB of the same name so they go with the Capitalinos (Capitals) as a reference to the city.
[15] Per OTL.
[16] From Mr. Harris Syed: “I will confess that I wanted to go with Senators to differentiate the team from OTL’s Nationals but the political climate of DC after the 1993 statehood referendum coupled with the Rangers owning the name means that the TTL expansion teams carries this name”.
[17] Similar to what happened with the Red Devils/Diablos Rojos in OTL.
[18] Basically, TTL’s Bank One Ballpark
[19] Washington DC officials really did consider building a ballpark next to RFK Memorial Stadium but went with Southeast Anacostia instead. Because of the different circumstances leading to baseball’s return to the capital, the RFK site was chosen instead.
[20] Just like OTL.
[21] This is what actually happened with voters narrowly defeating the measure and the Mariners ownership threatening to sell the team though the success of the Mariners in the 1995 season under Ken Griffey Jr, resulted in Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park being built. Here, the Mariners didn't do well enough in 1995 without Griffey Jr to justify a new stadium and thus they are sold to someone else.
[22] As noted by @Geekhis Khan, the Mariners still exist in 1997 and so the relocation to Vancouver has been completely retconned entirely from the Hensonverse to merely a potential buyer.
[23] Given that Winnipeg and Quebec City were small markets along with other issues, it's rather unavoidable that the Jets and Nordiques would leave. In the case of the Oilers, Peter Pocklington almost sold the team to Leslie Alexander who would have moved the team to Houston but the Edmonton Investors Group (EIG) raised enough money to keep the Oilers by reaching half of the $70 million amount. In TTL, Pocklington's asking price is $90 million due to some slight butterflies affecting the NHL and the Edmonton Investment Group isn't able to raise enough money resulting in the Oilers relocating to Houston under the name the Houston Roughnecks since Aeros was already taken by another team and to avoid confusion with the NFL's Houston Oilers. More on the Oilers in a future Fan Contribution post.
[24] Safeco Park is essentially TTL’s Safeco Field and was constructed along with Alaska Airlines Field (Lumen Field in OTL) as part of a new sports complex.
[25] Seattle’s status as the next MLB city is similar to Montreal in OTL after the Expos relocated to Washington DC to become the Nationals. It’s also akin to how it’s seen as the next NBA city when the SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City.
[26] Rich was involved in Buffalo’s failed 1993 MLB expansion bid where he would have been the majority owner. While he doesn’t get to own the MLB Bisons, he does have a controlling interest with the support of Jacobs who was one of the investors in the bid.
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Kasumigasekigate
The Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal: The Scandal That Broke the Liberal Democratic Party
From the Asahi Shimbun, June 5th, 2018 (translated from the original Japanese)
Guest post by @ajm888 with assistance from Mr. Harris Syed
Introduction:
Central Government Building No.3, the former home of the Ministry of Construction in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. Source Wikipedia
On April 15th, 1995 at 10:17 AM, a massive bomb devastated the Kasumigaseki district of Tokyo’s Chiyoda ward claiming the lives of 1,327 people. This was set off by terrorist cult group Aum Shinrikyo masterminded by Shoko Asahara. This bomb tore the heart out of Japan’s bureaucratic leadership. Despite being a Saturday, many senior bureaucrats were in Tokyo due to the threat of an attack, though many thought it would be on Shinjuku station. Numerous administrative vice ministers, the highest ranked bureaucratic position in a Japanese ministry, were either badly injured or killed. One of these severely wounded was Construction Administrative Vice Minister Shigeo Mochizuki. He was one of many hurt by flying glass. He would resign his position in hospital and after a bit he was replaced by somebody in the department no one thought they’d see again, Tatsuya Yamachi[1]. Tatsuya Yamachi was a man no one in the ministry thought they’d ever see again, and his return would not only shake up the Liberal Democratic Party but Japanese bureaucracy and society as a whole leading to what became known as the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal.
“If they ask why I did it, I say why not? All that money and I am supposed to wait for Amakudari[2]? When I eventually retire? What use is power if I cannot use it for myself? For my benefit?” Tatsuya Yamachi in his confession letter.
Robert Moses, at one time the most powerful man in New York, he was brought down by many groups after his power was left unchecked for decades. Pictured at the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. An inspiration for Tatsuya Yamachi. Source: Wikipedia.
Who is Tatsuya Yamachi?:
Those who knew Tatsuya Yamachi know he was a man who started out in a middle class family where his father worked as engineer for Japan Government Railways in the 1930s and 1940s. He was in fact born in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in 1938. He was evacuated from Manchukuo before 1940 and grew up in Amori. He went to Tokyo University and would be recruited in college for the Ministry of Construction. As a young bureaucrat he went with a group that went to the 1964-1965 World’s Fair. There he saw Robert Moses, the man who built modern New York City. It was then Tatsuya Yamachi knew what he wanted to be.
Tatsuya wanted the power to be a builder like Moses. He would find it, but not in the Ministry of Construction initially. He would discover it in the Japan Housing Corporation (JHC), the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Jutokodan), and The Housing Land Development Public Corporation (Takuchikaihatsukodan), The Housing Bureau of the Ministry of Construction, and Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation (JRCC). But he was really involved in the development of the new towns and Danchi (Group Land). The population of Japan was still growing for many years after World War II and many businesses wanted to develop apartments as did local governments. There was so much money in it. And where there was money, Yamachi would find ways to skim, get gifts, and violate so many rules.
“When people want things done fast they expect it done fast. People should not worry about how it is made or how much it costs. All they want is a home that is their own. The end justifies the means in this case and many other cases.” Yamachi wrote in his confession.
Yamachi was an unlikely successor to Administrative Vice Minister Shigeo Mochizuki, he was not even mentioned in likely successors that was going to brought to the construction minister but in September 1995, with Construction Minister Yoshiro Mori briefly serving, Tatsuya Yamachi was selected to become the top civil servant in the construction ministry. He was appointed by the Kono Cabinet formally and would serve a two year term, two years that Yamachi was able to set up a massive network of graft.
“Yamachi was a man from another time it seemed, he was a man from the 1960s trapped in the 1990s. I remember him saying, ‘I would have been at home in the days of Ikeda and Sato, hell even Tanaka!’” said Yamachi’s close friend Jun Mino, a fellow bureaucrat in the former construction ministry. Yamachi had a large circle of friends but there were few he trusted closely, Mino was one of those few. “We were from differing backgrounds, I was from a much wealthier family. His family was Middle Class but not rich like mine was. But we were of similar disposition. He liked to drink and was a terrible drunk as was I but he hated the fact he felt his wife was cheating on him but Tatsuya could never prove it. He was so busy as a bureaucrat that his wife had numerous affairs.” Mino stated.
It was a surprise to everyone in the Ministry of Construction that Yamachi was selected to be promoted to such a position he had not been in the best position in the bureaucracy for the promotion but what he had were connections to construction companies and everyone else involved. Yamachi being tied to many of the New Towns and Danchis was good at the time though now the name Danchi is tarnished[3]. But they still had a decent reputation in the ministry, and Yamachi was able to use his ties to them to get his promotion as he was a senior figure in the ministry.
With the rebuilding of Kasmugaseki a major national project it made sense that the Ministry of Construction would lead the project while major firms would get massive contracts to rebuild the devastated district. Announced on November 13th, 1995, was the announcement of the creation of the special government corporation the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group, a group that oversaw construction and the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Fund, a massive trust fund that would pay for the rebuilding.
“Hundreds or billions of Yen at our disposal, and you’d think we’d not steal?” Yamachi said in his confession, “I mean I made 23 million yen[4] a year as an administrative Vice Minister, but that’d be for two years. This? I could make a hundred million yen, maybe a billion yen. And I am thinking why not? I need to ensure me and my family have coverage as my son was born broken. Caring for a physically disabled son later by myself and my second wife was not cheap[5]. And as my one son is not hidden I have to keep up appearances by being driven around in chauffeured limousines, go to events for the ministry, and pay for my homes with taxpayer money, and so forth. ‘Of course that construction conference is vital. Yes I must stay in the best suite at this Singaporean hotel, it is to help promote Japanese industry after all.’ And I am not even the first one doing this[6]. But I just took the natural corruption that exists in the bureaucracy and stretched it to its utmost limits. I am not sure why it was never done before. I guess I know why.”
As explained by Yamachi he was the father of a son, Hiro, that had no left leg below the knee, in the pregnancy of his first wife Rumiko, there were complications. Likely due to the fact Rumiko was a serial cheater. The fact he had a disabled son threatened his position but unlike most people with disabled kids Tatsuya didn’t hide it. “I am not ashamed of Hiro. I am very proud of him, he is what I value the most in my private life.” Yamachi said in his confession.
The divorce was not cheap but it was fine after both parties made an agreement. It was not easy and for a few years graft was how Tatsuya supported himself and his son. “I remember him years ago,” Yukio Hatoyama told the press, “He was a hard worker, he was not obviously corrupt from that meeting we had with many bureaucrats in 1981 discussing New Towns.” Hatoyama recalled, “But he boasted about his boy. He was proud when Hiro was selected due to his running skills for the Paralympics in the American city of Atlanta in 1996.”
“It was unusual Yamachi-san was so proud of a disabled son. He loved the kids he adopted from his second marriage but Yamachi-san always did his best to make time for Hiro.” Hatoyama replied, “We assume it is because Hiro was always his favorite.”
Yamachi took a vacation around the time of the 1996 Paralympics and was a vocal supporter of Hiro clad in pictures of his son’s previous wins. “Dad was my biggest cheerleader. He flew to Atlanta on a private jet he borrowed from Sumitomo’s executives. He was so happy even if I only got the bronze he was crying tears of joy. Like most athletes and spectators, Yamachi was shocked at the news of a deadly terrorist bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park perpetrated by Eric Rudolph and the Christian fundamentalist group the Army of God, claiming the lives of over 30 people and injuring 121 others[7].
“Dad was so worried for me after the bombing. He was pounding on my hotel room door after the bombing happened. I had said I may go to the concert, he was talking to some folks in Atlanta to make closer business ties that night and when he found out his drunk ass[8] came to my room and he was scared for me.” Hiro remembered. “Even stone drunk, Dad worried about me.”
“I saw both sides of Tatsuya Yamachi,” Jun recalled, “He was a loving father for his kids and he was a scheming bastard when he wanted to be. I saw the switch get flipped on him many times. He would go from singing his son’s praises or being proud of his step-daughter to talking about how to get the uyoku dantai thugs to kick some ass on the foreign construction workers from South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and other countries that came with the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group[9]. He was always like that but the KRG really pushed that dynamic to the most extremes. That one, only Yamachi would try a skim so massive!”
The Scheme:
The Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Project was a massive national prestige project that the Japanese government had to have done by 2001 at the latest. And if there was one man who could get the project done on time, Yamachi was the best choice, so long as you didn’t ask about the overages. But no one would care as Yamachi figured.
“As terrible as it is, I saw a great way to make so much money. I know I was not the only one, but I played ball better than my rivals for the position of Administrative Vice Minister of Construction. You think the LDP types were thinking about just prestige? No! They wondered how to get rich off of 4/15. They needed me! Without me there would be no skim on a project this of massive size, no funds for weddings, mansions, golf courses, luxury cars, and so forth. They owe it all to me. I went to every ministry, agency, and bureau to ensure that this project was going to cost 167.5 billion yen. Though in reality, it was going to be 130 billion yen. I made that extra 37 billion and a half appear. It was a task worthy of the gods[10] and I made it happen. 37.5 billion yen which is roughly 250 million US dollars. That was a lot of money. And I had to make everyone happy. And for a while I made everyone happy.”
Yamachi funneled billions of yen to individuals, companies, political factions, and figures in right-wing politics such as former Minister of Transport Shintaro Ishihara or the Greater Japan Patriotic Party[11]. The scheme went on as it was immensely profitable and made an additional five billion yen for all involved. As 1996 became 1997 there was no evidence that this plot would be found out. Everyone who complained got their money. This deal was a windfall for hundreds of leading figures in Japan as they were able to benefit from not just the money but could operate this scheme without impunity or risk of arrest. For Yamachi, he was ensuring that the quota of the project was done on time and on the budget he and his many co-conspirators made. Yamachi was able to set financial accounts up for Hiro and his step daughters, Hikari and Karin. “I am the patriarch, despite my help I knew Hiro would struggle finding work, not his fault but discrimination against the handicapped, and Hikari and Karin are vocally politically liberal; so I set up sizable nest eggs out of reach of tax authorities in Japan. I got into business with a firm in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, and they helped me with that money for me, my wife, and my kids. My ex-wife was not a part of the deal, due to her untimely death in a drunk driving accident in 1981.”
But Yamachi did list people and companies he paid in his yet to published confession letter. A list of groups and person involved include:
Yamachi explained how he was able to organize the scheme with his co-conspirators in his confession. “How was I able to do it? Simply put, I had so many partners that they were my protection, that it would make no sense for any of this to go wrong. Even when Ozawa and New Frontier got elected in October 1996, the scheme went on. Even as Ozawa’s new cabinet was unaware of the scheme we made a killing. And for years no one knew.”.
The scheme would remain undiscovered and everything was working out so well for the conspirators going into 1997. By then, Yamachi became the president of the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group after retiring from the Ministry of Construction. Then things fell apart when Yamachi went in to publish the confession letter himself in 1998.
Fallout:
First, Yamachi would go to the Asahi Shimbun and gave us the confession letter. He wanted the letter to be a big front page story but the Shimbun wanted it to be a second or third page story which initially frustrated him. “I always regretted listening to that moron of a mayor in Chiba, his deputy mayor was an utter idiot as the story that opened was small but it everything began to fall apart because of the story where the Chiba City Deputy Mayor had gotten a very nice new house, a house well out of his pay range. The Deputy Mayor that moron had to be flashy and had to buy that Porsche, then he also bought a plane, a Cessna Skyhawk. So the Asahi Shimbun wants to run a little story on the scheme. Not even a big story. They weren’t interested in what I had to say and preferred covering the Imperial House of Japan or the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). I should have said no, I had said no before but I decided it was worth the risk. Gods, what a farce. I had been loyal and this is how I was going to be rewarded? They forgot one thing, I was the hub of this whole thing, this whole plot was my idea. They really think I am gonna get pushed out quietly? The other problem was running such a massive scheme was exhausting, I had to make sure the guys got their money or they’d raise holy hell. I had to make sure they got their monthly payment. It was getting impossible to keep it up, this monster I made grew massively and it was still growing when I wrote my letter. I knew I would go to jail because of this. Still, I wrote the letter. It was a long letter but I wrote it, it felt good to reveal all of it.” Yamachi wrote in his autobiography, The Man Who Sold Japan.
Yamachi then took his story to the Mainichi Shimbun who agreed to publish his confession letter and notes as a front page story on June 5th, 1998. The consequences of Mainichi publishing the confession letter and notes on the corruption within the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group were massive as the story would capture the attention of many Japanese citizens thanks in part to the number of parties and individuals involved in the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scheme which made many furious about the corruption and negligence within the highest corners of Japanese society. Soon, the Mainichi Shimbun and other newspapers including Asahi was receiving letters from its readership demanding accountability from the KRG and other organizations for funneling money into their pockets rather than rebuilding Kasumigaseki. The story would eventually become national news with Japanese papers reprinting Yamachi’s confession letter as the scheme became public knowledge. The Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal would be the largest corruption scandal in Japanese history. This was bigger than the Recruit Scandal, bigger than the Lockheed Scandal, the shipbuilding scandal of the 1950s.This was utterly massive. When the politicians, businessmen, and others profited from Recruit Cosmos going public in 1988 they made 1.1 billion yen, this was thirty times bigger than anything before. Yamachi had kept extensive notes, ledgers, and day planners. The political ramifications from the Kasumigaseki scandal resulted in massive backlash against numerous Japanese political parties and corporations with many executives or influential politicians resigning or being arrested by the National Police Agency. The Kasumigaseki scheme would later be intrinsically tied to the Hoshino Reform Wave as Kenichi Hoshino and his supporters would protest governmental and corporate corruption within Japanese society[12]. However, Yamachi did serve a few years in prison for his part in the scheme but it was after prison that he released everything he had aside from the confession letter.
“You really think I was going to be a part of that adventure without some insurance?” Yamachi would say in an interview that besides his records he had tapes. “I kept Mino at a distance on his true knowledge of the scheme so he could be used for my storage of recordings of politicians, businessmen, and others. First it was audio but later it was video, cameras got small enough to hide them. God the things those men wanted most is what was expected but some of them made my skin crawl.”
The recordings would send more politicians, businessmen, and officials to prison. This fueled the rebellions against the LDP in particular among Japanese youth who were increasingly dissatisfied with the party for its inability to adapt its policies to the ever-worsening economic crisis of the 1990s or stopping Aum Shinrikyo from killing thousands . While there were tapes of Shintaro Ishihara he had done nothing illegal on any of them and therefore prosecutors did not make charges against him. However, the fragmentation of the LDP factions would lead to Ishihara’s creation of a new party with right wingers and ultranationalists like himself known as the Japan Self-Determination Party or Nijiketsu for short[13]..
Shintaro Ishihara at the top and below is Yukio Mishima, on their publisher's roof in 1956. Mishima tried a coup against the Japanese government in 1970. Both were authors and both were ultranationalists.
The Kasmugaseki Redevelopment Scandal drove more moderate and liberal members of the LDP to the newly-formed Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) led by Naoto Kan in 1998 and would have their first proper party conference. The DPJ were confident as the New Frontier Party was fragmenting. The New Frontier Party was falling apart more in fact due to the internal conflicts ex-Komeito[14] members had with the increase in defense spending and the reworking of Article 9 of the post-war Constitution after 4/15.
In May 1999, Prime Minister Ichiro Ozawa[15] called for an election in the House of Representatives in June. This election is called by many the ‘Hoshino-Kasumigaseki Election’, much like the ‘Lockheed elections’ of 1976 and 1983. With Ozawa’s party and control weakening the 1999 General Election held on June 25th, 1999 was one time where none of the papers were sure if it would be a coalition of parties governing, if one of the new parties like the DPJ would win or would somehow the LDP be returned to power. To the shock of everyone the Democratic Party of Japan and a few smaller parties won 254 seats in the National Diet thanks to the LDP’s tainted reputation among Japanese voters. The left-wing parties and factions were buoyed by the surprise electoral support and later would merge into the DPJ (New Conservatives, Liberal League, Liberals). Naoto Kan would be elected the new Prime Minister of Japan, the first to be from the DPJ. A major reason for why the DPJ and Kan did so well in the elections was that the LDP had ignored the results of the House of Councilors election in 1998 and acted like it was a fluke. They had won in 1995 but in 1998 they had ignored all the corruption that had come out in May of 1998 and still thought that they could win. This would lead to LDP leadership shakeup and the eventual loss of that was even more devastating than the 1999 election which led to Taro Aso being ousted as party leader in favor of Koizumi. The 1999 election would lead to the LDP winning only 107 seats with the DPJ winning 254 seats (more seats would be gained in party mergers after 1999) and a near total wipeout of New Frontier from the Japanese political landscape.
Kan’s Premiership was vastly different thanks to political changes brought about by his predecessor, Ichiro Ozawa. The position of Chief of Staff was added under Ozawa and Kan kept it as Kan agreed the Prime Minister needed his own staff not bureaucrats seconded from the various ministries. He would also be dealing with three scandals that got revealed from the finance ministry one was an unrelated bribery scandal to the KRG[16], another involved Ministry of Finance elites going to to a no pan shabu-shabu restaurant[17], the final scandal was a group of finance bureaucrats going to a fashion health clinic and getting “special massages'' and charging it to companies or the taxpayers[18]. A later scandal at the Bank of Japan revealed an official with over four hundred pairs of panties of women who had reported it stolen. Kan would order investigations into the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan for illegal activities resulting in numerous arrests. Kan would also enhance the Civil Service reform that began under Ozawa in response to the scandals. A full special section of the Ministry of Finance was set up to deal with the vast amount of government and corporate embezzlement, along with counterparts in the National Police Agency, local police and Ministry of Justice. The Bank of Japan was thoroughly investigated as many of the pro-Reform Wave and anti-Kasumigaseki reformers in the Ministry of Finance had to fight the Bank of Japan which had been a power unto its own within the Japanese government, to ensure the BoJ was properly investigated, the DPJ’s deputy leader Katsuya Okada was appointed as Finance Minister.
Yukio Hatoyama, a former LDP member and grandson of Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama would be leading a task only a few short years prior that was considered impossible, to reform the Japanese civil service. How he did this was to have outsiders brought into the service and put into senior positions. Meanwhile the DPJ would force public committees on corruption in both houses of the Diet. The Speaker of the House in the Diet was former Prime Minister Toshiko Kaifu, who had switched parties in the late 1990s. Helping with the reform was a new LDP leader, Junichiro Koizumi.
