Angels In Quiet Negotiations To Leave Orange County

ANAHEIM, CA — Will the Los Angeles Angels move to Long Beach? City officials have approached the team about the possibility of moving the team, dangling a new stadium on a downtown waterfront lot as a potential carrot.

That stadium would potentially be constructed on a roughly 13-acre lot southeast of the Long Beach Arena and Performing Arts Center, according to a story first reported by the Long Beach Post on Monday.

According to Anaheim officials, that conversation is a non-starter.

"We're not surprised another city might reach out to the team. It shows how important teams can be, particularly for a city looking to redevelop and revitalize an area," Mike Lyster, a spokesman for Anaheim, said Tuesday afternoon. "We believe we have a path forward, but we have work ahead of us."

Angels officials characterized the talks with Long Beach as just discussions, not negotiations at this point. Other cities have also approached the Angels, who've been a part of the city for 53 years.

"They've won a championship here, and they were one of 17 teams to draw three million-plus fans to home games, putting them up with the Yankees, Dodgers and Chicago Cubs" in attendance, he said. "That speaks a lot to the fan base here."

Despite failing to make the playoffs, the team still drew more than 3 million fans, Lyster said.
The city has been making a push to develop the area around the stadium, Lyster said, pointing to two craft beer breweries across the street as an example. The revenue from surrounding development will give the city a leg up on financing a new stadium.

The Orange County Register says construction costs in the proposed Long Beach area could range from $500 million to $1 billion, and the getting to the out-of-the-way area, nicknamed the "elephant lot" due to the long-running location for the Ringling Bros. Circus, raises many questions.

"As part of our efforts to create a downtown waterfront development plan, we are exploring the feasibility of a downtown sports venue on the Convention Center parking lot," Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said.

"We are in the early stages of our due diligence and are exploring a variety of options for this property. We have approached the Angels to express our interest and discuss the possibilities of this opportunity. This is very preliminary and discussions are ongoing."

The Angels exercised an opt-out of their lease for the city-owned Angel Stadium in October that meant the team wouldn't play in Anaheim after October 2019. However, the Anaheim City Council approved a 14-month lease extension on Jan. 15, ensuring the team would play at Angel Stadium through at least 2020 and allow time for both sides to discuss a new, potential long-term lease.

There was no response to an email sent to the Angels seeking comment, but the team hinted at possible talks in a statement from President John Carpino published in the Los Angeles Times, saying:

"As we have stated from the beginning, we must explore all our options to secure a long-term future for the Angels and provide fans with a high-quality experience in a renovated or new ballpark."

The Times report also said that Angels owner Arte Moreno met with Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu last month.

"From that meeting, it is clear the team's priority is to stay in Anaheim if we can work out a deal that benefits our residents, the city and the team," Sidhu said in a statement, according to the Times. "We need a plan to make that happen, and we need time to make that happen."

The Angels negotiated with Long Beach in the 1960s, but the talks ended when then-owner Gene Autry rejected Long Beach City Manager John Mansell's demand that the team be called the Long Beach Angels.

Lyster also noted another advantage of Anaheim is the access to three area freeways, which makes the experience of getting to and out of the stadium more convenient, unlike the debacle that would exist in the proposed Long Beach location.

City News Service, Patch editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.