On Wednesday morning, 12 hours after the Anaheim City Council killed the Angel Stadium sale, Long Beach City renewed its venue to attract Angels. On Wednesday afternoon, the city of Anaheim formally asked the Angels to agree to cancel the deal and protect all related documents pending a possible trial. On Friday night, the Angels told the city that the deal was over.
In the square, Mike Trout and Co. Angels have been empowered since 2004 for the best start. This should definitely be a good time for the team that last won the postseason game in 2009.
Unfortunately, as the long-term future of the Angels has become a giant question mark, some questions and answers:
Angels move to Long Beach?
In 2019, the angels flirted with Long Beach before negotiations for the sale of the stadium, which intends to anchor in Anaheim. Long Beach withdrew on Wednesday because the beach parking lot there, which will be used for a football field, is underdeveloped and remains in place.
Will the team be called Long Beach Angels?
Angels owner Arte Moreno in February 2019.
(Chris Carlson / Associated Press)
In the 1960s, founder Gene Autry wanted to move the Los Angeles Angels out of Dodger Stadium to Long Beach. At the time, the city said the team would be called Long Beach Angels. Autry moved to Anaheim in 1966, where city officials blessed the California Angels.
Although the team’s name returned from the California Angels to the Anaheim Angels and the Los Angeles Angels, the team has not moved since. The current owner, Arte Moreno, spent millions in court for the right to label his team Los Angeles, and he would keep it wherever the team could play in Southern California.
Can the Dodgers block the movement of Long Beach?
No. Under Major League Baseball rules, the Dodgers and Angels share the same home area covering Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Angels move to Long Beach?
Not soon, and probably not at all. The view of the beach soccer field is breathtaking, but at a time when California cities are generally reluctant to finance the construction of professional sports fields, the city and the team never understood how to pay for a billion-dollar stadium. If the angels pay for the playground and earn money from developing the surrounding lands – as in the plan in Anaheim – the land available for development is three times as much as in Long Beach in Anaheim.
Will the angels move beyond the LA market?
Probably not. MLB is not the NFL where media revenue is shared equally between teams. The value of angelic broadcast revenue – and the franchise itself – is tied to a home in North America’s second-largest media market.
Angels are about to leave Angel Stadium?
No. The current lease of the angels in Anaheim extends until 2029, and if they want to move, they have an ace in the pit. Instead of trying to sign a short-term lease to stay in Anaheim while building a new playground elsewhere – hello, we’re leaving, what about a good deal? – Angels can use three options, each for three years. This means that the Angels can stay until 2038 if they want.
What happened to the Anaheim Treaty?
Fans will go to the main entrance of Angel Stadium on May 23 to buy tickets.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
This was done until about May 16, when the FBI testified that Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu shared a secret land valuation with the Angels – while the city was negotiating against the team – in the hopes of securing a $ 1 million campaign contribution. From them. Sidhu’s lawyer denied this, but the smell of corruption made it too ugly to continue the deal.
On Tuesday, a day after Sidhu resigned as mayor, dozens of speakers called on the Anaheim City Council to rescind the agreement. No one spoke in favor of it, and the council voted unanimously to repeal it.
Several members of the council risked revealing that it would be unwise to continue the deal now, and then that the FBI’s additional investigation had linked Angel leaders or lobbyists to the alleged corruption.
In a letter sent Wednesday, city attorney Robert Fabela formally asked the Angels to agree to cancel the deal, citing several allegations that it “demonstrates that the deal is not a well-intentioned, hand-to-hand operation.”
The declaration does not claim that the angels made a mistake. Major League Baseball is aware of this expression and has reviewed it.
However, Fabela said during a council meeting on Tuesday: “Speaking to the angels and discussing the financing of the campaign to promote the deal, it is reassuring to say that there will be some knowledge on the other hand. party in the process. “
In a letter to the city last week, Angels attorney Allan Abshez called the deal “the result of honest arms-length negotiations.” Confirming the Angels’ request for the city on Friday, Angels spokeswoman Marie Garvey said: “We want to be clear: We have negotiated honestly with all elected officials and city officials and have reached a fair agreement that is good for Anaheim and Anaheim. Angels are good for baseball.
Why not just repeat the contract?
For the second time in a decade, city officials told Moreno that the two sides had a stadium agreement. Each time the deal was broken. Moreno does not have to negotiate again.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, city manager James Vanderpool said he had asked the Angels to “reset this operation for the sake of transparency and process interests.” He said that the Angels refused.
On Friday, in response to the angels’ agreement to relinquish the sale deal, Anaheim Mayor pro tem Trevor O’Neil said “the stadium area in Anaheim and the long-term plan for baseball are still opportunities we want to explore.” the city will “keep the door open for a fresh start when the time comes.”
Now there is no emergency. At least, Moreno thinks that after the November elections, he will be the new mayor and that Jose Moreno, the main critic of the agreement (not related to Arte Moreno), will no longer sit firmly on the city council.
What happens with Angel Stadium?
On May 23, a worker washes the windows of the Angel Stadium.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
As time goes on and emotions diminish, it is possible that both sides will resume talks. What has made the Angel Stadium project attractive has not changed: there is no need to build a new stadium for the Angels and a chance to build a live neighborhood around the playground; the city needed thousands of homes and hundreds of millions of dollars for a development that the Angels would anchor in the second half of this century.
Although at present this is similar to the lose-lose scenario: there is no revenue for the city and its taxpayers from the sale of the stadium and the accompanying development; no dramatic improvements in the stadium for the team and its fans; There is still nothing but a sea of parking around the stadium.
The management of the stadium was generally a harmless offer for the city, with the Angels selling 3 million tickets each year owned by Arte Moreno until 2019. Under the lease, the Angels pay $ 2 for each ticket sold to the city for more than $ 2.6 million, but participation was banned in 2020 and limited to 2021 due to a pandemic. As of Saturday, the Angels are set to sell 2.58 million tickets this season.
Potential struggle is approaching: In 2013, when the city and the Angels first began negotiations, a joint commissioned study found that $ 130-150 million was needed to upgrade the infrastructure to keep the stadium alive for a long time.
According to the lease, the Angels Stadium is required to be kept on a par with “… first-class professional baseball stadiums such as Dodger Stadium.” Cities and Angels can discuss how the language should be interpreted and who should pay for significant improvements.
If attendance is reduced, can I get a good deal?
Yes, it would be crazy to miss the chance to see Trout and Shohei Ohtani live and in person and at a low price. The Angels family package offers four tickets, four hot dogs and four fizzy drinks for $ 44. According to Team Marketing Report, the average cost for a family of four to play in a major league game this season is $ 256.
So I will see Trout and Ohtani at Angel Stadium. Who will I not see?
On the opening day of this season, fans could watch a giant video board to see a good message from Sidhu. We estimate that you will not see it on the big screen in the near future.