Koizumi had long been against the vast power of the bureaucratic elites, and despite being more conservative he felt that the power should belong to the elected representatives. Koizumi’s election as LDP leader was controversial, due to the fact Koizumi was a major advocate for postal privatization. Koizumi had been influenced heavily by some of his colleagues and especially the Hoshino Reform Wave. Koizumi was a member of the faction called Shinseiki but dubbed by the press as YKK, named after the leaders of the faction; Taku Yamasaki, Koichi Kato, and Koizumi himself, and also because it was similar to the zipper maker YKK[19].Koizumi got into the leadership of the LDP due to Hashimoto being tainted by the Kasumigaseki scandal, Keizo Obuchi stood down as leader due to a minor stroke, Taro Aso had dropped out in the leadership election due to anti-Burakumin comments he said about his rival for the leadership Hiromu Nonaka being made public[20], and the other members of YKK did not have enough support in the Diet. Koizumi did have support and would win a tumultuous leadership election. The LDP would be in opposition, and Koizumi would be able to shape the reformation of the party to remove corrupt members. He also put in age limits to keep older party members from holding seats forever, after age seventy they would have to retire, it was the same rule for judges in the Supreme Court of Japan[21]. Koizumi’s only real scandal was the fact his grandfather was a tattooed minister with some Yakuza ties but this happened prewar when it was a far weaker group. Koizumi is still rated very highly among many Japanese citizens and with his close ties to the Fukuda faction he was able to get his position secured.
Aftermath:
In the wake of the scandal, the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Project was put under close scrutiny and monitored heavily by new bureaucrats, politicians, and the media. And despite the corruption, all buildings were completed by 2001. The Kasumigaseki Station was reopened in 1999 due to the tireless efforts of the workers on the subway. The companies involved did not go out of business though most did have a change of leadership. The companies that were no longer around also did not go out of business but underwent mergers, as with many banks involved in the schemes, or underwent rebranding but most of those were due to unrelated issues to Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal. But the one group that the scars are still visible on is in the LDP, as that scandal, the Hoshino Reform Wave and the Kasumigaseki Scandal damaged public faith in the party[22], As Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone said, “We were rained on but now the sun is out and we’re dry.” Which a comedian responded with, “Yeah but you’re now caked in dried pig shit.” The LDP would eventually return to power but it took a long time for that return to power to occur. The scandal also shook the apathy many voters in Japan had. These scandals finally made many voters realize that they had to be more involved and more aware of what the politicians they elected did and what the people who ran the civil service did as well. The cultural impact of the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal was political and societal for Japanese media in the same way that the 4/15 attacks or the Assassination of Shoko Asahara. For instance, a memorable line came from an episode of a Lupin III series released in the early 2000s where the titular character was annoyed that “the greatest thieves now were bankers and bureaucrats”. But the cultural impact from the Kasumigaseki scandal was not as big as 4/15 or the Asahara assassination, while transformative politically it was more boring compared to those events though plots involving government corruption in J-dramas did become more popular in Japan. Overall, Kasumigaseki was more likely to be covered in media centered around 4/15 and the Asahara assassination than as a standalone event though it's impact was never forgotten[23].
After serving four years in prison, Tatsuya Yamachi would be released and became the President of the Initiative for Transparent Government (TSTI). Yamachi befriended Kenichi Hoshino and the two men continue to campaign for anti-corruption causes to this very day under the TSTI. In an exclusive interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Yamachi said that he was glad he brought down “the corrupt bureaucrats who ruined the Kasumigaseki project” and forging a friendship with “the brave Hoshino-san” for his anti-corruption activism. Yamachi also said that he’s looking forward to “more collaborations with Hoshino” in the near future[24].
“We must strive towards more accountability from governments and corporations that don’t always represent our best interests” said Yamachi looking back on the published confession letter, notes and recordings that exposed the corruption within the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group.
[1] Another fictional personage like Kenichi Hoshino but most real folks I could use are mostly boring bureaucrats.
[2] Amakudari in Japanese means “Descent from Heaven'. To many non-Japanese readers of the timeline, it’s essentially a Japanese form of revolving door politics. The Civil Service (Komuin) is viewed in this as Heaven in the polytheistic and animistic beliefs of Shinto, the national religion of Japan. There are variations of this where a bureaucrat moves into a government corporation and is called yokosuberi (sideslip) or becomes a politician.
[3] Much like many post-war housing developments around the world, Danchis were started with good intentions at least initially. Like many public housing it was viewed early on with amazement, and wonder at the “Three Treasures” in these apartments like a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a black and white television but as time marched on people viewed them as shabby, ugly, and not safe (more not able to stand up against big earthquakes in Japan but crime as well). Many older Danchis have been torn down as it is cheaper than retrofitting them to meet modern safety standards. Also as the population of Japan shrinks, they’re not needed.
[4] Roughly $154,000 dollars.
[5] Japan has had a long and troubled history with the treatment of physically and mentally disabled people with conformity being a big part of Japanese society which can also be said of Burakumin, Ainu, Rykuyuans, Koreans, Chinese and other groups. Well it is hard for those who cannot conform due to physical or mental disability aside from being non-Japanese. Even after World War II and the Tokyo Tribunal, the Japanese had a law that would castrate the mentally and physically disabled, while most were done with consent of the guardians and family of the disabled person an estimated 16,000 were castrated against their will. In fact, this practice was so commonplace that it only stopped in 1996! Also many families feel a disabled person brings shame upon them and hides them or gives them up to the state. Sadly this can lead to people wishing to euthanize the disabled in Japan, example being the Sagamihara stabbings.
[6] Corruption is a way of doing business in Japan especially among corporations and political parties. Want to make a deal happen with the Japan Highway Public Corporation? Take bureaucrats from there and the Ministry of Transport and take them to a big golf course and steer the contract your way with money and gifts. Most scandals often had the politicians take the blame and ministry bureaucrats in whatever ministry often left untouched. Also for many years elite bureaucrats got better perks than the ministers they worked under. An Administrative Vice Minister may get a private jet from a large company while the minister flies JAL in business class. More common was a minister may get a taxi or if a car driven by anyone a business car with one security man. An Administrative Vice Minister? They get a limo or a Toyota Century luxury car to drive them to important meetings.
[7] Do keep in mind that while the American government is ramping up it’s anti-terrorism efforts against Militant White Nationalist Organizations (MWNOs) and religious fundamentalist groups even stopping potential terror plots after the J. Edgar Hoover Federal Building bombing in Washington DC there are some that did manage to slip through the cracks and carry out deadly attacks including the Atlanta bombing. In OTL, the Atlanta bombing claimed the lives of only 2 people one of which was from a heart attack thanks to Rudolph thinking it was a good idea to make two 911 calls to the FBI about it along with the efforts of Richard Jewell who discovered the pipe bomb and prevented any more casualties along with Rudolph himself telling the FBI about it. Here, Rudolph doesn’t tell the FBI about the pipe bombs due to greater scrutiny on white nationalist and religious fundamentalist groups after Washington and other related incidents hence why Jewell and the guards don’t discover the bomb in time to prevent claiming more lives than OTL. Moreover, there is a wave of domestic terrorism in America in the mid to late 1990s which is why TTL’s Olympic Park more or less fits the destructive trend of far-right militant white nationalists and fundamentalists launching violent attacks across the country. The upside is that Rudolph is caught much sooner due to the increased focus on domestic terrorism by the Gore administration coupled with a tip from two Sandy Springs residents which resulted in his arrest before he could carry out other attacks on the local abortion clinic and a lesbian bar in the Atlanta Metro in OTL.
[8] Social drinking is a common practice in Japan and often the subordinate or guest must drink as much as their boss or the host. It has been losing popularity in recent years as effort to curb DUI and alcoholism in Japan have been slowly working, still a long way to go in OTL
[9].Keep in mind that some uyoku dantai groups have ties to the Yakuza as noted earlier in the Aum on Trial post hence why you see some of them attacking non-Japanese construction workers.
[10] The gods that Tatsuya is talking about are the Amatsukami, the most powerful beings in Shinto and Japanese folklore comprised of Amaterasu (important sun goddess), Susanoo (sea and storm god), Tsukuyomi (moon god), Ame-no-Uzume (meditation and recreation goddess), Inari (genderless fertility and agriculture god), Takemikazuchi (sumo and war god) and other deities. They are extremely important in Japanese culture to the point where the Imperial House of Japan are officially considered to be the descendants of the Amatsukami and Tatsuya is deliberately invoking them when discussing the Kasumigaseki scheme.
[11] Ishihara in OTL later became the Governor of Tokyo. He was on the extreme side of uyoku dantai ultranationalists in that he spouted racial slurs to Koreans, Chinese and foreigners in addition to denying Japan’s WWII war crimes such as the Nanking Massacre or the rape of non-Japanese “comfort women” and his close friendship with ultranationalist author turned coup plotter Yukio Mishima. Western readers, imagine a German neo-Nazi politician as mayor of Berlin who openly denied the Holocaust or a Ukrainian Stalin apologist becoming mayor of Kiev and denying the Holodomor both of whom supported extremist authors and would be coup leaders. The Greater Japan Patriotic Party are on the opposite side of the spectrum in that they are somewhat more moderate in that they are pro-American and pro-South Korean in addition to being anti-communist but they’re also the same party that had Otoya Yamaguchi kill Inejiro Asanuma in 1960 but nonetheless still exist to this very day. In the case of Ishihara in TTL, he will not become Governor of Tokyo in 1999 as that position will go to Kunio Hatayama, the brother of Yukio Hatoyama and the grandson of Ichiro Hatoyama.
[12] Recall that Kenichi Hoshino became an influential anti-corruption activist after the famous Takeshi Kitano interview.
[13] Ishihara also left the LDP but never formed his own party. Here, he creates an uyoku dantai party with him and other Japanese ultranationalists. In terms of Diet presence, it’s larger than the Communists with 20 members in the House of Councilors and 30 members in the House of Representatives.
[14] The Komeito Party was opposed and is still opposed to removing Article 9 of the post-war Constitution in OTL and TTL.
[15] To elaborate: The Socialist led LDP government was left holding the bag for the Great Hanshin Earthquake, the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack, and 4/15; the scandals of Yoshiro Mori, Green Cross (a medical company that had HIV tainted blood), nursing home bribery scandal, along with a bad economy that 4/15 brought with it (think like the post 9/11 economy in the US in OTL) resulted in Ozawa’s New Frontier winning in October 1996 and Ozawa himself becoming Prime Minister. During his tenure, Ozawa reformed and strengthened the Kantei (Prime Minister’s Office/Residence) while the top advisor and head of cabinet under the PM would be the chief of staff instead of the Chief Cabinet secretary being the top advisor and head of cabinet under the PM, while still politically it was not typically occupied by a representative. Ozawa would start a heavier reformation of the Japanese civil service.
[16] This scandal is a minor one from our world but gets more attention as it involves two banking regulators getting bribes from banks they were supposed to regulate coupled with the Hoshino Reform Wave.
[17] This one is also borrowed from our world. No pan shabu shabu is a variation of the no pan kissa (no panties cafe) where the waitresses wore no panties (some had mirrored floors), this one they wore mini-skirts. The scandal here is that Ministry of Finance officials here made banks pay for meetings at cafes like this in Kabukicho.. Much like many fads in Japan it faded away by the mid 2000s and it will fade much sooner here due to the aforementioned scandal.
[18] This is inspired by more recent scandals in Japanese business but some fashion health clinics give customers “happy endings.”
[19] YKK stands for Yoshida Kōgyō Kabushiki gaisha (Yoshida Manufacturing Corporation)
[20] Aso’s comments about Nonaka were in relation to Nonaka’s Burakumin heritage and background, "We are not going to let someone from the buraku become the prime minister, are we?" Which is borrowed from reality. Though here Nonaka gets a swipe at Aso for being a Catholic “Isn’t that right Francisco?” which is Aso’s Catholic name.
[21] The Supreme Court of Japan has a mandatory retirement age of Japan and in OTL the LDP tried a similar rule that after age seventy they would not be able to run in the next general election but it was reversed later. Here, since the Kasumigaseki scandal and the Hoshino Reform Wave led to many officials and corporate executives getting exposed for misconduct coupled with the DPJ’s victory, this rule is permanent.
[22] The LDP dominates Japanese elections against opposition parties and has been in power for much of it’s history except 1993-1994 and 2009-2012 respectively. Here, the Reform Wave and scandals will cause numerous Japanese citizens to switch to other parties and elections won’t be mostly dominated by the LDP.
[23] Essentially,TTL’s Japanese history has 4/15 as 9/11, the assassination of Shoko Asahara as the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal as the Enron scandal though only the second one still occurred while first and third are up in the air and may or may not happen in this timeline.
[24] Given that Yamachi exposed the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal and Hoshino is leading a wave of anti-corruption activism, the two men would naturally meet and become friends.
From the Asahi Shimbun, June 5th, 2018 (translated from the original Japanese)
Guest post by @ajm888 with assistance from Mr. Harris Syed
Introduction:
Central Government Building No.3, the former home of the Ministry of Construction in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. Source Wikipedia
On April 15th, 1995 at 10:17 AM, a massive bomb devastated the Kasumigaseki district of Tokyo’s Chiyoda ward claiming the lives of 1,327 people. This was set off by terrorist cult group Aum Shinrikyo masterminded by Shoko Asahara. This bomb tore the heart out of Japan’s bureaucratic leadership. Despite being a Saturday, many senior bureaucrats were in Tokyo due to the threat of an attack, though many thought it would be on Shinjuku station. Numerous administrative vice ministers, the highest ranked bureaucratic position in a Japanese ministry, were either badly injured or killed. One of these severely wounded was Construction Administrative Vice Minister Shigeo Mochizuki. He was one of many hurt by flying glass. He would resign his position in hospital and after a bit he was replaced by somebody in the department no one thought they’d see again, Tatsuya Yamachi[1]. Tatsuya Yamachi was a man no one in the ministry thought they’d ever see again, and his return would not only shake up the Liberal Democratic Party but Japanese bureaucracy and society as a whole leading to what became known as the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal.
“If they ask why I did it, I say why not? All that money and I am supposed to wait for Amakudari[2]? When I eventually retire? What use is power if I cannot use it for myself? For my benefit?” Tatsuya Yamachi in his confession letter.
Robert Moses, at one time the most powerful man in New York, he was brought down by many groups after his power was left unchecked for decades. Pictured at the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. An inspiration for Tatsuya Yamachi. Source: Wikipedia.
Who is Tatsuya Yamachi?:
Those who knew Tatsuya Yamachi know he was a man who started out in a middle class family where his father worked as engineer for Japan Government Railways in the 1930s and 1940s. He was in fact born in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in 1938. He was evacuated from Manchukuo before 1940 and grew up in Amori. He went to Tokyo University and would be recruited in college for the Ministry of Construction. As a young bureaucrat he went with a group that went to the 1964-1965 World’s Fair. There he saw Robert Moses, the man who built modern New York City. It was then Tatsuya Yamachi knew what he wanted to be.
Tatsuya wanted the power to be a builder like Moses. He would find it, but not in the Ministry of Construction initially. He would discover it in the Japan Housing Corporation (JHC), the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Jutokodan), and The Housing Land Development Public Corporation (Takuchikaihatsukodan), The Housing Bureau of the Ministry of Construction, and Japan Railway Construction Public Corporation (JRCC). But he was really involved in the development of the new towns and Danchi (Group Land). The population of Japan was still growing for many years after World War II and many businesses wanted to develop apartments as did local governments. There was so much money in it. And where there was money, Yamachi would find ways to skim, get gifts, and violate so many rules.
“When people want things done fast they expect it done fast. People should not worry about how it is made or how much it costs. All they want is a home that is their own. The end justifies the means in this case and many other cases.” Yamachi wrote in his confession.
Yamachi was an unlikely successor to Administrative Vice Minister Shigeo Mochizuki, he was not even mentioned in likely successors that was going to brought to the construction minister but in September 1995, with Construction Minister Yoshiro Mori briefly serving, Tatsuya Yamachi was selected to become the top civil servant in the construction ministry. He was appointed by the Kono Cabinet formally and would serve a two year term, two years that Yamachi was able to set up a massive network of graft.
“Yamachi was a man from another time it seemed, he was a man from the 1960s trapped in the 1990s. I remember him saying, ‘I would have been at home in the days of Ikeda and Sato, hell even Tanaka!’” said Yamachi’s close friend Jun Mino, a fellow bureaucrat in the former construction ministry. Yamachi had a large circle of friends but there were few he trusted closely, Mino was one of those few. “We were from differing backgrounds, I was from a much wealthier family. His family was Middle Class but not rich like mine was. But we were of similar disposition. He liked to drink and was a terrible drunk as was I but he hated the fact he felt his wife was cheating on him but Tatsuya could never prove it. He was so busy as a bureaucrat that his wife had numerous affairs.” Mino stated.
It was a surprise to everyone in the Ministry of Construction that Yamachi was selected to be promoted to such a position he had not been in the best position in the bureaucracy for the promotion but what he had were connections to construction companies and everyone else involved. Yamachi being tied to many of the New Towns and Danchis was good at the time though now the name Danchi is tarnished[3]. But they still had a decent reputation in the ministry, and Yamachi was able to use his ties to them to get his promotion as he was a senior figure in the ministry.
With the rebuilding of Kasmugaseki a major national project it made sense that the Ministry of Construction would lead the project while major firms would get massive contracts to rebuild the devastated district. Announced on November 13th, 1995, was the announcement of the creation of the special government corporation the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group, a group that oversaw construction and the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Fund, a massive trust fund that would pay for the rebuilding.
“Hundreds or billions of Yen at our disposal, and you’d think we’d not steal?” Yamachi said in his confession, “I mean I made 23 million yen[4] a year as an administrative Vice Minister, but that’d be for two years. This? I could make a hundred million yen, maybe a billion yen. And I am thinking why not? I need to ensure me and my family have coverage as my son was born broken. Caring for a physically disabled son later by myself and my second wife was not cheap[5]. And as my one son is not hidden I have to keep up appearances by being driven around in chauffeured limousines, go to events for the ministry, and pay for my homes with taxpayer money, and so forth. ‘Of course that construction conference is vital. Yes I must stay in the best suite at this Singaporean hotel, it is to help promote Japanese industry after all.’ And I am not even the first one doing this[6]. But I just took the natural corruption that exists in the bureaucracy and stretched it to its utmost limits. I am not sure why it was never done before. I guess I know why.”
As explained by Yamachi he was the father of a son, Hiro, that had no left leg below the knee, in the pregnancy of his first wife Rumiko, there were complications. Likely due to the fact Rumiko was a serial cheater. The fact he had a disabled son threatened his position but unlike most people with disabled kids Tatsuya didn’t hide it. “I am not ashamed of Hiro. I am very proud of him, he is what I value the most in my private life.” Yamachi said in his confession.
The divorce was not cheap but it was fine after both parties made an agreement. It was not easy and for a few years graft was how Tatsuya supported himself and his son. “I remember him years ago,” Yukio Hatoyama told the press, “He was a hard worker, he was not obviously corrupt from that meeting we had with many bureaucrats in 1981 discussing New Towns.” Hatoyama recalled, “But he boasted about his boy. He was proud when Hiro was selected due to his running skills for the Paralympics in the American city of Atlanta in 1996.”
“It was unusual Yamachi-san was so proud of a disabled son. He loved the kids he adopted from his second marriage but Yamachi-san always did his best to make time for Hiro.” Hatoyama replied, “We assume it is because Hiro was always his favorite.”
Yamachi took a vacation around the time of the 1996 Paralympics and was a vocal supporter of Hiro clad in pictures of his son’s previous wins. “Dad was my biggest cheerleader. He flew to Atlanta on a private jet he borrowed from Sumitomo’s executives. He was so happy even if I only got the bronze he was crying tears of joy. Like most athletes and spectators, Yamachi was shocked at the news of a deadly terrorist bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park perpetrated by Eric Rudolph and the Christian fundamentalist group the Army of God, claiming the lives of over 30 people and injuring 121 others[7].
“Dad was so worried for me after the bombing. He was pounding on my hotel room door after the bombing happened. I had said I may go to the concert, he was talking to some folks in Atlanta to make closer business ties that night and when he found out his drunk ass[8] came to my room and he was scared for me.” Hiro remembered. “Even stone drunk, Dad worried about me.”
“I saw both sides of Tatsuya Yamachi,” Jun recalled, “He was a loving father for his kids and he was a scheming bastard when he wanted to be. I saw the switch get flipped on him many times. He would go from singing his son’s praises or being proud of his step-daughter to talking about how to get the uyoku dantai thugs to kick some ass on the foreign construction workers from South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and other countries that came with the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group[9]. He was always like that but the KRG really pushed that dynamic to the most extremes. That one, only Yamachi would try a skim so massive!”
The Scheme:
The Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Project was a massive national prestige project that the Japanese government had to have done by 2001 at the latest. And if there was one man who could get the project done on time, Yamachi was the best choice, so long as you didn’t ask about the overages. But no one would care as Yamachi figured.
“As terrible as it is, I saw a great way to make so much money. I know I was not the only one, but I played ball better than my rivals for the position of Administrative Vice Minister of Construction. You think the LDP types were thinking about just prestige? No! They wondered how to get rich off of 4/15. They needed me! Without me there would be no skim on a project this of massive size, no funds for weddings, mansions, golf courses, luxury cars, and so forth. They owe it all to me. I went to every ministry, agency, and bureau to ensure that this project was going to cost 167.5 billion yen. Though in reality, it was going to be 130 billion yen. I made that extra 37 billion and a half appear. It was a task worthy of the gods[10] and I made it happen. 37.5 billion yen which is roughly 250 million US dollars. That was a lot of money. And I had to make everyone happy. And for a while I made everyone happy.”
