Millions could be shaved off Angel Stadium’s $325 million price tag when Anaheim City Councilmembers begin negotiating community benefit and labor agreements with the team owner this spring.
The 153-acre land the stadium sits on is required to have 12,500 parking spots, which city staff and hired consultants said lowered the value of the stadium in the appraisal process.
Questions have emerged over if the city gave up its negotiating leverage — and lowered the stadium’s appraised valued — last January when the City Council voted to reinstate the 1996 lease after Mayor Harry Sidhu met with the Angels shortly after being elected mayor in 2018.
The sale proposal began receiving criticism from former city leaders, state legislators and the Orange County Register’s editorial board leading up to the Dec. 20 special meeting, when the Council voted to begin selling the land. The proposal was criticized for moving too quickly, not having a final price tag and not trying to get Anaheim back in the team name.
SRB Management, the business buying the land, was formed Nov. 20 — five days after negotiations officially began. Angels owner Arte Moreno is the only known person in the business and Councilmembers said they trusted he’s the controlling interest. City Attorney Rob Fabela said the city should know who the rest of SRB Management is by the time the deal closes, which could be in five years.
Here, we offer the most shared and most read editorials Voice of OC stories on Angel Stadium of 2019 — in chronological order.
Anaheim Leaders To Keep Public Out of The Loop on Stadium Meetings With Angels
March 22 Anaheim City Council members, after learning Mayor Harry Sidhu met with Angels President John Carpino earlier this week, voted to axe their monthly public update on negotiations and instead directed City Manager Chris Zapata to update when there’s only “relevant information” — effectively leaving the negotiations process in the dark. Read the Story »
Experts: Anaheim Negotiators Could Make More Money From Angels
May 23 The Angels, along with sports teams across the country, are given too much of the revenue sports stadiums generate and taxpayers fail to reap benefits because cities don’t negotiate hard enough, according to experts. Read the Story »
‘Anaheim” Won’t be in Angels Name as Lease Negotiations Start Soon
Aug. 27 Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu and Angels Baseball said the city won’t be put back into the team name within a day of Councilman Jose Moreno hosting a community meeting, where he and some residents expressed a desire to have Anaheim back in the team name. Read the Story »
Angel Stadium Made $1.6 Million for Anaheim Since 2010
Sept. 10 While the Big A has made $1.6 million for Anaheim since 2010, sports financing economists say the city can get more if it allows the Angels to develop parking lots surrounding the stadium in order to bolster tax revenue and generate developer fees and avoid direct stadium financing. Read the Story »
Angels Make $100 Million a Year at Stadium While Anaheim Barely Gets a Slice
Sept. 18 Anaheim chipped in $30 million to help renovate Angel Stadium in the late 1990s, but it’s only made the city $1.6 million in the past 10 years and sports economists, along with a sports finance author, attribute that to a revenue sharing formula based on the number of total tickets sold, not the total dollar amount tickets produce. Read the Story »
Public Remains in the Dark on Angel Stadium Appraisal Value
Sept. 26 Despite the previous City Council’s November 2018 vote to conduct an Angel Stadium appraisal and release it to the public, the current Council has denied — for the second time — to release the appraisal. Read the Story »
Angel Stadium Appraisal Apparently Leaked, Despite Anaheim’s Efforts to Keep Secret
Oct. 10 Despite Anaheim’s efforts to keep the stadium appraisal secret, there are mounting questions about whether the value of the stadium has already been leaked. Read the Story »
More Than Half of Money Spent on Angel Stadium Went to Projects Benefiting Angels, Not Maintenance
Oct. 15 Despite the LA Angels of Anaheim spending nearly $30 million on Anaheim’s municipal stadium since 2012, very little of that money was used on regular maintenance, records show. Read the Story »
Anaheim City Council Shuts Down Effort to Release Angel Stadium Appraisal
Oct. 29 The Anaheim City Council refused to release the Angel Stadium appraisal and a potential public review period of a final deal Tuesday, when Mayor Harry Sidhu terminated any discussion with a procedural move. Read the Story »
Angels & Anaheim Start Talks on New Stadium
Nov. 7 The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the City of Anaheim officially start stadium talks on Nov. 15. It’s the first meeting this year, despite a team request earlier this year to extend a lease out clause to the end of the year to allow for calm deliberations. Councilmembers have three public meetings left this year to consider any stadium proposal before an out-clause trigger extension expires at the end of the year. Read the Story »
Angels and Anaheim to Hammer Out New Stadium Deal Before New Year
Nov. 14 The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Anaheim city officials are expected to sit down Friday to hammer out a lease by Dec. 31, despite only having three Council meetings left this year and reinstating the current lease 10 months ago to extend the negotiation time. Read the Story »
Up For Sale: $325 Million Angel Stadium to Team Owner
Dec. 4 The City of Anaheim is looking to sell its stadium to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for $325 million, according to a surprise Wednesday morning announcement after months of secrecy surrounded stadium negotiations. Read the Story »
Did Anaheim Council Members Know About Stadium Sale Proposal Beforehand?
Dec. 5 Anaheim released a proposal overview Wednesday morning to sell Angel Stadium to the team owner for $325 million after months of silence on the issue. One Councilman suspects a secret deal was negotiated months ago. Read the Story »
What’s the Final Price Tag for Angel Stadium?
Dec. 11 City of Anaheim officials have released a proposed sales agreement to sell the 153-acre Angel Stadium site and the surrounding land around it to a freshly-minted, shadowy LLC with undisclosed ownership interests that include Angels owner Arte Moreno. The sales agreement, which ties up the stadium land for future negotiations until next Spring, raises a starting price of $325 million along with a host of potential deductions for things like labor agreements, affordable housing and parks, which could significantly lower the final sales price. Read the Story »