I don't know, my first thought was that maybe it was a hint about how many CA jobs Disney wishes to eventually relocate to FL. Nothing to do with park capacity at all.
My first question about the $17 billion was, "How much of that is already baked in, to support existing operations?" The problem with large numbers is that because they are incomprehensible, just on their own they sound sexy, and something big must be on the horizon. When it's just the extent of the existing inertia.
Florida actually. Which would be WDW, Cruise operations, Lake Nona project, and whatever else Disney might choose to do in FL.
While Iger, make some strong good statements yesterday, the $17 billion fell flat to me. More an acknowledgement that, to some extent FL *does* have Disney over a barrel to the tune of $17 billion. That's a minimum price tag for what is at risk for Disney, and we all know the odds that they are going to abandon FL in the near term, are slim to none. SotS references aren't too popular anymore, but I feel like this is an opening for FL to tell Disney, "Please, don't throw me into the Briar Patch!" Where basically FL can do whatever they want, and Disney will ultimately roll over because they have at least $17 billion over 10 years tied up. 10 years from now the current crop of politicians will have largely moved on, due to FL term limits and normal attrition, so if per chance Disney grows a backbone for longer term investment, they won't have to deal with the consequences of major company pulling out. "Someone else's problem," like all the other problems the state is facing.
Iger and Disney were probably hoping the number would sound impressive enough to get people's attention (large number problem, again), but I think it's more revealing about the chains attaching Disney to FL (not the other way around) than they intended to be. A moment like how Walt accidentally showed he knew far too much about Central FL, when he was trying to demonstrate how silly the idea was.