Yamachi funneled billions of yen to individuals, companies, political factions, and figures in right-wing politics such as former Minister of Transport Shintaro Ishihara or the Greater Japan Patriotic Party[11]. The scheme went on as it was immensely profitable and made an additional five billion yen for all involved. As 1996 became 1997 there was no evidence that this plot would be found out. Everyone who complained got their money. This deal was a windfall for hundreds of leading figures in Japan as they were able to benefit from not just the money but could operate this scheme without impunity or risk of arrest. For Yamachi, he was ensuring that the quota of the project was done on time and on the budget he and his many co-conspirators made. Yamachi was able to set financial accounts up for Hiro and his step daughters, Hikari and Karin. “I am the patriarch, despite my help I knew Hiro would struggle finding work, not his fault but discrimination against the handicapped, and Hikari and Karin are vocally politically liberal; so I set up sizable nest eggs out of reach of tax authorities in Japan. I got into business with a firm in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, and they helped me with that money for me, my wife, and my kids. My ex-wife was not a part of the deal, due to her untimely death in a drunk driving accident in 1981.”
But Yamachi did list people and companies he paid in his yet to published confession letter. A list of groups and person involved include:
- The five big “super general contractors” (suupaa zenekon) in Japan. This includes Taisei Corporation, Kajima Corporation, Shimizu Corporation, Takenaka Corporation, and Obayashi Corporation.
- Numerous smaller contractors such as Heiwa Real Estate and Maeda Corporation
- Real estate firms like the giant Mitsui Fudosan, Sumitomo Realty & Development, and Mitsubishi Estate.
- Prime Ministers Kono and Hashimoto, former Prime Minister Nakasone, leading LDP politicians, some New Frontier politicians, and others.
- Bosses at the Bank of Japan.
- Leading executives and board members at the banks like the Industrial Bank of Japan, Fuji Bank, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Sakura Bank, Sumitomo Bank, and others.
- Half the administrative vice ministers in government from 1995 to 1998 got skim money.
- Executives at KDD and NTT got money or gifts.
- High ranking officers in police departments around Tokyo.
- The CEO of JR East.
- Executives of Kawasaki Steel and Nippon Steel
- Executives at the Komatsu, Tadano, and Hitachi construction machine companies.
- The management of the Tokyo subways, both subway systems.
- Bureaucrats in the government of Tokyo.
- Politicians in Tokyo from city hall to Ward mayors. No evidence he paid the governor.
- Members of the Tokyo Prosecutor’s office.
- Senior leaders in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
- Mayors in the cities of Chiba, Kawasaki, Yokohama, and Yokosuka, as well as their deputies.
- Executives in the newspapers Yomiuri Shimbun and The Nikkei
- Railway rolling stock makers like Kawasaki Railcar, Fuji Heavy Industries, and Nippon Sharyo executives all received money.
Yamachi explained how he was able to organize the scheme with his co-conspirators in his confession. “How was I able to do it? Simply put, I had so many partners that they were my protection, that it would make no sense for any of this to go wrong. Even when Ozawa and New Frontier got elected in October 1996, the scheme went on. Even as Ozawa’s new cabinet was unaware of the scheme we made a killing. And for years no one knew.”.
The scheme would remain undiscovered and everything was working out so well for the conspirators going into 1997. By then, Yamachi became the president of the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group after retiring from the Ministry of Construction. Then things fell apart when Yamachi went in to publish the confession letter himself in 1998.
Fallout:
First, Yamachi would go to the Asahi Shimbun and gave us the confession letter. He wanted the letter to be a big front page story but the Shimbun wanted it to be a second or third page story which initially frustrated him. “I always regretted listening to that moron of a mayor in Chiba, his deputy mayor was an utter idiot as the story that opened was small but it everything began to fall apart because of the story where the Chiba City Deputy Mayor had gotten a very nice new house, a house well out of his pay range. The Deputy Mayor that moron had to be flashy and had to buy that Porsche, then he also bought a plane, a Cessna Skyhawk. So the Asahi Shimbun wants to run a little story on the scheme. Not even a big story. They weren’t interested in what I had to say and preferred covering the Imperial House of Japan or the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). I should have said no, I had said no before but I decided it was worth the risk. Gods, what a farce. I had been loyal and this is how I was going to be rewarded? They forgot one thing, I was the hub of this whole thing, this whole plot was my idea. They really think I am gonna get pushed out quietly? The other problem was running such a massive scheme was exhausting, I had to make sure the guys got their money or they’d raise holy hell. I had to make sure they got their monthly payment. It was getting impossible to keep it up, this monster I made grew massively and it was still growing when I wrote my letter. I knew I would go to jail because of this. Still, I wrote the letter. It was a long letter but I wrote it, it felt good to reveal all of it.” Yamachi wrote in his autobiography, The Man Who Sold Japan.
Yamachi then took his story to the Mainichi Shimbun who agreed to publish his confession letter and notes as a front page story on June 5th, 1998. The consequences of Mainichi publishing the confession letter and notes on the corruption within the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group were massive as the story would capture the attention of many Japanese citizens thanks in part to the number of parties and individuals involved in the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scheme which made many furious about the corruption and negligence within the highest corners of Japanese society. Soon, the Mainichi Shimbun and other newspapers including Asahi was receiving letters from its readership demanding accountability from the KRG and other organizations for funneling money into their pockets rather than rebuilding Kasumigaseki. The story would eventually become national news with Japanese papers reprinting Yamachi’s confession letter as the scheme became public knowledge. The Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal would be the largest corruption scandal in Japanese history. This was bigger than the Recruit Scandal, bigger than the Lockheed Scandal, the shipbuilding scandal of the 1950s.This was utterly massive. When the politicians, businessmen, and others profited from Recruit Cosmos going public in 1988 they made 1.1 billion yen, this was thirty times bigger than anything before. Yamachi had kept extensive notes, ledgers, and day planners. The political ramifications from the Kasumigaseki scandal resulted in massive backlash against numerous Japanese political parties and corporations with many executives or influential politicians resigning or being arrested by the National Police Agency. The Kasumigaseki scheme would later be intrinsically tied to the Hoshino Reform Wave as Kenichi Hoshino and his supporters would protest governmental and corporate corruption within Japanese society[12]. However, Yamachi did serve a few years in prison for his part in the scheme but it was after prison that he released everything he had aside from the confession letter.
“You really think I was going to be a part of that adventure without some insurance?” Yamachi would say in an interview that besides his records he had tapes. “I kept Mino at a distance on his true knowledge of the scheme so he could be used for my storage of recordings of politicians, businessmen, and others. First it was audio but later it was video, cameras got small enough to hide them. God the things those men wanted most is what was expected but some of them made my skin crawl.”
The recordings would send more politicians, businessmen, and officials to prison. This fueled the rebellions against the LDP in particular among Japanese youth who were increasingly dissatisfied with the party for its inability to adapt its policies to the ever-worsening economic crisis of the 1990s or stopping Aum Shinrikyo from killing thousands . While there were tapes of Shintaro Ishihara he had done nothing illegal on any of them and therefore prosecutors did not make charges against him. However, the fragmentation of the LDP factions would lead to Ishihara’s creation of a new party with right wingers and ultranationalists like himself known as the Japan Self-Determination Party or Nijiketsu for short[13]..
Shintaro Ishihara at the top and below is Yukio Mishima, on their publisher's roof in 1956. Mishima tried a coup against the Japanese government in 1970. Both were authors and both were ultranationalists.
The Kasmugaseki Redevelopment Scandal drove more moderate and liberal members of the LDP to the newly-formed Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) led by Naoto Kan in 1998 and would have their first proper party conference. The DPJ were confident as the New Frontier Party was fragmenting. The New Frontier Party was falling apart more in fact due to the internal conflicts ex-Komeito[14] members had with the increase in defense spending and the reworking of Article 9 of the post-war Constitution after 4/15.
In May 1999, Prime Minister Ichiro Ozawa[15] called for an election in the House of Representatives in June. This election is called by many the ‘Hoshino-Kasumigaseki Election’, much like the ‘Lockheed elections’ of 1976 and 1983. With Ozawa’s party and control weakening the 1999 General Election held on June 25th, 1999 was one time where none of the papers were sure if it would be a coalition of parties governing, if one of the new parties like the DPJ would win or would somehow the LDP be returned to power. To the shock of everyone the Democratic Party of Japan and a few smaller parties won 254 seats in the National Diet thanks to the LDP’s tainted reputation among Japanese voters. The left-wing parties and factions were buoyed by the surprise electoral support and later would merge into the DPJ (New Conservatives, Liberal League, Liberals). Naoto Kan would be elected the new Prime Minister of Japan, the first to be from the DPJ. A major reason for why the DPJ and Kan did so well in the elections was that the LDP had ignored the results of the House of Councilors election in 1998 and acted like it was a fluke. They had won in 1995 but in 1998 they had ignored all the corruption that had come out in May of 1998 and still thought that they could win. This would lead to LDP leadership shakeup and the eventual loss of that was even more devastating than the 1999 election which led to Taro Aso being ousted as party leader in favor of Koizumi. The 1999 election would lead to the LDP winning only 107 seats with the DPJ winning 254 seats (more seats would be gained in party mergers after 1999) and a near total wipeout of New Frontier from the Japanese political landscape.
Kan’s Premiership was vastly different thanks to political changes brought about by his predecessor, Ichiro Ozawa. The position of Chief of Staff was added under Ozawa and Kan kept it as Kan agreed the Prime Minister needed his own staff not bureaucrats seconded from the various ministries. He would also be dealing with three scandals that got revealed from the finance ministry one was an unrelated bribery scandal to the KRG[16], another involved Ministry of Finance elites going to to a no pan shabu-shabu restaurant[17], the final scandal was a group of finance bureaucrats going to a fashion health clinic and getting “special massages'' and charging it to companies or the taxpayers[18]. A later scandal at the Bank of Japan revealed an official with over four hundred pairs of panties of women who had reported it stolen. Kan would order investigations into the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan for illegal activities resulting in numerous arrests. Kan would also enhance the Civil Service reform that began under Ozawa in response to the scandals. A full special section of the Ministry of Finance was set up to deal with the vast amount of government and corporate embezzlement, along with counterparts in the National Police Agency, local police and Ministry of Justice. The Bank of Japan was thoroughly investigated as many of the pro-Reform Wave and anti-Kasumigaseki reformers in the Ministry of Finance had to fight the Bank of Japan which had been a power unto its own within the Japanese government, to ensure the BoJ was properly investigated, the DPJ’s deputy leader Katsuya Okada was appointed as Finance Minister.
Yukio Hatoyama, a former LDP member and grandson of Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama would be leading a task only a few short years prior that was considered impossible, to reform the Japanese civil service. How he did this was to have outsiders brought into the service and put into senior positions. Meanwhile the DPJ would force public committees on corruption in both houses of the Diet. The Speaker of the House in the Diet was former Prime Minister Toshiko Kaifu, who had switched parties in the late 1990s. Helping with the reform was a new LDP leader, Junichiro Koizumi.
Koizumi had long been against the vast power of the bureaucratic elites, and despite being more conservative he felt that the power should belong to the elected representatives. Koizumi’s election as LDP leader was controversial, due to the fact Koizumi was a major advocate for postal privatization. Koizumi had been influenced heavily by some of his colleagues and especially the Hoshino Reform Wave. Koizumi was a member of the faction called Shinseiki but dubbed by the press as YKK, named after the leaders of the faction; Taku Yamasaki, Koichi Kato, and Koizumi himself, and also because it was similar to the zipper maker YKK[19].Koizumi got into the leadership of the LDP due to Hashimoto being tainted by the Kasumigaseki scandal, Keizo Obuchi stood down as leader due to a minor stroke, Taro Aso had dropped out in the leadership election due to anti-Burakumin comments he said about his rival for the leadership Hiromu Nonaka being made public[20], and the other members of YKK did not have enough support in the Diet. Koizumi did have support and would win a tumultuous leadership election. The LDP would be in opposition, and Koizumi would be able to shape the reformation of the party to remove corrupt members. He also put in age limits to keep older party members from holding seats forever, after age seventy they would have to retire, it was the same rule for judges in the Supreme Court of Japan[21]. Koizumi’s only real scandal was the fact his grandfather was a tattooed minister with some Yakuza ties but this happened prewar when it was a far weaker group. Koizumi is still rated very highly among many Japanese citizens and with his close ties to the Fukuda faction he was able to get his position secured.
Aftermath:
In the wake of the scandal, the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Project was put under close scrutiny and monitored heavily by new bureaucrats, politicians, and the media. And despite the corruption, all buildings were completed by 2001. The Kasumigaseki Station was reopened in 1999 due to the tireless efforts of the workers on the subway. The companies involved did not go out of business though most did have a change of leadership. The companies that were no longer around also did not go out of business but underwent mergers, as with many banks involved in the schemes, or underwent rebranding but most of those were due to unrelated issues to Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal. But the one group that the scars are still visible on is in the LDP, as that scandal, the Hoshino Reform Wave and the Kasumigaseki Scandal damaged public faith in the party[22], As Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone said, “We were rained on but now the sun is out and we’re dry.” Which a comedian responded with, “Yeah but you’re now caked in dried pig shit.” The LDP would eventually return to power but it took a long time for that return to power to occur. The scandal also shook the apathy many voters in Japan had. These scandals finally made many voters realize that they had to be more involved and more aware of what the politicians they elected did and what the people who ran the civil service did as well. The cultural impact of the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal was political and societal for Japanese media in the same way that the 4/15 attacks or the Assassination of Shoko Asahara. For instance, a memorable line came from an episode of a Lupin III series released in the early 2000s where the titular character was annoyed that “the greatest thieves now were bankers and bureaucrats”. But the cultural impact from the Kasumigaseki scandal was not as big as 4/15 or the Asahara assassination, while transformative politically it was more boring compared to those events though plots involving government corruption in J-dramas did become more popular in Japan. Overall, Kasumigaseki was more likely to be covered in media centered around 4/15 and the Asahara assassination than as a standalone event though it's impact was never forgotten[23].
After serving four years in prison, Tatsuya Yamachi would be released and became the President of the Initiative for Transparent Government (TSTI). Yamachi befriended Kenichi Hoshino and the two men continue to campaign for anti-corruption causes to this very day under the TSTI. In an exclusive interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Yamachi said that he was glad he brought down “the corrupt bureaucrats who ruined the Kasumigaseki project” and forging a friendship with “the brave Hoshino-san” for his anti-corruption activism. Yamachi also said that he’s looking forward to “more collaborations with Hoshino” in the near future[24].
“We must strive towards more accountability from governments and corporations that don’t always represent our best interests” said Yamachi looking back on the published confession letter, notes and recordings that exposed the corruption within the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Group.
[1] Another fictional personage like Kenichi Hoshino but most real folks I could use are mostly boring bureaucrats.
[2] Amakudari in Japanese means “Descent from Heaven'. To many non-Japanese readers of the timeline, it’s essentially a Japanese form of revolving door politics. The Civil Service (Komuin) is viewed in this as Heaven in the polytheistic and animistic beliefs of Shinto, the national religion of Japan. There are variations of this where a bureaucrat moves into a government corporation and is called yokosuberi (sideslip) or becomes a politician.
[3] Much like many post-war housing developments around the world, Danchis were started with good intentions at least initially. Like many public housing it was viewed early on with amazement, and wonder at the “Three Treasures” in these apartments like a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a black and white television but as time marched on people viewed them as shabby, ugly, and not safe (more not able to stand up against big earthquakes in Japan but crime as well). Many older Danchis have been torn down as it is cheaper than retrofitting them to meet modern safety standards. Also as the population of Japan shrinks, they’re not needed.
[4] Roughly $154,000 dollars.
[5] Japan has had a long and troubled history with the treatment of physically and mentally disabled people with conformity being a big part of Japanese society which can also be said of Burakumin, Ainu, Rykuyuans, Koreans, Chinese and other groups. Well it is hard for those who cannot conform due to physical or mental disability aside from being non-Japanese. Even after World War II and the Tokyo Tribunal, the Japanese had a law that would castrate the mentally and physically disabled, while most were done with consent of the guardians and family of the disabled person an estimated 16,000 were castrated against their will. In fact, this practice was so commonplace that it only stopped in 1996! Also many families feel a disabled person brings shame upon them and hides them or gives them up to the state. Sadly this can lead to people wishing to euthanize the disabled in Japan, example being the Sagamihara stabbings.
[6] Corruption is a way of doing business in Japan especially among corporations and political parties. Want to make a deal happen with the Japan Highway Public Corporation? Take bureaucrats from there and the Ministry of Transport and take them to a big golf course and steer the contract your way with money and gifts. Most scandals often had the politicians take the blame and ministry bureaucrats in whatever ministry often left untouched. Also for many years elite bureaucrats got better perks than the ministers they worked under. An Administrative Vice Minister may get a private jet from a large company while the minister flies JAL in business class. More common was a minister may get a taxi or if a car driven by anyone a business car with one security man. An Administrative Vice Minister? They get a limo or a Toyota Century luxury car to drive them to important meetings.
[7] Do keep in mind that while the American government is ramping up it’s anti-terrorism efforts against Militant White Nationalist Organizations (MWNOs) and religious fundamentalist groups even stopping potential terror plots after the J. Edgar Hoover Federal Building bombing in Washington DC there are some that did manage to slip through the cracks and carry out deadly attacks including the Atlanta bombing. In OTL, the Atlanta bombing claimed the lives of only 2 people one of which was from a heart attack thanks to Rudolph thinking it was a good idea to make two 911 calls to the FBI about it along with the efforts of Richard Jewell who discovered the pipe bomb and prevented any more casualties along with Rudolph himself telling the FBI about it. Here, Rudolph doesn’t tell the FBI about the pipe bombs due to greater scrutiny on white nationalist and religious fundamentalist groups after Washington and other related incidents hence why Jewell and the guards don’t discover the bomb in time to prevent claiming more lives than OTL. Moreover, there is a wave of domestic terrorism in America in the mid to late 1990s which is why TTL’s Olympic Park more or less fits the destructive trend of far-right militant white nationalists and fundamentalists launching violent attacks across the country. The upside is that Rudolph is caught much sooner due to the increased focus on domestic terrorism by the Gore administration coupled with a tip from two Sandy Springs residents which resulted in his arrest before he could carry out other attacks on the local abortion clinic and a lesbian bar in the Atlanta Metro in OTL.
[8] Social drinking is a common practice in Japan and often the subordinate or guest must drink as much as their boss or the host. It has been losing popularity in recent years as effort to curb DUI and alcoholism in Japan have been slowly working, still a long way to go in OTL
[9].Keep in mind that some uyoku dantai groups have ties to the Yakuza as noted earlier in the Aum on Trial post hence why you see some of them attacking non-Japanese construction workers.
[10] The gods that Tatsuya is talking about are the Amatsukami, the most powerful beings in Shinto and Japanese folklore comprised of Amaterasu (important sun goddess), Susanoo (sea and storm god), Tsukuyomi (moon god), Ame-no-Uzume (meditation and recreation goddess), Inari (genderless fertility and agriculture god), Takemikazuchi (sumo and war god) and other deities. They are extremely important in Japanese culture to the point where the Imperial House of Japan are officially considered to be the descendants of the Amatsukami and Tatsuya is deliberately invoking them when discussing the Kasumigaseki scheme.
[11] Ishihara in OTL later became the Governor of Tokyo. He was on the extreme side of uyoku dantai ultranationalists in that he spouted racial slurs to Koreans, Chinese and foreigners in addition to denying Japan’s WWII war crimes such as the Nanking Massacre or the rape of non-Japanese “comfort women” and his close friendship with ultranationalist author turned coup plotter Yukio Mishima. Western readers, imagine a German neo-Nazi politician as mayor of Berlin who openly denied the Holocaust or a Ukrainian Stalin apologist becoming mayor of Kiev and denying the Holodomor both of whom supported extremist authors and would be coup leaders. The Greater Japan Patriotic Party are on the opposite side of the spectrum in that they are somewhat more moderate in that they are pro-American and pro-South Korean in addition to being anti-communist but they’re also the same party that had Otoya Yamaguchi kill Inejiro Asanuma in 1960 but nonetheless still exist to this very day. In the case of Ishihara in TTL, he will not become Governor of Tokyo in 1999 as that position will go to Kunio Hatayama, the brother of Yukio Hatoyama and the grandson of Ichiro Hatoyama.
[12] Recall that Kenichi Hoshino became an influential anti-corruption activist after the famous Takeshi Kitano interview.
[13] Ishihara also left the LDP but never formed his own party. Here, he creates an uyoku dantai party with him and other Japanese ultranationalists. In terms of Diet presence, it’s larger than the Communists with 20 members in the House of Councilors and 30 members in the House of Representatives.
[14] The Komeito Party was opposed and is still opposed to removing Article 9 of the post-war Constitution in OTL and TTL.
[15] To elaborate: The Socialist led LDP government was left holding the bag for the Great Hanshin Earthquake, the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack, and 4/15; the scandals of Yoshiro Mori, Green Cross (a medical company that had HIV tainted blood), nursing home bribery scandal, along with a bad economy that 4/15 brought with it (think like the post 9/11 economy in the US in OTL) resulted in Ozawa’s New Frontier winning in October 1996 and Ozawa himself becoming Prime Minister. During his tenure, Ozawa reformed and strengthened the Kantei (Prime Minister’s Office/Residence) while the top advisor and head of cabinet under the PM would be the chief of staff instead of the Chief Cabinet secretary being the top advisor and head of cabinet under the PM, while still politically it was not typically occupied by a representative. Ozawa would start a heavier reformation of the Japanese civil service.
[16] This scandal is a minor one from our world but gets more attention as it involves two banking regulators getting bribes from banks they were supposed to regulate coupled with the Hoshino Reform Wave.
[17] This one is also borrowed from our world. No pan shabu shabu is a variation of the no pan kissa (no panties cafe) where the waitresses wore no panties (some had mirrored floors), this one they wore mini-skirts. The scandal here is that Ministry of Finance officials here made banks pay for meetings at cafes like this in Kabukicho.. Much like many fads in Japan it faded away by the mid 2000s and it will fade much sooner here due to the aforementioned scandal.
[18] This is inspired by more recent scandals in Japanese business but some fashion health clinics give customers “happy endings.”
[19] YKK stands for Yoshida Kōgyō Kabushiki gaisha (Yoshida Manufacturing Corporation)
[20] Aso’s comments about Nonaka were in relation to Nonaka’s Burakumin heritage and background, "We are not going to let someone from the buraku become the prime minister, are we?" Which is borrowed from reality. Though here Nonaka gets a swipe at Aso for being a Catholic “Isn’t that right Francisco?” which is Aso’s Catholic name.
[21] The Supreme Court of Japan has a mandatory retirement age of Japan and in OTL the LDP tried a similar rule that after age seventy they would not be able to run in the next general election but it was reversed later. Here, since the Kasumigaseki scandal and the Hoshino Reform Wave led to many officials and corporate executives getting exposed for misconduct coupled with the DPJ’s victory, this rule is permanent.
[22] The LDP dominates Japanese elections against opposition parties and has been in power for much of it’s history except 1993-1994 and 2009-2012 respectively. Here, the Reform Wave and scandals will cause numerous Japanese citizens to switch to other parties and elections won’t be mostly dominated by the LDP.
[23] Essentially,TTL’s Japanese history has 4/15 as 9/11, the assassination of Shoko Asahara as the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal as the Enron scandal though only the second one still occurred while first and third are up in the air and may or may not happen in this timeline.
[24] Given that Yamachi exposed the Kasumigaseki Redevelopment Scandal and Hoshino is leading a wave of anti-corruption activism, the two men would naturally meet and become friends.
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The Great Big Beautiful Green Tomorrow
Making Us Believe in the Future Again: Remembering the New Horizons Tomorrowlands -- Part 2
Jim Hill Media Netsite, Dec 20, 2005
OUR STORY SO FAR:
By the early 90s, the Tomorrowlands are in decline.
Many saw them as outdated and hopelessly behind the times as technology soon caught up with the futuristic vision of tomorrow. Called the “Tomorrowland Problem” by Imagineers, it soon became clear that a radical solution was necessary for these land to remain timeless so Disney would no longer need to repeatedly provide overhauls for the antiquated lands.
A shining beacon of hope soon appear in 1992 with the opening of Disneyland Valencia and its unveiling Discoveryland, a land that was set around visions of a future envisioned by the great minds of the 19th and early 20th centuries such as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. It proved to be a massive success as it was not only unique but timeless for the guests that visited the land.
Naturally, Disney decided on updating all of the Tomorrowlands based on this same philosophy, christening them as the “New Horizons Tomorrowlands”. They started with the one at the Magic Kingdom as an experiment, with the theme revolving around Walt’s original vision for Tomorrowland at Disneyland. It presented itself as a whimsical sci-fi city where inventors could flock to come up with wacky gadgets and tools. When it opened it proved to be a huge success among families and young children, while the Googie aesthetic made it incredibly cheap to convert.
However, the same cannot be said for Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, as many Imagineers agreed it would require a massive overhaul regardless of theme. Originally the concept was for a land full of alien crystals which served as a beacon for their original creators, the Lightkeepers. Jim Henson rejected this idea, desiring to have a Tomorrowland that presents a future that humans can aspire to and strive to achieve.
So what happens next?
For Tony Baxter, it was seen as a stab in the back, who thought that his ideas for Tomorrowland 2055 were utterly flawless and fit within the philosophy of the new Tomorrowlands. For Jim, it was out of a desire to have a concept that emulated the ideals of the 1967 refurb even more, all the while retaining the fantasy aspect so that it would become timeless for the guests coming to the park. [1]
In short, what Jim expected from Baxter and the rest of Imagineering working on the Disneyland refurb was nothing short of utopia. Literally. They had to create a utopia so perfect that humans would have no choice but to be in awe.
Naturally, they managed to finish creating this concept within a few months or so. Amazing, right?
For Imagineering, it seems doing the impossible is their job these days.
Well, when you go through their thought process toward this new Tomorrowland 2055, it doesn’t seem as far-fetched or impossible as one might think.
One of their main concerns was keeping as many of the ideas of the old Tomorrowland 2055 as possible. That included the concept of aliens that would visit Earth, though now it would no longer be a spaceport.
Here, something clicked within the Imagineers’ heads. Why not make this new land the prequel to the original 2055? A utopia in an alternate timeline where humans managed to liberate themselves from conflict, energy, climate change, and all of the ills of the world. Just in time for some aliens to make peaceful first contact with a unified Earth, all but ensuring that humanity would be ready to reach toward the stars. [2]
It was like Star Trek, which no doubt caused some grumbling within Triad of possible copyright issues, but here the Imagineers would focus on the individual level. How would a person live in such a utopia? Where would they work? How would they interact? [3]
The concept evoked a lot from Walt’s 1967 refurb, whose focus on mass transit and transportation with the “A World on the Move” theme all but ensured similar feelings of utopia, but this time, TL 2055 focuses on a world that solves the issues of today like clean energy and climate change. As a nod towards its previous incarnation, the Imagineers coined the term “Humans among the Stars” to describe the idea, of a world where humanity has achieved perfection on their home planet as they move into space through interplanetary, and later interstellar travel.
When they presented this idea to Jim Henson, he loved it even more than the original iteration!
Although it was certainly more ambitious and had a more concrete vision of a utopian tomorrow than the old TL 2055, it’s no secret that it also catered to his environmentalism and his values toward clean energy and sustainability. [4]
Jim’s full support for Tomorrowland 2055 was fortunate, as it was clear that bringing this concept to life would be one of the most expensive projects that Disney had undertaken for a themed land. Disneyland’s Tomorrowland would have to be radically altered, perhaps even destroyed to make way for new rides, restaurants, and other attractions. Disney had the money, of course, but some feared another DisneySea fiasco when Baxter and the team presented their plans. It was clearly something they wanted to avoid. [5]
Another thing to consider was the aesthetic. They had the concept down and had a rough idea of what that would look like, but not much else. Of course, the I-Works were always experienced with creating new imagined worlds and lands. It’s their job, but having so many disparate voices trying to come up with what “utopia” is was difficult for everyone on the team, Baxter included.
Luckily, Jim Henson brought in the right man for the job for such a project….Syd Mead. [6]
Yes, really.
A picture of Syd Mead in 1986 (Image source: New York Times)
After all, he did work on TRON, so he was familiar with Walt Disney Entertainment as a company. However, he also worked on films like Blade Runner and Alien, franchises whose futures Disney sought to reject. Leave it to the man that helped create the cyberpunk genre...for him to try and destroy it.
Once he was brought on board, he had many ideas on what this future would look like, clearly excited to bring a more optimistic vision of tomorrow. Though they initially were skeptical of the futurist that was seemingly taking control of the project, I have heard that the team was quite cordial with Syd, especially once he drew up some concept art that brought in many inputs from the Imagineering team together.
An example of Syd Mead’s art (Image source: Slate)
In addition, there were other designers that were invited to assist with the creation of Tomorrowland 2055. More specifically, they were from the Aye-Ayes, the international branch of Imagineering, as their experiences living in more pedestrian-friendly cities like Amsterdam, London, and Tokyo, were critical in the development of Tomorrowland 2055’s vision. [7]
After months of work in late 1994, they managed to draw up enough concept art and models to bring Tomorrowland 2055 to life. Tony Baxter himself presented the whole finished scale model of the land to Jim Henson, who was in complete awe at what they were able to accomplish. Looking at them now and what they achieved with the real thing, it was nothing short of magical…
(What Tomorrowland 2055 is going to look like aesthetically) (Image source: Scott Chambliss) [8]
Unlike Tomorrowland 1955, which merely refurbished and rethemed the existing Tomorrowland, 2055 was nothing short of a complete overhaul. This was already planned for the original concept of Tomorrowland 2055, but the new concept didn’t change Disney’s ambitions for the ailing land in the slightest. Some of you might have visited Tomorrowland 2055 in its entirety already, but here’s a list of changes to refresh your memory:
The new PeopleMover model, inspired by Disney’s old concepts for Lake Buena Vista (Image source: Imagineering Disney)
In the end, people were met with a drastically different Tomorrowland than what it was in 1995.
The 60s architecture was updated with a modern style, applying a greater emphasis on curved lines and a white, silver, and black color palette (as opposed to the more whimsical colors of Tomorrowland 1955). [15] Yet the biggest change to guests was not with the architecture but the overall ambiance itself. With the added greenery, aromas, music, and kinetics thanks to the introduction of the updated PeopleMover, Autopia, the Monorail, and the fake windmills, the whole land felt much more alive and urban. It was a lively and comfortable future to live in, and people really felt that they were transported into a green utopia.
Overall, this entire project would cost around $500 million, and that was just the highest estimate. In fact, it costs more than what it took to upgrade Tomorrowland in the first place back in 1967, adjusted for inflation. Originally, the total cost of the whole project ballooned to nearly a billion dollars, but Disney, afraid of another DisneySea on their hands, decided to downscale the project until they reached a reasonable price for the overhaul. There were numerous negotiations and compromises between the financial executives and Imagineering, but eventually, the company felt the revised plans to be adequate and greenlit Tomorrowland 2055 in 1995.
The Tomorrowland 2055 shirt logo (In reference to this jacket given to Imagineers and Cast Members OTL)
The land would soon open in 1999, to much fanfare and press from the general public. NBC even did a TV special airing the opening of Tomorrowland 2055 featuring Jim Henson making an excellent opening speech, explaining the history of Tomorrowland and later dedicating the new refurb to Walt Disney and his unending optimism about the future. [16] Due to its themes towards renewable energy and presenting a radical outlook on American life (mainly lessening the dependency on car infrastructure and suburbs in favor of denser housing and public transportation), it received widespread attention from urban designers and politicians alike. Many were positive, but others were also quite negative.
Democrats for the most part praised it, with prominent environmentalist Al Gore seeing the land as a beacon that will lead Americans away from the smog-filled and polluted cities of decades past and toward a brighter and more hopeful future. However, it struck a chord with Republicans, mainly far-right figures like Dennis Prager and Newt Gingrich, with them decrying how Walt’s dream of Tomorrowland was twisted by Jim Henson into some kind of “hippie communist dystopia”. In addition, they heavily criticized the acceptance of public transportation within Tomorrowland 2055, believing that the limiting of cars will hinder individual liberties and cause the societal fabric of America to break down as a result (whatever that means…). [17] Jim Henson, for the most part, shrugged off these criticisms, as Tomorrowland was supposed to be a model of the future for Walt, and this new story of humanity’s utopian future is a way to honor him. [18] In fact, he even welcomed the political discussion, since it means people are talking about it and might even want to implement the ideas that 2055 presented, leaving behind an impact that could exceed any known Tomorrowland.
And in fact, it did.
Urban planners and engineers in America were already interested in the same ideas that Tomorrowland 2055 presented, wanting to steer the country away from over-dependence on fossil fuels and cars through the use of more environmentally friendly city design and the introduction of walkable neighborhoods. As a result of the land’s opening, many city designers following the “New Urbanism” movement were both inspired and felt vindicated by Disney’s overwhelming support for their ideas. However, it also taught them that their ambitions could be much more radical as TL 2055’s new EPCOT model and CircleVision exhibit took in ideas from European cities, which were far more accommodating toward pedestrians and public transportation. Disney would soon become interested in developing a plot of land in Florida and many designers flocked to the company to assist with the project. [ 19]
The land left behind a monumental impact, not only on Disney but also on America at large, inspiring new generations of people to care more about the environment and become active within their communities to make cities greener and safer for people. [20] While it slightly steered away from the timelessness of the New Horizons Tomorrowlands, the depiction of it being a utopia on the verge of First Contact (instead of being a prediction for the future) means it will likely avoid the fate of its previous incarnations. In fact, its focus on trying to solve humanity’s problems (instead of being mere escapism) is what sets it apart from the other New Horizons Tomorrowlands. To visitors of Tomorrowland 2055, the future is not only bright, but it is also attainable if people put their efforts towards making our world a safer, healthier, and better place.
A shining new spaceport…in Tokyo?! (Image source: Theme Park Tourist)
Of course, despite the success of the new Tomorrowland, the Imagineers did not leave the original Tomorrowland 2055 idea behind. As they always say, “a good idea never dies in Imagineering”, and they soon found a use for Baxter’s concept in another Disney park, albeit one across the ocean from Anaheim. In Tokyo, the Tomorrowland there was also quite outdated, and the OLC also desired a new concept that would revolutionize the land and transform it into a timeless experience. When they got word about an alien Tomorrowland, they were completely ecstatic, and thanks to the time that Baxter and others spent on the idea, the old concept evolved, turning from a fantastic overhaul of Anaheim’s Tomorrowland into the most visually radical and story-driven Tomorrowland seen so far. [21]
See you next time for the next part with the conclusion of the New Horizons Tomorrowlands saga with the introduction of Tomorrowland Nextworld, a land that is truly out of this world!
[1]: This is another time Tony Baxter has his ideas rejected ITTL, and even then it will get implemented later on in Tokyo. Compared to what happened to him OTL, I’d say that Baxter is going to be much happier working for Disney in the long run.
[2]: Already a better idea than what the Imagineers came up with in 1998 due to budget issues.
[3]: Of course, Triad will not sue Disney for this idea, but I think people will notice the correlation, especially once Starfleet Academy comes out.
[4]: Looking back on how I came up with this idea for an alt-2055, it was explicitly made with Jim Henson in mind. Without him, it’s likely this iteration of Tomorrowland might have never been made since Eisner (in better circumstances) would have approved of the original 2055 outright.
[5]: DisneySea will forever remain a huge learning lesson for Disney Entertainment and Imagineering. Despite its massive success, it also came with a similarly sized price tag to come with it ($5 billion USD, making it the most expensive theme park resort in the world). As with Animal Kingdom, they are understandably afraid to pour so much money into a land as ambitious as Tomorrowland, though they are not penny-pinchers like they were OTL thanks to no Eisner or Pressler.
[6]: Of course, we got to have Syd Mead to help us out right? He was the one that helped design the concept art of Tomorrowland from the 2015 movie. Plus, there’s the added irony that Syd was the one that helped Disney steer away from a cyberpunk land into something much more optimistic. Thank god for that.
[7]: The introduction of the Aye-Ayes are going to be a welcome addition to Imagineering, as they will provide the foreign experience and necessary expertise to design a greener and more pedestrian-friendly Tomorrowland, especially for the new model of EPCOT.
[8]: Yeah, the 2015 Tomorrowland movie is going to be a huge aesthetic influence for Tomorrowland 2055. It’s the only time Disney has created a utopian futuristic design for Tomorrowland and it’s high time we used this obscure movie for something.
I originally had thoughts about making Tomorrowland 2055 a more low-tech setting but decided against it since that would be much harder to pull off.
[9]: The PeopleMover will NOT be going away for Disneyland ITTL but will be modernized with new cars and an overhauled track (that does allow people to walk on the sides). It was an important crux for the land in the 1967 refurb and it will continue to be one for 2055, providing an easy and convenient form of transportation for the expanded land.
As for the restaurant, it was an idea that existed OTL but never came to fruition thanks to the budget cuts, but here, they have all the more reason to use this idea, both as a fun way to show guests about forms of transportation while also providing an easy way to reuse old assets.
(Image source: Yesterworld)
[10]: The Progress City was originally located in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland but was moved to the Magic Kingdom’s PeopleMover. Imagineers reimagined the old model to reflect a more modern depiction of the original EPCOT, with it being much more dense, urban, and full of massive rail networks alongside highways, all the which are connected by solar panels, windmills, and other sources of renewable energy.
[11]: What better way to honor Walt’s old Tomorrowlands than with a new House of the Future?
[12]: Journey to the Stars is a ride where guests explore a set of planets around the Solar System and beyond before they are inevitably contacted by a group of friendly aliens, thus kickstarting First Contact.
[13]: As said earlier, Submarine Voyage is dead since DisneySea’s revamped 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has made it obsolete. It was a long while coming but unlike OTL, Baxter will not protest this decision as Disney has plans to use the vehicles in the future. Regardless, let’s give a moment of silence to this well-beloved attraction.
RIP Submarine Voyage…
(Image source: Yesterland)
[14]: GM being the sponsor is extremely relevant in this case, as they were the first car manufacturer to produce a commercially viable electric car with the EV1. In fact, it was so ridiculously popular that celebrities and the general public flocked to purchase it, but the company soon canceled any future production and took all of the cars produced, crushing them all into dust (due to a perceived perception that electric vehicles were unprofitable).
Thanks to Al Gore’s administration and their ongoing support for environmentalist and clean air policies, companies like BP and GM are forced to make quick transitions towards renewable energy and electric vehicles. This time, GM is likely to stick to the Bolt series (the EV1 ITTL) and is primed to kickstart an American electric/hybrid car revolution once lithium-ion batteries become available (we’ve butterflied Tesla in this case).
In fact, the vehicles at the new Autopia are in fact electric vehicles (unlike OTL, shockingly enough), so there’s no gasoline smell that emanates from the attraction, much to the relief of parents, kids, and park-goers everywhere.
That being said, Jim Henson is probably going to have a Bolt or a similar electric vehicle once this is all over.
Note: Be sure to watch the Climate Town video as well as the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car” for more information about the EV1 (here’s a summary).
[15]: It is very much the polar opposite of 1955 in terms of design aesthetics, but that’s the intention.
[16]: I think Walt Disney would have liked the concept of 2055 (much to the chagrin of conservatives trying to argue against it ITTL) since it appeals to his environmentalist ideas and focuses on the pedestrian. EPCOT, in all of its weird intricacies, had the mantra of “pedestrian is king” throughout its city layout.
Not to mention that the land and the new model of Progress City itself have a crap ton of trains and PeopleMovers. That alone might give Walt his seal of approval.
(Image source: Jim Shull)
[17]: I’ve seen similar criticisms about public transportation and focus on pedestrian/micro-mobility infrastructure from PragerU recently so it would not surprise me if Prager or a handful of Republicans themselves (most of whom are paid off by oil companies) made similar comments in the late 90s.
[18]: In my honest opinion, this iteration of Tomorrowland is the true successor of the 1967 refurb and of EPCOT itself, and I can see Jim seeing 2055 in the same light.
[19]: This happened OTL with Celebration, Florida, albeit much earlier. Eisner was interested in making a town and hired architects/city planners that followed the “New Urbanism” movement in its focus towards walkable neighborhoods, mixed-use zoning, and public transportation. The end result was quite mixed.
Here, Jim Henson and Disney will also be interested in a similar project, but this time they will have knowledge and experience from working with city planners and architects from America, Europe, and other countries. Whether they will be more successful in making a walkable and inclusive town in the middle of Florida remains to be seen, but I am interested in making a guest post about it.
[20]: Solarpunk arrives much earlier than OTL thanks to the existence of Tomorrowland 2055 inspiring so many young artists, engineers, and other creators around the 2000s. Called “Green Futurism” ITTL, the movement is the antithesis of what we know as cyberpunk in its optimistic vision of the future and focuses on sustainability, community, cooperation, and environmentally-friendly practices.
On top of a more radical and experienced “New Urbanism” movement, it does mean that America is likely to make more progress in creating walkable and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods throughout the 21st century.
Ironically enough, Green Futurists will sometimes criticize Tomorrowland 2055 of “greenwashing”, though this critique doesn’t hold water when the land was devised as a utopia (not being realistic in itself) and the ideas associated with Green Futurism didn’t even exist in the first place.
Finally, Tomorrowland 2055 will be seen as a testbed for a number of ideas generated by Disney, such as the introduction of plant-based food items around the 2000s in order to accommodate vegetarians and vegans (in collaboration with companies like Tofutti), culminating in an entirely vegan restaurant located within 2055 around the early 2010s as part of Disney’s plant-based initiative (a similar event happened OTL).
[21]: With the idea of Earth meeting aliens in First Contact taken up by the new 2055, the obvious next step is to turn Tomorrowland into an extraterrestrial spaceport. Nextworld is going to be REALLY fun as it has the OLC’s backing and a much more ambitious Imagineering. Expect it to look awesome just in time for Tokyo DisneySea and TDL’s 20th anniversary.
Jim Hill Media Netsite, Dec 20, 2005
OUR STORY SO FAR:
By the early 90s, the Tomorrowlands are in decline.
Many saw them as outdated and hopelessly behind the times as technology soon caught up with the futuristic vision of tomorrow. Called the “Tomorrowland Problem” by Imagineers, it soon became clear that a radical solution was necessary for these land to remain timeless so Disney would no longer need to repeatedly provide overhauls for the antiquated lands.
A shining beacon of hope soon appear in 1992 with the opening of Disneyland Valencia and its unveiling Discoveryland, a land that was set around visions of a future envisioned by the great minds of the 19th and early 20th centuries such as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. It proved to be a massive success as it was not only unique but timeless for the guests that visited the land.
Naturally, Disney decided on updating all of the Tomorrowlands based on this same philosophy, christening them as the “New Horizons Tomorrowlands”. They started with the one at the Magic Kingdom as an experiment, with the theme revolving around Walt’s original vision for Tomorrowland at Disneyland. It presented itself as a whimsical sci-fi city where inventors could flock to come up with wacky gadgets and tools. When it opened it proved to be a huge success among families and young children, while the Googie aesthetic made it incredibly cheap to convert.
However, the same cannot be said for Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, as many Imagineers agreed it would require a massive overhaul regardless of theme. Originally the concept was for a land full of alien crystals which served as a beacon for their original creators, the Lightkeepers. Jim Henson rejected this idea, desiring to have a Tomorrowland that presents a future that humans can aspire to and strive to achieve.
So what happens next?
For Tony Baxter, it was seen as a stab in the back, who thought that his ideas for Tomorrowland 2055 were utterly flawless and fit within the philosophy of the new Tomorrowlands. For Jim, it was out of a desire to have a concept that emulated the ideals of the 1967 refurb even more, all the while retaining the fantasy aspect so that it would become timeless for the guests coming to the park. [1]
In short, what Jim expected from Baxter and the rest of Imagineering working on the Disneyland refurb was nothing short of utopia. Literally. They had to create a utopia so perfect that humans would have no choice but to be in awe.
Naturally, they managed to finish creating this concept within a few months or so. Amazing, right?
For Imagineering, it seems doing the impossible is their job these days.
Well, when you go through their thought process toward this new Tomorrowland 2055, it doesn’t seem as far-fetched or impossible as one might think.
One of their main concerns was keeping as many of the ideas of the old Tomorrowland 2055 as possible. That included the concept of aliens that would visit Earth, though now it would no longer be a spaceport.
Here, something clicked within the Imagineers’ heads. Why not make this new land the prequel to the original 2055? A utopia in an alternate timeline where humans managed to liberate themselves from conflict, energy, climate change, and all of the ills of the world. Just in time for some aliens to make peaceful first contact with a unified Earth, all but ensuring that humanity would be ready to reach toward the stars. [2]
It was like Star Trek, which no doubt caused some grumbling within Triad of possible copyright issues, but here the Imagineers would focus on the individual level. How would a person live in such a utopia? Where would they work? How would they interact? [3]
The concept evoked a lot from Walt’s 1967 refurb, whose focus on mass transit and transportation with the “A World on the Move” theme all but ensured similar feelings of utopia, but this time, TL 2055 focuses on a world that solves the issues of today like clean energy and climate change. As a nod towards its previous incarnation, the Imagineers coined the term “Humans among the Stars” to describe the idea, of a world where humanity has achieved perfection on their home planet as they move into space through interplanetary, and later interstellar travel.
When they presented this idea to Jim Henson, he loved it even more than the original iteration!
Although it was certainly more ambitious and had a more concrete vision of a utopian tomorrow than the old TL 2055, it’s no secret that it also catered to his environmentalism and his values toward clean energy and sustainability. [4]
Jim’s full support for Tomorrowland 2055 was fortunate, as it was clear that bringing this concept to life would be one of the most expensive projects that Disney had undertaken for a themed land. Disneyland’s Tomorrowland would have to be radically altered, perhaps even destroyed to make way for new rides, restaurants, and other attractions. Disney had the money, of course, but some feared another DisneySea fiasco when Baxter and the team presented their plans. It was clearly something they wanted to avoid. [5]
Another thing to consider was the aesthetic. They had the concept down and had a rough idea of what that would look like, but not much else. Of course, the I-Works were always experienced with creating new imagined worlds and lands. It’s their job, but having so many disparate voices trying to come up with what “utopia” is was difficult for everyone on the team, Baxter included.
Luckily, Jim Henson brought in the right man for the job for such a project….Syd Mead. [6]
Yes, really.
A picture of Syd Mead in 1986 (Image source: New York Times)
After all, he did work on TRON, so he was familiar with Walt Disney Entertainment as a company. However, he also worked on films like Blade Runner and Alien, franchises whose futures Disney sought to reject. Leave it to the man that helped create the cyberpunk genre...for him to try and destroy it.
Once he was brought on board, he had many ideas on what this future would look like, clearly excited to bring a more optimistic vision of tomorrow. Though they initially were skeptical of the futurist that was seemingly taking control of the project, I have heard that the team was quite cordial with Syd, especially once he drew up some concept art that brought in many inputs from the Imagineering team together.
An example of Syd Mead’s art (Image source: Slate)
In addition, there were other designers that were invited to assist with the creation of Tomorrowland 2055. More specifically, they were from the Aye-Ayes, the international branch of Imagineering, as their experiences living in more pedestrian-friendly cities like Amsterdam, London, and Tokyo, were critical in the development of Tomorrowland 2055’s vision. [7]
After months of work in late 1994, they managed to draw up enough concept art and models to bring Tomorrowland 2055 to life. Tony Baxter himself presented the whole finished scale model of the land to Jim Henson, who was in complete awe at what they were able to accomplish. Looking at them now and what they achieved with the real thing, it was nothing short of magical…
(What Tomorrowland 2055 is going to look like aesthetically) (Image source: Scott Chambliss) [8]
Unlike Tomorrowland 1955, which merely refurbished and rethemed the existing Tomorrowland, 2055 was nothing short of a complete overhaul. This was already planned for the original concept of Tomorrowland 2055, but the new concept didn’t change Disney’s ambitions for the ailing land in the slightest. Some of you might have visited Tomorrowland 2055 in its entirety already, but here’s a list of changes to refresh your memory:
- The entrance to Tomorrowland 2055 was expanded to accommodate for increased walking traffic, with the centerpiece being a fountain that contained a helium-3 atom with the Tomorrowland title in the middle.
- The two buildings to the side of the Tomorrowland entrance alongside the PeopleMover tracks were torn down. In its place, two new buildings were erected that had a second level primarily for shops and restaurants, with an expanded PeopleMover track that had guests traverse up and down the levels and their different attractions. These plans existed during the original incarnation but were obviously altered to fit the new aesthetic.
- The roofs were later upgraded with solar panels once they were economically feasible to be used.
- The PeopleMover track layout in the middle of Tomorrowland was preserved, but the old track also had to be removed and replaced with a new track with enhanced supports and a two-sided walkway that supports bridges, allowing guests to move from one building to another. In fact, every track inside Tomorrowland was upgraded in this manner, as Disney was forced to do so as the refurbishment affected every perimeter of Tomorrowland. They also had to comply with OSHA regulations, which mandated the walkways in case of ride breakdown.
- Disney also replaced the cars from the old 1967 models with something that was based on the actual models from the original EPCOT, the prototype city of tomorrow. Naturally, they recycled much of the cars for a new restaurant/museum hybrid based on forms of transportation along with the Skyway cars, the Monorail, and other vehicles from Disney’s past. [9]
- Imagineers added a new modern version of Progress City in the upper level of the PeopleMover, showing guests what a green future can look like. [10]
- The Monorail Station at Tomorrowland was changed to resemble the new theme, with futuristic signs and lighting.
- The walkways on the ground were changed to resemble a street, further enhancing the urbanized theme of Tomorrowland 2055.
- An entirely new House of the Future attraction was built where the original Monsanto’s House of the Future was initially placed, which illustrated the next steps in technology. However, it primarily focused on renewable energy (solar panels and batteries) alongside new advancements in communication (the Internet is involved in every aspect of the home). [11]
- The Carousel Theater’s exterior was radically altered to fit the theme of the land. To fill in the now empty theater, a new attraction called "Plectu's Fantastic Intergalactic Review." was installed in place, although the context and story are vastly different from the Tokyo Disneyland version, with Plectu being a fictional alien that speculates the possibilities of alien music from across the galaxy (in Tokyo he is a real alien with a different design).
- The Rocket Jets were replaced with a futuristic rocket model, along with the ride vehicles.
- Space Mountain was surprisingly safe from the massive changes of 2055, unlike its older brother (much to the chagrin of Space Mountain purists everywhere). In fact, it’s the only Space Mountain that has kept the simple white Space Age architecture, even though the Magic Kingdom had the first Space Mountain. Disappointing, but it does gleam brightly along with everything in Tomorrowland 2055.
- The Mission to Mars building was torn down and rebuilt with a larger building, to make way for Journey to the Stars (which I wrote about here). [12]
- The CircleVision theater was expanded and included a new film that highlighted different people’s daily lives across the world.
- Star Tours was refurbished to fit with the new Expanded Universe content.
- A new Star Wars Cantina was opened on the second floor to commemorate the new iteration of Star Tours and the release of Episode 1: A Darkness Rising.
- Tomorrowland Terrace was rebuilt to fit with the new theming, which includes a lot of greenery and a change with the murals. Speaking of murals…
- With the new buildings, the murals had to be moved towards the interiors, which is frankly one of the more painful changes Disney has had to make with 2055. I really miss those murals, as they made the whole land pop with vibrant colors. Luckily the company has made some effort in updating them with new paintings from time to time.
- Submarine Voyage was closed shortly before the opening of DisneySea, as there was no longer a need to keep them when there was already a submarine ride at Long Beach. Disney would eventually find a use for the subs in Walt Disney World, but you can find out about that here. [13]
- In its place, Disney would bring in The Lightcycles of Tron from the Magic Kingdom, with an exterior shell reminiscent of postmodernist architecture, hiding the cyberspace world within.
- Autopia was radically changed, with more greenery to reflect the harmonious relationship between humanity and nature. The cars were also changed, with a smooth futuristic exterior and a transition from standard fuel to electric, courtesy of GM, the new sponsor of Autopia. Disney also added fake wind farms (that rotate) and solar panels around the track for the aesthetic. You have no idea how many guests think those props are real. [14]
- The Lightkeepers Parade from the original Tomorrowland 2055 was modified slightly for both Anaheim and Tokyo. Anaheim's TL 2055 received a new "First Contact" parade to replace the Main Street Electrical Parade, where a group of aliens descend onto Earth and engage in a bombastic procession until they meet with the humans and conduct a cultural exchange. Tokyo keeps the Lightkeepers Parade name, but instead of a ship, the ancient aliens emerge from the ruins and parade around the theme park to meet the inhabitants of the spaceport. A more detailed explanation can be seen here.
The new PeopleMover model, inspired by Disney’s old concepts for Lake Buena Vista (Image source: Imagineering Disney)
In the end, people were met with a drastically different Tomorrowland than what it was in 1995.
The 60s architecture was updated with a modern style, applying a greater emphasis on curved lines and a white, silver, and black color palette (as opposed to the more whimsical colors of Tomorrowland 1955). [15] Yet the biggest change to guests was not with the architecture but the overall ambiance itself. With the added greenery, aromas, music, and kinetics thanks to the introduction of the updated PeopleMover, Autopia, the Monorail, and the fake windmills, the whole land felt much more alive and urban. It was a lively and comfortable future to live in, and people really felt that they were transported into a green utopia.
Overall, this entire project would cost around $500 million, and that was just the highest estimate. In fact, it costs more than what it took to upgrade Tomorrowland in the first place back in 1967, adjusted for inflation. Originally, the total cost of the whole project ballooned to nearly a billion dollars, but Disney, afraid of another DisneySea on their hands, decided to downscale the project until they reached a reasonable price for the overhaul. There were numerous negotiations and compromises between the financial executives and Imagineering, but eventually, the company felt the revised plans to be adequate and greenlit Tomorrowland 2055 in 1995.
The Tomorrowland 2055 shirt logo (In reference to this jacket given to Imagineers and Cast Members OTL)
The land would soon open in 1999, to much fanfare and press from the general public. NBC even did a TV special airing the opening of Tomorrowland 2055 featuring Jim Henson making an excellent opening speech, explaining the history of Tomorrowland and later dedicating the new refurb to Walt Disney and his unending optimism about the future. [16] Due to its themes towards renewable energy and presenting a radical outlook on American life (mainly lessening the dependency on car infrastructure and suburbs in favor of denser housing and public transportation), it received widespread attention from urban designers and politicians alike. Many were positive, but others were also quite negative.
Democrats for the most part praised it, with prominent environmentalist Al Gore seeing the land as a beacon that will lead Americans away from the smog-filled and polluted cities of decades past and toward a brighter and more hopeful future. However, it struck a chord with Republicans, mainly far-right figures like Dennis Prager and Newt Gingrich, with them decrying how Walt’s dream of Tomorrowland was twisted by Jim Henson into some kind of “hippie communist dystopia”. In addition, they heavily criticized the acceptance of public transportation within Tomorrowland 2055, believing that the limiting of cars will hinder individual liberties and cause the societal fabric of America to break down as a result (whatever that means…). [17] Jim Henson, for the most part, shrugged off these criticisms, as Tomorrowland was supposed to be a model of the future for Walt, and this new story of humanity’s utopian future is a way to honor him. [18] In fact, he even welcomed the political discussion, since it means people are talking about it and might even want to implement the ideas that 2055 presented, leaving behind an impact that could exceed any known Tomorrowland.
And in fact, it did.
Urban planners and engineers in America were already interested in the same ideas that Tomorrowland 2055 presented, wanting to steer the country away from over-dependence on fossil fuels and cars through the use of more environmentally friendly city design and the introduction of walkable neighborhoods. As a result of the land’s opening, many city designers following the “New Urbanism” movement were both inspired and felt vindicated by Disney’s overwhelming support for their ideas. However, it also taught them that their ambitions could be much more radical as TL 2055’s new EPCOT model and CircleVision exhibit took in ideas from European cities, which were far more accommodating toward pedestrians and public transportation. Disney would soon become interested in developing a plot of land in Florida and many designers flocked to the company to assist with the project. [ 19]
The land left behind a monumental impact, not only on Disney but also on America at large, inspiring new generations of people to care more about the environment and become active within their communities to make cities greener and safer for people. [20] While it slightly steered away from the timelessness of the New Horizons Tomorrowlands, the depiction of it being a utopia on the verge of First Contact (instead of being a prediction for the future) means it will likely avoid the fate of its previous incarnations. In fact, its focus on trying to solve humanity’s problems (instead of being mere escapism) is what sets it apart from the other New Horizons Tomorrowlands. To visitors of Tomorrowland 2055, the future is not only bright, but it is also attainable if people put their efforts towards making our world a safer, healthier, and better place.
A shining new spaceport…in Tokyo?! (Image source: Theme Park Tourist)
Of course, despite the success of the new Tomorrowland, the Imagineers did not leave the original Tomorrowland 2055 idea behind. As they always say, “a good idea never dies in Imagineering”, and they soon found a use for Baxter’s concept in another Disney park, albeit one across the ocean from Anaheim. In Tokyo, the Tomorrowland there was also quite outdated, and the OLC also desired a new concept that would revolutionize the land and transform it into a timeless experience. When they got word about an alien Tomorrowland, they were completely ecstatic, and thanks to the time that Baxter and others spent on the idea, the old concept evolved, turning from a fantastic overhaul of Anaheim’s Tomorrowland into the most visually radical and story-driven Tomorrowland seen so far. [21]
See you next time for the next part with the conclusion of the New Horizons Tomorrowlands saga with the introduction of Tomorrowland Nextworld, a land that is truly out of this world!
[1]: This is another time Tony Baxter has his ideas rejected ITTL, and even then it will get implemented later on in Tokyo. Compared to what happened to him OTL, I’d say that Baxter is going to be much happier working for Disney in the long run.
[2]: Already a better idea than what the Imagineers came up with in 1998 due to budget issues.
[3]: Of course, Triad will not sue Disney for this idea, but I think people will notice the correlation, especially once Starfleet Academy comes out.
[4]: Looking back on how I came up with this idea for an alt-2055, it was explicitly made with Jim Henson in mind. Without him, it’s likely this iteration of Tomorrowland might have never been made since Eisner (in better circumstances) would have approved of the original 2055 outright.
[5]: DisneySea will forever remain a huge learning lesson for Disney Entertainment and Imagineering. Despite its massive success, it also came with a similarly sized price tag to come with it ($5 billion USD, making it the most expensive theme park resort in the world). As with Animal Kingdom, they are understandably afraid to pour so much money into a land as ambitious as Tomorrowland, though they are not penny-pinchers like they were OTL thanks to no Eisner or Pressler.
[6]: Of course, we got to have Syd Mead to help us out right? He was the one that helped design the concept art of Tomorrowland from the 2015 movie. Plus, there’s the added irony that Syd was the one that helped Disney steer away from a cyberpunk land into something much more optimistic. Thank god for that.
[7]: The introduction of the Aye-Ayes are going to be a welcome addition to Imagineering, as they will provide the foreign experience and necessary expertise to design a greener and more pedestrian-friendly Tomorrowland, especially for the new model of EPCOT.
[8]: Yeah, the 2015 Tomorrowland movie is going to be a huge aesthetic influence for Tomorrowland 2055. It’s the only time Disney has created a utopian futuristic design for Tomorrowland and it’s high time we used this obscure movie for something.
I originally had thoughts about making Tomorrowland 2055 a more low-tech setting but decided against it since that would be much harder to pull off.
[9]: The PeopleMover will NOT be going away for Disneyland ITTL but will be modernized with new cars and an overhauled track (that does allow people to walk on the sides). It was an important crux for the land in the 1967 refurb and it will continue to be one for 2055, providing an easy and convenient form of transportation for the expanded land.
As for the restaurant, it was an idea that existed OTL but never came to fruition thanks to the budget cuts, but here, they have all the more reason to use this idea, both as a fun way to show guests about forms of transportation while also providing an easy way to reuse old assets.
(Image source: Yesterworld)
[10]: The Progress City was originally located in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland but was moved to the Magic Kingdom’s PeopleMover. Imagineers reimagined the old model to reflect a more modern depiction of the original EPCOT, with it being much more dense, urban, and full of massive rail networks alongside highways, all the which are connected by solar panels, windmills, and other sources of renewable energy.
[11]: What better way to honor Walt’s old Tomorrowlands than with a new House of the Future?
[12]: Journey to the Stars is a ride where guests explore a set of planets around the Solar System and beyond before they are inevitably contacted by a group of friendly aliens, thus kickstarting First Contact.
[13]: As said earlier, Submarine Voyage is dead since DisneySea’s revamped 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has made it obsolete. It was a long while coming but unlike OTL, Baxter will not protest this decision as Disney has plans to use the vehicles in the future. Regardless, let’s give a moment of silence to this well-beloved attraction.
RIP Submarine Voyage…
(Image source: Yesterland)
[14]: GM being the sponsor is extremely relevant in this case, as they were the first car manufacturer to produce a commercially viable electric car with the EV1. In fact, it was so ridiculously popular that celebrities and the general public flocked to purchase it, but the company soon canceled any future production and took all of the cars produced, crushing them all into dust (due to a perceived perception that electric vehicles were unprofitable).
Thanks to Al Gore’s administration and their ongoing support for environmentalist and clean air policies, companies like BP and GM are forced to make quick transitions towards renewable energy and electric vehicles. This time, GM is likely to stick to the Bolt series (the EV1 ITTL) and is primed to kickstart an American electric/hybrid car revolution once lithium-ion batteries become available (we’ve butterflied Tesla in this case).
In fact, the vehicles at the new Autopia are in fact electric vehicles (unlike OTL, shockingly enough), so there’s no gasoline smell that emanates from the attraction, much to the relief of parents, kids, and park-goers everywhere.
That being said, Jim Henson is probably going to have a Bolt or a similar electric vehicle once this is all over.
Note: Be sure to watch the Climate Town video as well as the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car” for more information about the EV1 (here’s a summary).
[15]: It is very much the polar opposite of 1955 in terms of design aesthetics, but that’s the intention.
[16]: I think Walt Disney would have liked the concept of 2055 (much to the chagrin of conservatives trying to argue against it ITTL) since it appeals to his environmentalist ideas and focuses on the pedestrian. EPCOT, in all of its weird intricacies, had the mantra of “pedestrian is king” throughout its city layout.
Not to mention that the land and the new model of Progress City itself have a crap ton of trains and PeopleMovers. That alone might give Walt his seal of approval.
(Image source: Jim Shull)
[17]: I’ve seen similar criticisms about public transportation and focus on pedestrian/micro-mobility infrastructure from PragerU recently so it would not surprise me if Prager or a handful of Republicans themselves (most of whom are paid off by oil companies) made similar comments in the late 90s.
[18]: In my honest opinion, this iteration of Tomorrowland is the true successor of the 1967 refurb and of EPCOT itself, and I can see Jim seeing 2055 in the same light.
[19]: This happened OTL with Celebration, Florida, albeit much earlier. Eisner was interested in making a town and hired architects/city planners that followed the “New Urbanism” movement in its focus towards walkable neighborhoods, mixed-use zoning, and public transportation. The end result was quite mixed.
Here, Jim Henson and Disney will also be interested in a similar project, but this time they will have knowledge and experience from working with city planners and architects from America, Europe, and other countries. Whether they will be more successful in making a walkable and inclusive town in the middle of Florida remains to be seen, but I am interested in making a guest post about it.
[20]: Solarpunk arrives much earlier than OTL thanks to the existence of Tomorrowland 2055 inspiring so many young artists, engineers, and other creators around the 2000s. Called “Green Futurism” ITTL, the movement is the antithesis of what we know as cyberpunk in its optimistic vision of the future and focuses on sustainability, community, cooperation, and environmentally-friendly practices.
On top of a more radical and experienced “New Urbanism” movement, it does mean that America is likely to make more progress in creating walkable and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods throughout the 21st century.
Ironically enough, Green Futurists will sometimes criticize Tomorrowland 2055 of “greenwashing”, though this critique doesn’t hold water when the land was devised as a utopia (not being realistic in itself) and the ideas associated with Green Futurism didn’t even exist in the first place.
Finally, Tomorrowland 2055 will be seen as a testbed for a number of ideas generated by Disney, such as the introduction of plant-based food items around the 2000s in order to accommodate vegetarians and vegans (in collaboration with companies like Tofutti), culminating in an entirely vegan restaurant located within 2055 around the early 2010s as part of Disney’s plant-based initiative (a similar event happened OTL).
[21]: With the idea of Earth meeting aliens in First Contact taken up by the new 2055, the obvious next step is to turn Tomorrowland into an extraterrestrial spaceport. Nextworld is going to be REALLY fun as it has the OLC’s backing and a much more ambitious Imagineering. Expect it to look awesome just in time for Tokyo DisneySea and TDL’s 20th anniversary.
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Love ya' Blue
How Ann Richards Saved the Houston Oilers and the NFL in Houston
Houston Chronicle, November 17th, 2018
Guest post by Mr. Harris Syed with assistance from @jpj1421 and @ajm8888
Ann Richards is perhaps the most famous Texas Democrat in recent memory to serve as Governor behind only President Lyndon B. Johnson and the first woman to be elected to the most powerful office in the Lone Star State[1]. As Governor, Richards’ most significant accomplishments were auditing every Texas agency, the introduction of the Robin Hood plan to public schools, the creation of a substance abuse program in prisons, appointed Hispanic State Representative Lena Guerrero to the Texas Railroad Commission after selecting Bob Krueger to one of Texas’ Senate seats in Congress and instituted the Texas Lottery. Even before she became Governor, Ann was the State Treasurer of Texas for Mark White and Bill Clements despite belonging to different parties. On the national front, Ann campaigned for disgraced Presidential candidate Gary Hart and President Al Gore in the 1988 and 1992 Democratic Conventions respectively. Richards was also an outspoken supporter of the Silicon Holler of Virginia and Tennessee and third-wave feminism in the wake of the Anita Hill scandal which led to many public figures getting arrested for sexual misconduct from Vince McMahon to Kevin Spacey and Ron Jeremy[2]. Though there is another aspect of Richards that many Texans fondly remember and it’s keeping the NFL’s Houston Oilers from relocating but how did Richards convince owner Bud Adams, Executive Vice President Mike McClure, the city of Houston, and the Texas Legislature to commit to building a new stadium? Like many stories, there is a lot to unpack here.
Throughout 1994, the Oilers were struggling with not just a terrible record of 2-14 due to Adams' post-playoff fire sale after the team failed to go to the Super Bowl last season but the Astrodome was no longer a suitable home for them even with the recent renovations in 1987 to keep the team from moving to Jacksonville since there were a lack of adequate luxury boxes and the once-renowned AstroTurf became increasingly hazardous for football even causing a preseason game with the San Diego Chargers to be cancelled due to safety concerns[3]. Bud Adams wanted a state-of-the-art domed stadium built in downtown Houston that could support not just the Oilers but the MLB’s Astros, the NBA’s Rockets and a potential NHL team supported through property taxes though it would run into some opposition as most Houston voters were opposed to using a property tax to fund a domed stadium while Mayor Bob Lanier was reluctant to provide public funding for this proposed stadium as Houston was recovering from an oil recession in the 1980s and Rockets owner Les Alexander didn’t want to share a facility with a football team[4]. Adams would shift gears to an open-air stadium instead and despite his frustration at the lack of progress on the stadium plan with Lanier’s reluctance to commit to public funding he was confident that he could still get the stadium done and bided much of his time to see if Houston could come around to agree to his proposal. By mid-1995, the Oilers were no closer to getting a new football-only stadium in Houston and most were still reluctant to use public funds to keep the team not to mention that the Texas Legislature rejected a bill that would have created “sports enterprise zones” encouraging sports teams in Texas to built their own stadiums. Adams and McClure would later attend a Chicago NFL owners meeting in May where Adams spoke with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue about beginning exploratory talks with Baltimore or Memphis since neither city had professional football in case if he couldn’t convince Lanier and the city of Houston to fund the new stadium, Tagliabue later told Adams to keep his options open which included Baltimore and Memphis as possible relocation destinations which he was neither for or against[5]. The first option, Baltimore, was a city without an NFL team for more than a decade since the Colts infamously packed their moving vans in the middle of the night to Indianapolis in 1984 and had a Canadian Football League team in the Baltimore CFLers otherwise known as the Baltimore Stallions who would win the Grey Cup against the BC Lions later that year[6]. The other was Memphis which previously lost out to Charlotte and Jacksonville in the 1993 NFL expansion wave along with Baltimore and had the 62,380-seat Liberty Bowl which was occupied by another American-based CFL team the Memphis Mad Dogs. Bud even sent representatives to both cities to watch CFL games between July and October of 1995 to see if they were viable for an NFL team and later met with their respective mayors for potential stadium deals.
When news of Oilers representatives and Adams secretly visiting Baltimore and Memphis leaked to the press through high profile NFL sources in mid-September, there was a firestorm of controversy in Houston with many accusing Adams of stabbing them in the back so he could relocate his team elsewhere. For the 61-year old Texas Governor she was concerned of the Oilers potentially relocating out of state over stadium woes with the city of Houston. Richards, like so many Texans, knew the Oilers ever since their inception in the American Football League in 1960 and was a football fan who previously attended a 1992 game at the Astrodome seated next to the podium where her joyous laughter was heard from the speakers[7]. Richards was familiar with the Oilers prior threats to leave Houston and fleecing the city for the Astrodome renovations when she was the State Treasurer[8]. However, Richards’ passion for football coupled with recent electoral success made her interested in keeping the Oilers in Houston with the Astrodome no longer a suitable place for the team to play and the team’s recently stalled stadium efforts. In her office, Ann made it clear that she would not let the Oilers franchise leave Houston and was committed to solving their stadium issue according to a former staffer who had a conversation with Richards in December.
“Your Excellency?” the staffer asked
“Yes?” said Richards
“Bud is threatening to move the Oilers to Baltimore or Memphis and the city of Houston doesn't know what to do next”.
“I know, I always read the morning paper”.
“How are going to handle the issue of the Oilers potential relocation since Houston isn’t doing anything to keep the team?”
“M’am, I’m just like many Texans and I love football. I beat out the GOP in the gubernatorial election of ‘94 and do you think I would go down so easily. I’m going to do everything I can to ensure that the Oilers are in Houston”. declared Richards.
Richards understood that to get the Oilers organization interested she had to speak with Bud Adams as she knew that support from the most powerful official in the state of Texas would be instrumental in preventing relocation. In January of 1996, Richards at her desk decided that she would do a phone call meeting with Adams next year in spring to gauge his interest in keeping the Oilers in their birth city. In mid-March, six months before the start of the NFL preseason, Richards would make the first call to the Oilers headquarters and main office with a team representative picking up the phone to hold the call before giving the phone to Adams. Adams, who was now strongly considering Memphis, was surprised to get a call from the Governor of Texas and proceeded to have a conversation with her. Richards told Adams that she would be interested in getting a new stadium built for Houston and was willing to lend her support to the proposal. Ann advised Bud to consider options in Houston and hold off on relocation to another city. According to Adams in a 2005 interview with the Chronicle, “Ann was adamant that she would help me build a new stadium in Houston through all possible means”. Near the end of their conversation, Ann told Bud that she would be interested in a formal meeting at some point, Bud said yes to Ann’s proposal. To Adams, this was a sigh of relief as he was pleased that the Governor of Texas lent her support since it gave him much needed political capital for the Houston stadium after failing to gain support from local politicians and sports owners. He was hopeful that an endorsement from Richards would help the Oilers stay in Houston and avoid relocation, especially given the public relations nightmare with the city and the local fanbase over his apparent interest in Baltimore and Memphis as potential new homes for the team. Furthermore, Adams was aware that the Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring moved some of the team’s office equipment and athletic gear to Baltimore for a potential relocation only for much controversy to ensue within the city of Seattle and King County with promises of potential lawsuits after announcing the ultimately unsuccessful move in December of last year which was something that he wanted to avoid[9]. Adams would then tell McClure that the Governor was interested in getting a football-only stadium built in Houston recommending that they would speak with her and the Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock. Two weeks later, Adams called Richards and Bullock to discuss the details of the Oilers’ stadium proposal.. While he initially favored open-air stadium proposal Ann convinced him to embrace a retractable stadium instead because of the hot climate of Texas though Ann and Bud agreed that the new stadium should be able to host the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, college football, high school football, concerts and other events in the near future complete with natural turf, luxury suites and personal seat licenses. Richards and Bullock would ensure Adams that they would muster enough support to secure funding and the backing of not just Houston but the state of Texas. Adams was then informed by Richards that she and Bullock were looking forward to more meetings in the near future. Four days later on March 22, Richards and Bullock would make a call to Houston Mayor Bob Lanier about potential cooperation on a new Oilers stadium downtown with state funding. Lanier, who was unwilling to commit public funds to build Adams’ domed stadium, was more open to Richards’ proposal since it meant that Houston wouldn’t be solely burdened with ponying up public money as there would be support from the state. Lanier told Richards and Bullock that he was pleased with their support and said that he would meet with Adams and Oilers representatives. Adams was then informed by Lanier and Houston officials in a phone message on March 27 that they were interested in a meeting on the future of the team in the next two months. This news pleased Bud as Lanier and his government were finally willing to come to the table for a new stadium as long as it was favorable to the Oilers and sent a response message to the mayor the next day that he was ready for the planned meeting.
“When Lanier told Bud about Houston’s willingness to solve the stadium issue with the Oilers, he was extremely ecstatic in his message after we had conversations with Richards and Bullock” said McClure.
In late April, Adams told Commissioner Tagliabue and the other owners of the recent phone calls with Governor Richards over a potential new stadium in Houston and the forthcoming meeting which was only three weeks away[10]. The reaction from Tagliabue and the other NFL owners was one of encouragement as they wanted the Oilers franchise to get a good deal from Houston. In May of 1996, Adams along with McClure would meet Richards, Bullock, Lanier and Houston officials at the Oilers’ headquarters on how to feasibly get a football-only stadium built. All four parties agreed that it should be built downtown with the lion's share of public funds coming from the state to cover the tab with Houston providing a decent but smaller share relative to the state and the Oilers providing considerable financial backing. The meeting ended with all parties on good terms and Adams went into the 1996 season with high hopes of getting the stadium built. Although the meeting was intended to be a closely guarded secret, the Chronicle and other newspapers made sure that it would be leaked to the public through sources within the Houston city government with headlines such as “Adams, Lanier, Houston Officials, Richards and Bullock Discuss New Stadium in Special Meeting” or “Adams Meets Richards and Lanier For Potential Stadium Deal”. The reaction among most Houston residents was one of cautious hope and skepticism as some particularly Oilers fans were relieved to see Adams working with not just Lanier but Richards and was seemingly committed to keeping the team in Harris County though others particularly opponents of taxpayer-funded stadiums saw Adams turning to the Governor as mere desperation after failing to persuade Houstonians to finance his dream stadium. For Adams, the cat was out of the bag and he couldn’t keep this a secret any longer as he did with the visits to Baltimore and Memphis so he sent Mike McClure to confirm the existence of the meeting in interviews with Houston press though he declined to provide details of the yet-to-be-announced stadium proposal. For Richards, the Texas Legislature had plenty of questions concerning the OIlers’ stadium proposal particularly the Republican Senate and the race to save the team was now a political game for the Democrats.
With some strong political capital from the state and the city, Adams got to work on sketching out the details of the new stadium as early as June. He would hire ROK Sport to plan the design and capacity given their experience constructing the Jacksonville Jaguars’ home Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. For the site, downtown Houston was already in Adams’ mind for the previous proposals so this was retained in the new proposal. The new stadium would have everything the Oilers wanted: A capacity of 70,000 (expandable to 75,000), a retractable roof, 52,000 personal seat licenses, 167 luxury suites, skyboxes and capable of hosting multiple big events. Adams would then meet with Richards, Bullock and Lanier again in September of 1996 for the stadium and Adams confirmed that ROK was preparing a downtown proposal to be announced at a later date. It was hands on deck for Adams and the Oilers as they were finally making progress on a new stadium. Adams knew of the Rams’ near-relocation to St. Louis which was averted by the intervention of two powerful figures: Former Disney CEO Ron Miller and then-Acting Chairman Jim Henson. Adams saw Richards and Lanier as the Miller and Henson of Houston responsible for keeping the team in the city and providing the necessary assistance to prevent relocation to Baltimore or Memphis. Nonetheless, Adams knew that if his proposal failed in the Texas Legislature he would turn to relocation as “Plan B”. Throughout the 1996 season, Adams and the Oilers were the topic of much discussion within the NFL and national news outlets with many curious as to whether or not Texas would be willing to provide enough money to fund a new football-only stadium in Houston even with the team ending up with a slightly improved 9-7 record under new head coach Mike Munchak thanks to a rejuvenated offense though they lost in the AFC Wild Card Game against the Buffalo Bills[11]. After the season, Adams announced that he would be officially seeking help from the Texas Legislature in getting a new downtown stadium for Houston with the backing of Governor Richards, Lieutenant Governor Bullock and Mayor Lanier to the surprise of no one as the details of their last meeting were public knowledge. The Oilers fanbase was enthusiastic about Adams’ commitment to finding a solution to their stadium woes with the support of the most powerful woman in Texas no less while Baltimore and Memphis felt cheated as Adams was seemingly courteous and eager to bring the NFL only to go back to Houston and keep his team there.
In March of 1997, Adams would finally reveal the full proposal for a new stadium in Houston at a press conference near Houston City Hall with Lanier, Richards, Bullock, McClure, team representatives and a crowd of a hundred Houstonians in attendance. The stadium would contain all the amenities that Adams had planned with $185 million in private funds from the Oilers and $227 million in public funds which would come from the state of Texas and city of Houston respectively through tax increases on hotels, motels and car rentals[12]. The ball was now in the Texas Legislature’s court as they would have to determine whether to approve the new Houston Oilers stadium or not. With Houston unable to cover the cost of the stadium on their own, there would have to be some level of state funding to match. A stand alone piece of legislation would likely fail to garner support, but if the funding could be added to the state budget and survive the amendment process it could be allocated by the government. This was the strategy pursued by Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson in getting the MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers a new stadium[13]. To succeed at a similar strategy, Richards would have to navigate a divided Texas Legislature with a special stadium bill. The Democratic-controlled Assembly was inclined to back Richards’ agenda while the Republican-controlled Senate was reluctant to approve any sort of tax increase or spending plan, especially at the insistence of a Democratic Governor. Moreover, Richards had a forthcoming gubernatorial election next year[14] which made the Oilers stadium proposal a crucial task as she wanted to get it ready for construction by then especially with Bob Lanier eventually vacating his position as mayor of Houston for his successor who would be former police chief Lee P. Brown. The solution for Richards was to call a special legislative session to vote on a funding package for a football stadium in Houston no later than October. The Oilers were not the only Houston team demanding state assistance as the Astros wanted a new ballpark to replace the Astrodome and the Rockets were pushing for a new arena that would not just host them but an NHL team since The Summit was deemed inadequate for hockey[15], both teams closely observed the special session to see if they could receive a similar deal. In the meantime, Adams would host rallies with Oilers fans in Houston and Austin to get the stadium passed in the state legislature before or during the first month of the 1997 season. In early October, Richards called a special session in the Texas Legislature to approve a new stadium bill which would allocate money for a new, state-of-the-art football facility for the Oilers in downtown Houston. Emotions ran high as many within the NFL and professional football had their eyes on Texas to see if they would be willing to finance a new home for the Oilers. The stadium legislative session lasted from October 15th to October 22th in which Democrats and Republicans had debates over Richards’ bill. Unsurprisingly, the bill was approved in the Assembly with most Democrats voting “yea” but faced some stiff opposition in the Senate from Republicans though there was support from some members of the GOP that crossed partisan lines thanks to their love of football like their Democratic counterparts. The Republican majority in the 31 seat State Senate was just 17 to 14. That meant Richards had to convince several Republicans to flip in favor of the bill. The easiest ones to flip were GOP senators from the Houston area as they were generally familiar with the Oilers and didn’t want to see the team leave the city. The support of the bill from Houston Republican state senators got Richards some important votes though most senators from the area were Democrats which was good news for the bill as most were already supportive of their governor’s proposal. How Richards, Bullock, and most Democratic state senators were able to persuade more Republicans and some Democratic skeptics to vote for a new stadium was simply asking a set of questions and responses: Did they want to lose an NFL team like Baltimore had in the 1980s with the Colts? And if the Oilers left, who else would follow? The Astros were likely to follow if the Oilers left , which wasn’t without merit as the team considered moving to Buffalo in 1995 only to drop the idea[16] and potentially even the Rockets if nothing was done to provide funding for the appropriate venues for all three soon to be four teams. In simple political terms, any Republican or Democrat voting against the bill would have been the senator who voted against the Astros. And if other teams left, what would that do to Houston’s economy? Houston was the largest city in Texas, if it lost its sports teams what economic message would that send to the rest of the state? It could mean investment drying up and create a poor reputation of Houston to professional sports leagues since they would be unwilling to relocate or add a new team to the area.On the last day of the special legislative session, the final vote tally in the Senate would be 22-9[17]. Most of the “yea” votes came from Houston area Republicans and Democrats as well as Democrats from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the northern or western parts of Texas, the latter due to their support of Richards and Bullock on many social issues. The majority of the “nay” votes came from Republicans who were unsurprisingly either around Dallas-Fort Worth and other parts of the state where support for the Oilers was far less frequent. The bill would be sent to Governor Richards who would sign it into law thus the proposal would finally come to fruition with support from not just Houston but the state of Texas. The news of the bill’s approval pleased Adams and the Oilers as they were finally getting a new, shiny state-of-the-art stadium ready for construction by the new millennium. The stadium bill’s passing put a rest to the possibility of an Oilers relocation to Baltimore or Memphis with Adams making it clear that the team was here to stay after the end of the legislative session. In the NFL Network documentary A Football Legacy: The Story of the Houston Oilers Bud said that reaching out to Richards “was the best thing I ever did for the Oilers because I could get support from the people in Austin and not just simply rely too much on Houston as I did before”
With the Oilers staying put in Houston, Richards was able to accomplish an important task in office as she got a new stadium built for one of the oldest professional football teams in Texas before she would run for re-election against the GOP in ‘98. Richards would later attend the groundbreaking ceremony of what became known as CenterPoint Stadium[18] with Adams, Brown, Bullock, McClure, Lanier, team representatives, former players, local officials and celebrities in November of 1998[19]. CenterPoint Stadium would be completed in August of 2001 just before the start of the regular season. The passing of the Oilers stadium proposal would inspire the Astros, the Rockets and the Roughnecks (formerly the Edmonton Oilers)[20] to create similar proposals with funding from Houston and the state of Texas leading to the construction of BMC Park at Union Station and Honda Arena respectively with both venues opened to the public in 2003 and 2002 respectively[21]. Nowadays, Houston is one of the few cities with teams from all five major sports in North America and we can enjoy the sight of football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer in this great city[22]. As for Baltimore and Memphis, both cities would compete to earn the honor of the NFL’s 32nd term for the purposes of balancing out the league after the original Cleveland Browns became the St. Louis Stallions and the establishment of the new Browns franchise in 1999[23] with the former winning out due to having a successful CFL team, a long NFL history and a viable stadium plan from Allegis Group chairman Steve Bisciotti[24]. This expansion team would be called the Baltimore Marauders[25] and begin play in 2002, the same year that Honda Arena opened.
For Oilers fans enjoying CenterPoint Stadium, you can thank Ann Richards for saving Houston’s team. Without her, we might as well hear commentators announce the Tennessee Oilers[26].
[1] Recall in the Election ‘94 Live Coverage post that Richards was re-elected in a competitive race against Republican Jack Field and Reformer Keary Ehlers. Richards will be able to enact some of her policies though not without some opposition by the GOP and Reform respectively.
[2] To clarify on one of the footnotes for the Kandi review of Movies 1996 by co-writers Harris Syed and @Plateosaurus, Jeremy was caught molesting an 18-year old woman in March 1993 which led to his arrest and inspired the movie’s development along with other Anita Hill-related cases. There’s also a retcon by one of the authors in that the journalist character played by Jodie Foster is named Alexandra "Allie" Ross but otherwise the rest of the review remains canonical to the timeline. Additionally, there are a few tidbits that were not elaborated in the review that Mr. Syed would like to add such as receiving nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci, Best (Leading) Actor for Danny DeVito, Best Picture and Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (the old name for Best Original Screenplay) at the 69th Academy Awards.
[3] Both events would occur in OTL and TTL. Given that the Astrodome was aging and becoming rather obsolete, this is somsething that is unavoidable and couldn’t be butterflied.
[4] In OTL, Adams shifted gears to an open-air football stadium after Houston and it’s sport teams rejected the idea as noted in a 1994 UPI News article.
[5] Adams considered Baltimore along with Los Angeles as possible relocation options only for Tagliabue to tell him that these cities were considered for expansion or relocation opportunities and to consider other cities instead which led to Adams speaking with McClure and Nashville was eventually brought up as a viable relocation spot according to the 1996 Nashville Scene article “In the Huddle” and 2001’s Horse Trading and Consensus Building: Nashville, Tennessee and the Relocation of the Oilers. Here since Los Angeles didn’t lose the Rams to St. Louis, Memphis is Adams’ other option and Tagliabue doesn’t discourage him from considering that city or Baltimore since the former is much smaller than LA. The fact that Memphis is in Tennessee means that McClure doesn’t give Adams the idea to move the team to Nashville.
[6] For those unfamiliar with the next reference to CFL teams in America from the previous post, this was part of an effort by the league in the 1990s to make Canadian football popular for their southern neighbors which included adding new teams in Las Vegas, Sacramento, Shreveport and Baltimore of course with some of the existing teams moving to San Antonio and Birmingham respectively. The entire thing was a failure due to tensions between the American and Canadian teams, the marketing, no nationwide network contract, competition with local American football teams and the fact that most Americans weren’t interested in a game that was different from their homegrown game. The Stallions were by far the most successful American CFL team with a strong fanbase and a Grey Cup to boot though they were eventually run out and relocated to Montreal to become the new Alouettes after the original Cleveland Browns announced their move to Baltimore for the 1996 NFL season.
[7] The events above are actually real in OTL and TTL as noted in Ann Richards’ 2012 biography Let the People In. Richards is already familiar with the team and given the schedule, we couldn’t completely butterfly it what with the NFL’s scheduling.
[8] As per OTL.
[9] Behring did this with Los Angeles when the Rams and Raiders left the city in our world and already publicly announced such a move to Seattle area officials. Of course, since the Rams didn’t leave the Los Angeles area in TTL this meant that Behring eyed Baltimore as a possible destination and inspired by the Oilers sending representatives to the city though he wanted to beat that team to the punch only to be stopped by the NFL who fined Behring for attempting to pull off an unauthorized move and potential lawsuits filed by King County. Eventually, Behring would later sell his team to Paul Allen who helped get Alaska Airlines Field built. This is also something that kept the Seahawks from relocating since Behring’s antics were already public whereas the Mariners’ announcement of selling the team from Nintendo wasn’t immediately thought of as relocation by most Seattle residents until it was too little, too late since Nintendo initially considered local investors and businessmen but received offers from Vancouver, Nashville and especially Buffalo the latter of which already had an MLB-ready stadium and a solid ownership group coupled with the fact that Nintendo just wants to get out of the baseball business and selling to anyone even outside of Seattle is seen as a good thing.
[10] This is the same April 30 meeting in which the NFL owners voted to allow the Oilers to move to Nashville in our world but here Adams merely speaks with Tagliabue and the other owners about Houston since he is not planning relocation immediately.
[11] In OTL, the Houston Oilers hired Jeff Fisher to replace Jack Pardee for the last six games of the season and eventually stayed with the team even after they became the Tennessee Titans until 2011 where he would leave to join the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams but was let go due to his unsuccessful tenure. Here, Fisher remains with the San Francisco 49ers due to some first and second order butterflies affecting the NFL therefore Munchak becomes the new head coach of the Oilers given his history with the team.
[12] The total cast is $415 million which is before the average costs of NFL stadiums rose to $1 billion or more.
[13] Bud Selig wanted a new stadium for the Brewers that was farther away from the center of Milwaukee to accommodate a large parking lot and attract more suburban fans. Mayor John O. Norquist of Milwaukee was willing to help fund a new stadium if it was instead downtown. Selig dug in his heels and went directly to the Wisconsin Legislature to secure the funding and by a margin of one vote what became American Family Field (formerly known as Miller Park). ITTL given Selig’s not Commissioner and slight changes to national politics, Norquist ends up getting his way because Selig folds rather than briefly consider moving the team.
[14] Since Bush is MLB Commissioner, the Texas Republicans select a different candidate to go up against Ann Richards. Who is that Republican candidate? Stay tuned.
[15] Recall in the It’s a Bush League after all post that the Edmonton Oilers moved to Houston and became the Houston Roughnecks under Rockets owner Leslie Alexander.
[16] This is similar to OTL when the Astros considered moving to Washington but unlike the Oilers they chose not to and got the necessary political capital to stay in the city. ITTL, since Abe Pollin would submit a (successful) bid to acquire an expansion team for Washington DC it is off the table and the Astros would consider Buffalo but realized that they didn't have the support of the other MLB teams just like OTL. This would also have an effect on Ann Richards as she had more of an incentive to keep Houston’s sports teams especially after reports of Adams and team representatives visiting Baltimore and Memphis respectively along with her re-election. Moreover, since the Oilers didn’t announce that they were relocating to Nashville, the Astros didn't expedite a new ballpark in downtown Houston for 1996.
[17] From @ajm888 and Mr. Harris Syed: The stadium vote is based off research and looking at political redistricting maps for the Texas State Senate from 1996-2000. It is assumed most members of the State Senate are similar to OTL with some differences given the political climate under the Gore administration.
[18] A TTL analogue of sorts to NRG Stadium in design and oil company sponsor though it’s located in downtown Houston instead of being adjacent to the Astrodome.
[19] Among the Houston celebrities present to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of CenterPoint Stadium include actors such as the Quaid brothers (Dennis and Randy), Patrick Swayze, Jaclyn Smith and Phylicia Rashad and singers Kenny Rogers, Billy Gibbons and Michael Nesmith. For former Oilers players, you have George Blanda (Kicker), Earl Campbell (Running back), Robert Brazile (Linebacker) and Elvin Bethea (Defensive end).
[20] In the case of Peter Pocklington having a different asking price to (unsuccessfully) keep the Edmonton Oilers, butterflies affect nearly everything in the Hensonverse whether they’re logical or not and sports leagues are no exception as the records, ownership, draft picks, trades and champions are going to be very different such as the NFL’s Rams staying in Los Angeles due to former player turned Disney CEO Ron Miller’s interest in sports or Abe Pollin joining in the DC Baseball Commission thanks to receiving an invitation from an original-to-TTL official approaching him for the 1993 bid which sparked his interest in getting a baseball team for DC by the 1999 season. As such, it’s just as likely for Pocklington to make a different decision on the asking price with over seventeen years worth of butterflies. Moreover, the Oilers didn’t draft Ryan Smyth and Joseph Curtis since they ended up with different teams nor did they trade for Doug Weight or re-acquire Kevin Lowe due to him re-signing with the Rangers instead resulting in a 5th place performance in the 1997-98 season which muted enthusiasm for the team similar to what happened with the Seattle Mariners when they didn’t get Ken Griffey Jr and thus led to the Edmonton Investment Group not raising enough money to keep the team in the city. When the Edmonton Oilers were eventually sold to Leslie Alexander and announced to relocate to Houston for 1998-99, the NHL initially blocked them from using The Summit since they deemed unsuitable even as a temporary venue but with abysmal attendance in Edmonton over the move the league decided to reluctantly allow the former Oilers/Roughnecks to use it starting with the 1999-2000 season with the team adapting a logo and uniform set based on the Texas state flag similar to OTL’s Houston Texans.
[21] The TTL names for The Ballpark at Union Station/Minute Maid Park and Toyota Center respectively. Essentially, the Astros were the first to seek a new ballpark with explatory talks and negotiations with the city of Houston and the state of Texas in June 1998 with a special session also in October approving the new ballpark and construction would last up until 2003. In the case of the Rockets and Roughnecks, they started negotiations with the city in early 1999 with an agreement for another special session in November after several months and the arena would be completed in 2002 since arenas cost and take less time to build. Keep in mind that these teams would want to get their new venues built as soon as possible and expedited proposals aren’t entirely unheard of in sports as even OTL’s Minute Maid Park and Toyota Center can attest though the Hensonverse equivalent of these venues were completed in different dates since the Oilers didn’t relocate to Nashville after the 1996 season or cut a stadium deal with Nashville the year prior.
[22] In the case of the MLS, the original San Jose Earthquakes didn’t relocate to Houston because Bud Adams would found an expansion team known as the Houston Wranglers in 2007 along with the Toronto Northmen FC (TTL’s Toronto FC). The Wranglers’ branding and color scheme is similar to the Oilers right down to CenterPoint Stadium as their home venue.
[23] On the topic of the Browns, we’re going to elaborate on how the original team became the Stallions in 1996. Basically, Browns minority owner Al Lerner tells Art Modell to look into St. Louis as a new home for the Browns in late March upon hearing of the Rams tentative deal with Disney though he is still considering Baltimore at this point since the team previously spoke with Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) director John Moag. When the Rams would finalize their deal with Disney in May, Lerner would push Modell to go for St. Louis instead of Baltimore due to the former city already having an NFL-caliber facility in The Dome at America’s Center/Trans World Dome. Modell eventually decides to go with St. Louis over Baltimore and sends Lerner to speak with officials from the St. Louis Regional Stadium Authority (STLRSA), local businessmen James Orthwein and Stan Kroenke about potential relocation in late June two weeks after the Rams-Disney deal was approved by most of Disney’s shareholders. However, Modell only sent Lerner to speak with the STLRSA, Orthwein and Kroenke only if he was serious about relocation. That said, Lerner is permitted to meet with the STRSA, Orthwein and Kroenke in mid-August and the Browns negotiate with the Gateway City until October when Modell was given a memorandum of understanding from Lerner in which the team would play at St. Louis’ Trans World Dome for twenty years with Orthwein and Kroneke having 5% stakes in the team. Modell is convinced by Lerner to accept the deal on the basis that the city was hungry for NFL football and he would welcomed as a hero. Modell would eventually announce that the Browns would move to St. Louis for the 1996 season after a December 3rd game against the San Diego Chargers to the outrage of many residents of Cleveland with the city even filing a lawsuit against him and the STLRSA. Eventually, the NFL came to an agreement with Modell that he would take the roster and staff of the original Browns for a new expansion team known as the St. Louis Stallions in March of 1996 while the records and name of the Browns would remain in Cleveland for a new team to start operations three years later.
[24] Bisciotti was the owner of OTL’s Baltimore Ravens and bought the team from Art Modell in 2000. Bisciotti in the Hensonverse gets an NFL expansion team for Baltimore as the original Browns ended up in St. Louis.
[25] The Baltimore Marauders are TTL's Houston Texans in that they are an expansion team based in a city that didn’t have NFL football for a while after a previous team left for greener pastures (Colts/Oilers). Their name was also one of the possible options for the Baltimore NFL team before Ravens was chosen. Since the Baltimore bid is very different from the original Browns moving to Baltimore, Marauders is picked as the team’s name instead. The Marauders begin play at the newly built Marauders Stadium at Camden Yards which was completed in 2002 much like CenterPoint Stadium and it’s adjacent to Oriole Park.
[26] A little Allohistorical Allusion to the fact that the Oilers kept the name when they played in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee from 1997-1998 before rebranding themselves as the Titans in OTL.
Houston Chronicle, November 17th, 2018
Guest post by Mr. Harris Syed with assistance from @jpj1421 and @ajm8888
Ann Richards is perhaps the most famous Texas Democrat in recent memory to serve as Governor behind only President Lyndon B. Johnson and the first woman to be elected to the most powerful office in the Lone Star State[1]. As Governor, Richards’ most significant accomplishments were auditing every Texas agency, the introduction of the Robin Hood plan to public schools, the creation of a substance abuse program in prisons, appointed Hispanic State Representative Lena Guerrero to the Texas Railroad Commission after selecting Bob Krueger to one of Texas’ Senate seats in Congress and instituted the Texas Lottery. Even before she became Governor, Ann was the State Treasurer of Texas for Mark White and Bill Clements despite belonging to different parties. On the national front, Ann campaigned for disgraced Presidential candidate Gary Hart and President Al Gore in the 1988 and 1992 Democratic Conventions respectively. Richards was also an outspoken supporter of the Silicon Holler of Virginia and Tennessee and third-wave feminism in the wake of the Anita Hill scandal which led to many public figures getting arrested for sexual misconduct from Vince McMahon to Kevin Spacey and Ron Jeremy[2]. Though there is another aspect of Richards that many Texans fondly remember and it’s keeping the NFL’s Houston Oilers from relocating but how did Richards convince owner Bud Adams, Executive Vice President Mike McClure, the city of Houston, and the Texas Legislature to commit to building a new stadium? Like many stories, there is a lot to unpack here.
Throughout 1994, the Oilers were struggling with not just a terrible record of 2-14 due to Adams' post-playoff fire sale after the team failed to go to the Super Bowl last season but the Astrodome was no longer a suitable home for them even with the recent renovations in 1987 to keep the team from moving to Jacksonville since there were a lack of adequate luxury boxes and the once-renowned AstroTurf became increasingly hazardous for football even causing a preseason game with the San Diego Chargers to be cancelled due to safety concerns[3]. Bud Adams wanted a state-of-the-art domed stadium built in downtown Houston that could support not just the Oilers but the MLB’s Astros, the NBA’s Rockets and a potential NHL team supported through property taxes though it would run into some opposition as most Houston voters were opposed to using a property tax to fund a domed stadium while Mayor Bob Lanier was reluctant to provide public funding for this proposed stadium as Houston was recovering from an oil recession in the 1980s and Rockets owner Les Alexander didn’t want to share a facility with a football team[4]. Adams would shift gears to an open-air stadium instead and despite his frustration at the lack of progress on the stadium plan with Lanier’s reluctance to commit to public funding he was confident that he could still get the stadium done and bided much of his time to see if Houston could come around to agree to his proposal. By mid-1995, the Oilers were no closer to getting a new football-only stadium in Houston and most were still reluctant to use public funds to keep the team not to mention that the Texas Legislature rejected a bill that would have created “sports enterprise zones” encouraging sports teams in Texas to built their own stadiums. Adams and McClure would later attend a Chicago NFL owners meeting in May where Adams spoke with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue about beginning exploratory talks with Baltimore or Memphis since neither city had professional football in case if he couldn’t convince Lanier and the city of Houston to fund the new stadium, Tagliabue later told Adams to keep his options open which included Baltimore and Memphis as possible relocation destinations which he was neither for or against[5]. The first option, Baltimore, was a city without an NFL team for more than a decade since the Colts infamously packed their moving vans in the middle of the night to Indianapolis in 1984 and had a Canadian Football League team in the Baltimore CFLers otherwise known as the Baltimore Stallions who would win the Grey Cup against the BC Lions later that year[6]. The other was Memphis which previously lost out to Charlotte and Jacksonville in the 1993 NFL expansion wave along with Baltimore and had the 62,380-seat Liberty Bowl which was occupied by another American-based CFL team the Memphis Mad Dogs. Bud even sent representatives to both cities to watch CFL games between July and October of 1995 to see if they were viable for an NFL team and later met with their respective mayors for potential stadium deals.
When news of Oilers representatives and Adams secretly visiting Baltimore and Memphis leaked to the press through high profile NFL sources in mid-September, there was a firestorm of controversy in Houston with many accusing Adams of stabbing them in the back so he could relocate his team elsewhere. For the 61-year old Texas Governor she was concerned of the Oilers potentially relocating out of state over stadium woes with the city of Houston. Richards, like so many Texans, knew the Oilers ever since their inception in the American Football League in 1960 and was a football fan who previously attended a 1992 game at the Astrodome seated next to the podium where her joyous laughter was heard from the speakers[7]. Richards was familiar with the Oilers prior threats to leave Houston and fleecing the city for the Astrodome renovations when she was the State Treasurer[8]. However, Richards’ passion for football coupled with recent electoral success made her interested in keeping the Oilers in Houston with the Astrodome no longer a suitable place for the team to play and the team’s recently stalled stadium efforts. In her office, Ann made it clear that she would not let the Oilers franchise leave Houston and was committed to solving their stadium issue according to a former staffer who had a conversation with Richards in December.
“Your Excellency?” the staffer asked
“Yes?” said Richards
“Bud is threatening to move the Oilers to Baltimore or Memphis and the city of Houston doesn't know what to do next”.
“I know, I always read the morning paper”.
“How are going to handle the issue of the Oilers potential relocation since Houston isn’t doing anything to keep the team?”
“M’am, I’m just like many Texans and I love football. I beat out the GOP in the gubernatorial election of ‘94 and do you think I would go down so easily. I’m going to do everything I can to ensure that the Oilers are in Houston”. declared Richards.
Richards understood that to get the Oilers organization interested she had to speak with Bud Adams as she knew that support from the most powerful official in the state of Texas would be instrumental in preventing relocation. In January of 1996, Richards at her desk decided that she would do a phone call meeting with Adams next year in spring to gauge his interest in keeping the Oilers in their birth city. In mid-March, six months before the start of the NFL preseason, Richards would make the first call to the Oilers headquarters and main office with a team representative picking up the phone to hold the call before giving the phone to Adams. Adams, who was now strongly considering Memphis, was surprised to get a call from the Governor of Texas and proceeded to have a conversation with her. Richards told Adams that she would be interested in getting a new stadium built for Houston and was willing to lend her support to the proposal. Ann advised Bud to consider options in Houston and hold off on relocation to another city. According to Adams in a 2005 interview with the Chronicle, “Ann was adamant that she would help me build a new stadium in Houston through all possible means”. Near the end of their conversation, Ann told Bud that she would be interested in a formal meeting at some point, Bud said yes to Ann’s proposal. To Adams, this was a sigh of relief as he was pleased that the Governor of Texas lent her support since it gave him much needed political capital for the Houston stadium after failing to gain support from local politicians and sports owners. He was hopeful that an endorsement from Richards would help the Oilers stay in Houston and avoid relocation, especially given the public relations nightmare with the city and the local fanbase over his apparent interest in Baltimore and Memphis as potential new homes for the team. Furthermore, Adams was aware that the Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring moved some of the team’s office equipment and athletic gear to Baltimore for a potential relocation only for much controversy to ensue within the city of Seattle and King County with promises of potential lawsuits after announcing the ultimately unsuccessful move in December of last year which was something that he wanted to avoid[9]. Adams would then tell McClure that the Governor was interested in getting a football-only stadium built in Houston recommending that they would speak with her and the Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock. Two weeks later, Adams called Richards and Bullock to discuss the details of the Oilers’ stadium proposal.. While he initially favored open-air stadium proposal Ann convinced him to embrace a retractable stadium instead because of the hot climate of Texas though Ann and Bud agreed that the new stadium should be able to host the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, college football, high school football, concerts and other events in the near future complete with natural turf, luxury suites and personal seat licenses. Richards and Bullock would ensure Adams that they would muster enough support to secure funding and the backing of not just Houston but the state of Texas. Adams was then informed by Richards that she and Bullock were looking forward to more meetings in the near future. Four days later on March 22, Richards and Bullock would make a call to Houston Mayor Bob Lanier about potential cooperation on a new Oilers stadium downtown with state funding. Lanier, who was unwilling to commit public funds to build Adams’ domed stadium, was more open to Richards’ proposal since it meant that Houston wouldn’t be solely burdened with ponying up public money as there would be support from the state. Lanier told Richards and Bullock that he was pleased with their support and said that he would meet with Adams and Oilers representatives. Adams was then informed by Lanier and Houston officials in a phone message on March 27 that they were interested in a meeting on the future of the team in the next two months. This news pleased Bud as Lanier and his government were finally willing to come to the table for a new stadium as long as it was favorable to the Oilers and sent a response message to the mayor the next day that he was ready for the planned meeting.
“When Lanier told Bud about Houston’s willingness to solve the stadium issue with the Oilers, he was extremely ecstatic in his message after we had conversations with Richards and Bullock” said McClure.
In late April, Adams told Commissioner Tagliabue and the other owners of the recent phone calls with Governor Richards over a potential new stadium in Houston and the forthcoming meeting which was only three weeks away[10]. The reaction from Tagliabue and the other NFL owners was one of encouragement as they wanted the Oilers franchise to get a good deal from Houston. In May of 1996, Adams along with McClure would meet Richards, Bullock, Lanier and Houston officials at the Oilers’ headquarters on how to feasibly get a football-only stadium built. All four parties agreed that it should be built downtown with the lion's share of public funds coming from the state to cover the tab with Houston providing a decent but smaller share relative to the state and the Oilers providing considerable financial backing. The meeting ended with all parties on good terms and Adams went into the 1996 season with high hopes of getting the stadium built. Although the meeting was intended to be a closely guarded secret, the Chronicle and other newspapers made sure that it would be leaked to the public through sources within the Houston city government with headlines such as “Adams, Lanier, Houston Officials, Richards and Bullock Discuss New Stadium in Special Meeting” or “Adams Meets Richards and Lanier For Potential Stadium Deal”. The reaction among most Houston residents was one of cautious hope and skepticism as some particularly Oilers fans were relieved to see Adams working with not just Lanier but Richards and was seemingly committed to keeping the team in Harris County though others particularly opponents of taxpayer-funded stadiums saw Adams turning to the Governor as mere desperation after failing to persuade Houstonians to finance his dream stadium. For Adams, the cat was out of the bag and he couldn’t keep this a secret any longer as he did with the visits to Baltimore and Memphis so he sent Mike McClure to confirm the existence of the meeting in interviews with Houston press though he declined to provide details of the yet-to-be-announced stadium proposal. For Richards, the Texas Legislature had plenty of questions concerning the OIlers’ stadium proposal particularly the Republican Senate and the race to save the team was now a political game for the Democrats.
With some strong political capital from the state and the city, Adams got to work on sketching out the details of the new stadium as early as June. He would hire ROK Sport to plan the design and capacity given their experience constructing the Jacksonville Jaguars’ home Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. For the site, downtown Houston was already in Adams’ mind for the previous proposals so this was retained in the new proposal. The new stadium would have everything the Oilers wanted: A capacity of 70,000 (expandable to 75,000), a retractable roof, 52,000 personal seat licenses, 167 luxury suites, skyboxes and capable of hosting multiple big events. Adams would then meet with Richards, Bullock and Lanier again in September of 1996 for the stadium and Adams confirmed that ROK was preparing a downtown proposal to be announced at a later date. It was hands on deck for Adams and the Oilers as they were finally making progress on a new stadium. Adams knew of the Rams’ near-relocation to St. Louis which was averted by the intervention of two powerful figures: Former Disney CEO Ron Miller and then-Acting Chairman Jim Henson. Adams saw Richards and Lanier as the Miller and Henson of Houston responsible for keeping the team in the city and providing the necessary assistance to prevent relocation to Baltimore or Memphis. Nonetheless, Adams knew that if his proposal failed in the Texas Legislature he would turn to relocation as “Plan B”. Throughout the 1996 season, Adams and the Oilers were the topic of much discussion within the NFL and national news outlets with many curious as to whether or not Texas would be willing to provide enough money to fund a new football-only stadium in Houston even with the team ending up with a slightly improved 9-7 record under new head coach Mike Munchak thanks to a rejuvenated offense though they lost in the AFC Wild Card Game against the Buffalo Bills[11]. After the season, Adams announced that he would be officially seeking help from the Texas Legislature in getting a new downtown stadium for Houston with the backing of Governor Richards, Lieutenant Governor Bullock and Mayor Lanier to the surprise of no one as the details of their last meeting were public knowledge. The Oilers fanbase was enthusiastic about Adams’ commitment to finding a solution to their stadium woes with the support of the most powerful woman in Texas no less while Baltimore and Memphis felt cheated as Adams was seemingly courteous and eager to bring the NFL only to go back to Houston and keep his team there.
In March of 1997, Adams would finally reveal the full proposal for a new stadium in Houston at a press conference near Houston City Hall with Lanier, Richards, Bullock, McClure, team representatives and a crowd of a hundred Houstonians in attendance. The stadium would contain all the amenities that Adams had planned with $185 million in private funds from the Oilers and $227 million in public funds which would come from the state of Texas and city of Houston respectively through tax increases on hotels, motels and car rentals[12]. The ball was now in the Texas Legislature’s court as they would have to determine whether to approve the new Houston Oilers stadium or not. With Houston unable to cover the cost of the stadium on their own, there would have to be some level of state funding to match. A stand alone piece of legislation would likely fail to garner support, but if the funding could be added to the state budget and survive the amendment process it could be allocated by the government. This was the strategy pursued by Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson in getting the MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers a new stadium[13]. To succeed at a similar strategy, Richards would have to navigate a divided Texas Legislature with a special stadium bill. The Democratic-controlled Assembly was inclined to back Richards’ agenda while the Republican-controlled Senate was reluctant to approve any sort of tax increase or spending plan, especially at the insistence of a Democratic Governor. Moreover, Richards had a forthcoming gubernatorial election next year[14] which made the Oilers stadium proposal a crucial task as she wanted to get it ready for construction by then especially with Bob Lanier eventually vacating his position as mayor of Houston for his successor who would be former police chief Lee P. Brown. The solution for Richards was to call a special legislative session to vote on a funding package for a football stadium in Houston no later than October. The Oilers were not the only Houston team demanding state assistance as the Astros wanted a new ballpark to replace the Astrodome and the Rockets were pushing for a new arena that would not just host them but an NHL team since The Summit was deemed inadequate for hockey[15], both teams closely observed the special session to see if they could receive a similar deal. In the meantime, Adams would host rallies with Oilers fans in Houston and Austin to get the stadium passed in the state legislature before or during the first month of the 1997 season. In early October, Richards called a special session in the Texas Legislature to approve a new stadium bill which would allocate money for a new, state-of-the-art football facility for the Oilers in downtown Houston. Emotions ran high as many within the NFL and professional football had their eyes on Texas to see if they would be willing to finance a new home for the Oilers. The stadium legislative session lasted from October 15th to October 22th in which Democrats and Republicans had debates over Richards’ bill. Unsurprisingly, the bill was approved in the Assembly with most Democrats voting “yea” but faced some stiff opposition in the Senate from Republicans though there was support from some members of the GOP that crossed partisan lines thanks to their love of football like their Democratic counterparts. The Republican majority in the 31 seat State Senate was just 17 to 14. That meant Richards had to convince several Republicans to flip in favor of the bill. The easiest ones to flip were GOP senators from the Houston area as they were generally familiar with the Oilers and didn’t want to see the team leave the city. The support of the bill from Houston Republican state senators got Richards some important votes though most senators from the area were Democrats which was good news for the bill as most were already supportive of their governor’s proposal. How Richards, Bullock, and most Democratic state senators were able to persuade more Republicans and some Democratic skeptics to vote for a new stadium was simply asking a set of questions and responses: Did they want to lose an NFL team like Baltimore had in the 1980s with the Colts? And if the Oilers left, who else would follow? The Astros were likely to follow if the Oilers left , which wasn’t without merit as the team considered moving to Buffalo in 1995 only to drop the idea[16] and potentially even the Rockets if nothing was done to provide funding for the appropriate venues for all three soon to be four teams. In simple political terms, any Republican or Democrat voting against the bill would have been the senator who voted against the Astros. And if other teams left, what would that do to Houston’s economy? Houston was the largest city in Texas, if it lost its sports teams what economic message would that send to the rest of the state? It could mean investment drying up and create a poor reputation of Houston to professional sports leagues since they would be unwilling to relocate or add a new team to the area.On the last day of the special legislative session, the final vote tally in the Senate would be 22-9[17]. Most of the “yea” votes came from Houston area Republicans and Democrats as well as Democrats from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the northern or western parts of Texas, the latter due to their support of Richards and Bullock on many social issues. The majority of the “nay” votes came from Republicans who were unsurprisingly either around Dallas-Fort Worth and other parts of the state where support for the Oilers was far less frequent. The bill would be sent to Governor Richards who would sign it into law thus the proposal would finally come to fruition with support from not just Houston but the state of Texas. The news of the bill’s approval pleased Adams and the Oilers as they were finally getting a new, shiny state-of-the-art stadium ready for construction by the new millennium. The stadium bill’s passing put a rest to the possibility of an Oilers relocation to Baltimore or Memphis with Adams making it clear that the team was here to stay after the end of the legislative session. In the NFL Network documentary A Football Legacy: The Story of the Houston Oilers Bud said that reaching out to Richards “was the best thing I ever did for the Oilers because I could get support from the people in Austin and not just simply rely too much on Houston as I did before”
With the Oilers staying put in Houston, Richards was able to accomplish an important task in office as she got a new stadium built for one of the oldest professional football teams in Texas before she would run for re-election against the GOP in ‘98. Richards would later attend the groundbreaking ceremony of what became known as CenterPoint Stadium[18] with Adams, Brown, Bullock, McClure, Lanier, team representatives, former players, local officials and celebrities in November of 1998[19]. CenterPoint Stadium would be completed in August of 2001 just before the start of the regular season. The passing of the Oilers stadium proposal would inspire the Astros, the Rockets and the Roughnecks (formerly the Edmonton Oilers)[20] to create similar proposals with funding from Houston and the state of Texas leading to the construction of BMC Park at Union Station and Honda Arena respectively with both venues opened to the public in 2003 and 2002 respectively[21]. Nowadays, Houston is one of the few cities with teams from all five major sports in North America and we can enjoy the sight of football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer in this great city[22]. As for Baltimore and Memphis, both cities would compete to earn the honor of the NFL’s 32nd term for the purposes of balancing out the league after the original Cleveland Browns became the St. Louis Stallions and the establishment of the new Browns franchise in 1999[23] with the former winning out due to having a successful CFL team, a long NFL history and a viable stadium plan from Allegis Group chairman Steve Bisciotti[24]. This expansion team would be called the Baltimore Marauders[25] and begin play in 2002, the same year that Honda Arena opened.
For Oilers fans enjoying CenterPoint Stadium, you can thank Ann Richards for saving Houston’s team. Without her, we might as well hear commentators announce the Tennessee Oilers[26].
[1] Recall in the Election ‘94 Live Coverage post that Richards was re-elected in a competitive race against Republican Jack Field and Reformer Keary Ehlers. Richards will be able to enact some of her policies though not without some opposition by the GOP and Reform respectively.
[2] To clarify on one of the footnotes for the Kandi review of Movies 1996 by co-writers Harris Syed and @Plateosaurus, Jeremy was caught molesting an 18-year old woman in March 1993 which led to his arrest and inspired the movie’s development along with other Anita Hill-related cases. There’s also a retcon by one of the authors in that the journalist character played by Jodie Foster is named Alexandra "Allie" Ross but otherwise the rest of the review remains canonical to the timeline. Additionally, there are a few tidbits that were not elaborated in the review that Mr. Syed would like to add such as receiving nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci, Best (Leading) Actor for Danny DeVito, Best Picture and Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (the old name for Best Original Screenplay) at the 69th Academy Awards.
[3] Both events would occur in OTL and TTL. Given that the Astrodome was aging and becoming rather obsolete, this is somsething that is unavoidable and couldn’t be butterflied.
[4] In OTL, Adams shifted gears to an open-air football stadium after Houston and it’s sport teams rejected the idea as noted in a 1994 UPI News article.
[5] Adams considered Baltimore along with Los Angeles as possible relocation options only for Tagliabue to tell him that these cities were considered for expansion or relocation opportunities and to consider other cities instead which led to Adams speaking with McClure and Nashville was eventually brought up as a viable relocation spot according to the 1996 Nashville Scene article “In the Huddle” and 2001’s Horse Trading and Consensus Building: Nashville, Tennessee and the Relocation of the Oilers. Here since Los Angeles didn’t lose the Rams to St. Louis, Memphis is Adams’ other option and Tagliabue doesn’t discourage him from considering that city or Baltimore since the former is much smaller than LA. The fact that Memphis is in Tennessee means that McClure doesn’t give Adams the idea to move the team to Nashville.
[6] For those unfamiliar with the next reference to CFL teams in America from the previous post, this was part of an effort by the league in the 1990s to make Canadian football popular for their southern neighbors which included adding new teams in Las Vegas, Sacramento, Shreveport and Baltimore of course with some of the existing teams moving to San Antonio and Birmingham respectively. The entire thing was a failure due to tensions between the American and Canadian teams, the marketing, no nationwide network contract, competition with local American football teams and the fact that most Americans weren’t interested in a game that was different from their homegrown game. The Stallions were by far the most successful American CFL team with a strong fanbase and a Grey Cup to boot though they were eventually run out and relocated to Montreal to become the new Alouettes after the original Cleveland Browns announced their move to Baltimore for the 1996 NFL season.
[7] The events above are actually real in OTL and TTL as noted in Ann Richards’ 2012 biography Let the People In. Richards is already familiar with the team and given the schedule, we couldn’t completely butterfly it what with the NFL’s scheduling.
[8] As per OTL.
[9] Behring did this with Los Angeles when the Rams and Raiders left the city in our world and already publicly announced such a move to Seattle area officials. Of course, since the Rams didn’t leave the Los Angeles area in TTL this meant that Behring eyed Baltimore as a possible destination and inspired by the Oilers sending representatives to the city though he wanted to beat that team to the punch only to be stopped by the NFL who fined Behring for attempting to pull off an unauthorized move and potential lawsuits filed by King County. Eventually, Behring would later sell his team to Paul Allen who helped get Alaska Airlines Field built. This is also something that kept the Seahawks from relocating since Behring’s antics were already public whereas the Mariners’ announcement of selling the team from Nintendo wasn’t immediately thought of as relocation by most Seattle residents until it was too little, too late since Nintendo initially considered local investors and businessmen but received offers from Vancouver, Nashville and especially Buffalo the latter of which already had an MLB-ready stadium and a solid ownership group coupled with the fact that Nintendo just wants to get out of the baseball business and selling to anyone even outside of Seattle is seen as a good thing.
[10] This is the same April 30 meeting in which the NFL owners voted to allow the Oilers to move to Nashville in our world but here Adams merely speaks with Tagliabue and the other owners about Houston since he is not planning relocation immediately.
[11] In OTL, the Houston Oilers hired Jeff Fisher to replace Jack Pardee for the last six games of the season and eventually stayed with the team even after they became the Tennessee Titans until 2011 where he would leave to join the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams but was let go due to his unsuccessful tenure. Here, Fisher remains with the San Francisco 49ers due to some first and second order butterflies affecting the NFL therefore Munchak becomes the new head coach of the Oilers given his history with the team.
[12] The total cast is $415 million which is before the average costs of NFL stadiums rose to $1 billion or more.
[13] Bud Selig wanted a new stadium for the Brewers that was farther away from the center of Milwaukee to accommodate a large parking lot and attract more suburban fans. Mayor John O. Norquist of Milwaukee was willing to help fund a new stadium if it was instead downtown. Selig dug in his heels and went directly to the Wisconsin Legislature to secure the funding and by a margin of one vote what became American Family Field (formerly known as Miller Park). ITTL given Selig’s not Commissioner and slight changes to national politics, Norquist ends up getting his way because Selig folds rather than briefly consider moving the team.
[14] Since Bush is MLB Commissioner, the Texas Republicans select a different candidate to go up against Ann Richards. Who is that Republican candidate? Stay tuned.
[15] Recall in the It’s a Bush League after all post that the Edmonton Oilers moved to Houston and became the Houston Roughnecks under Rockets owner Leslie Alexander.
[16] This is similar to OTL when the Astros considered moving to Washington but unlike the Oilers they chose not to and got the necessary political capital to stay in the city. ITTL, since Abe Pollin would submit a (successful) bid to acquire an expansion team for Washington DC it is off the table and the Astros would consider Buffalo but realized that they didn't have the support of the other MLB teams just like OTL. This would also have an effect on Ann Richards as she had more of an incentive to keep Houston’s sports teams especially after reports of Adams and team representatives visiting Baltimore and Memphis respectively along with her re-election. Moreover, since the Oilers didn’t announce that they were relocating to Nashville, the Astros didn't expedite a new ballpark in downtown Houston for 1996.
[17] From @ajm888 and Mr. Harris Syed: The stadium vote is based off research and looking at political redistricting maps for the Texas State Senate from 1996-2000. It is assumed most members of the State Senate are similar to OTL with some differences given the political climate under the Gore administration.
[18] A TTL analogue of sorts to NRG Stadium in design and oil company sponsor though it’s located in downtown Houston instead of being adjacent to the Astrodome.
[19] Among the Houston celebrities present to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of CenterPoint Stadium include actors such as the Quaid brothers (Dennis and Randy), Patrick Swayze, Jaclyn Smith and Phylicia Rashad and singers Kenny Rogers, Billy Gibbons and Michael Nesmith. For former Oilers players, you have George Blanda (Kicker), Earl Campbell (Running back), Robert Brazile (Linebacker) and Elvin Bethea (Defensive end).
[20] In the case of Peter Pocklington having a different asking price to (unsuccessfully) keep the Edmonton Oilers, butterflies affect nearly everything in the Hensonverse whether they’re logical or not and sports leagues are no exception as the records, ownership, draft picks, trades and champions are going to be very different such as the NFL’s Rams staying in Los Angeles due to former player turned Disney CEO Ron Miller’s interest in sports or Abe Pollin joining in the DC Baseball Commission thanks to receiving an invitation from an original-to-TTL official approaching him for the 1993 bid which sparked his interest in getting a baseball team for DC by the 1999 season. As such, it’s just as likely for Pocklington to make a different decision on the asking price with over seventeen years worth of butterflies. Moreover, the Oilers didn’t draft Ryan Smyth and Joseph Curtis since they ended up with different teams nor did they trade for Doug Weight or re-acquire Kevin Lowe due to him re-signing with the Rangers instead resulting in a 5th place performance in the 1997-98 season which muted enthusiasm for the team similar to what happened with the Seattle Mariners when they didn’t get Ken Griffey Jr and thus led to the Edmonton Investment Group not raising enough money to keep the team in the city. When the Edmonton Oilers were eventually sold to Leslie Alexander and announced to relocate to Houston for 1998-99, the NHL initially blocked them from using The Summit since they deemed unsuitable even as a temporary venue but with abysmal attendance in Edmonton over the move the league decided to reluctantly allow the former Oilers/Roughnecks to use it starting with the 1999-2000 season with the team adapting a logo and uniform set based on the Texas state flag similar to OTL’s Houston Texans.
[21] The TTL names for The Ballpark at Union Station/Minute Maid Park and Toyota Center respectively. Essentially, the Astros were the first to seek a new ballpark with explatory talks and negotiations with the city of Houston and the state of Texas in June 1998 with a special session also in October approving the new ballpark and construction would last up until 2003. In the case of the Rockets and Roughnecks, they started negotiations with the city in early 1999 with an agreement for another special session in November after several months and the arena would be completed in 2002 since arenas cost and take less time to build. Keep in mind that these teams would want to get their new venues built as soon as possible and expedited proposals aren’t entirely unheard of in sports as even OTL’s Minute Maid Park and Toyota Center can attest though the Hensonverse equivalent of these venues were completed in different dates since the Oilers didn’t relocate to Nashville after the 1996 season or cut a stadium deal with Nashville the year prior.
[22] In the case of the MLS, the original San Jose Earthquakes didn’t relocate to Houston because Bud Adams would found an expansion team known as the Houston Wranglers in 2007 along with the Toronto Northmen FC (TTL’s Toronto FC). The Wranglers’ branding and color scheme is similar to the Oilers right down to CenterPoint Stadium as their home venue.
[23] On the topic of the Browns, we’re going to elaborate on how the original team became the Stallions in 1996. Basically, Browns minority owner Al Lerner tells Art Modell to look into St. Louis as a new home for the Browns in late March upon hearing of the Rams tentative deal with Disney though he is still considering Baltimore at this point since the team previously spoke with Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) director John Moag. When the Rams would finalize their deal with Disney in May, Lerner would push Modell to go for St. Louis instead of Baltimore due to the former city already having an NFL-caliber facility in The Dome at America’s Center/Trans World Dome. Modell eventually decides to go with St. Louis over Baltimore and sends Lerner to speak with officials from the St. Louis Regional Stadium Authority (STLRSA), local businessmen James Orthwein and Stan Kroenke about potential relocation in late June two weeks after the Rams-Disney deal was approved by most of Disney’s shareholders. However, Modell only sent Lerner to speak with the STLRSA, Orthwein and Kroenke only if he was serious about relocation. That said, Lerner is permitted to meet with the STRSA, Orthwein and Kroenke in mid-August and the Browns negotiate with the Gateway City until October when Modell was given a memorandum of understanding from Lerner in which the team would play at St. Louis’ Trans World Dome for twenty years with Orthwein and Kroneke having 5% stakes in the team. Modell is convinced by Lerner to accept the deal on the basis that the city was hungry for NFL football and he would welcomed as a hero. Modell would eventually announce that the Browns would move to St. Louis for the 1996 season after a December 3rd game against the San Diego Chargers to the outrage of many residents of Cleveland with the city even filing a lawsuit against him and the STLRSA. Eventually, the NFL came to an agreement with Modell that he would take the roster and staff of the original Browns for a new expansion team known as the St. Louis Stallions in March of 1996 while the records and name of the Browns would remain in Cleveland for a new team to start operations three years later.
[24] Bisciotti was the owner of OTL’s Baltimore Ravens and bought the team from Art Modell in 2000. Bisciotti in the Hensonverse gets an NFL expansion team for Baltimore as the original Browns ended up in St. Louis.
[25] The Baltimore Marauders are TTL's Houston Texans in that they are an expansion team based in a city that didn’t have NFL football for a while after a previous team left for greener pastures (Colts/Oilers). Their name was also one of the possible options for the Baltimore NFL team before Ravens was chosen. Since the Baltimore bid is very different from the original Browns moving to Baltimore, Marauders is picked as the team’s name instead. The Marauders begin play at the newly built Marauders Stadium at Camden Yards which was completed in 2002 much like CenterPoint Stadium and it’s adjacent to Oriole Park.
[26] A little Allohistorical Allusion to the fact that the Oilers kept the name when they played in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee from 1997-1998 before rebranding themselves as the Titans in OTL.
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