DEC. 21: The Anaheim City Council has approved the deal, making it official, Shaikin tweets.
DEC. 4, 1:10pm: The Angels are still weighing whether to renovate the existing stadium or build a new stadium on the current site, Alicia Robinson of the Orange County Register reports. To that end, they’ve hired the same architectural firm that recently designed Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium — home of the NFL’s Vikings — and the Rangers’ new ballpark in Texas to aid in their decision-making process.
Robinson’s colleague, Jeff Fletcher, tweets that despite remaining in Anaheim, there are no plans to revert to the “Anaheim Angels” moniker; the team will continue to be referred to as the Los Angeles Angels.
11:52am: The Halos will stay at home for at least thirty more years after reaching a deal with the city of Anaheim, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). As part of the arrangement, which runs through the 2050 campaign, the club has purchased Angel Stadium and its surrounding lots for a sum of $325MM.
This news seems to bring an end to a long-simmering stadium dispute. While other organizations are dealing with more complicated ballpark matters, Angels owner Arte Moreno has at times hinted at the possibility of a move. That never seemed a high-likelihood outcome; now, it’s off the table.
Some important details remain unknown at present. The club will obviously continue to play in the existing ballpark for the time being, but it’s not known whether the facility — at over fifty years of age, one of the oldest in baseball — will ultimately be slated for replacement. At minimum, the Halos are sure to set to work at developing the real estate surrounding the existing stadium.
it’s about time!
Cool. Nice to see one MLB headache dealt with. What’s Angel stadium like in its age, Halo fans? Is it in need of a replacement?
Sweet. Now sign some top free agent pitching!
More revenue for the Angels. This team should be brushing up against the salary threshold every year.
That stadium will be 85 years old when this lease is over. Wow. I saw it open, I doubt I’ll see it close.
that makes you quite old!
Define old? Born in the 50s. I feel great. .
i was born in the 50’s too!
We’re not old. 🙂 I lived in Glendale when the Angels played in Chavez Ravine.
I was born when you were 50!
’59er myself.
dude you ain’t old unless you saw the Angels playing their inaugural season at Wrigley Field in South Central Los Angeles.
Hey, I saw the Seattle Pilots inaugural and ONLY season in 1969. Before that, the same minor league stadium (Sicks’s Seattle Stadium) housed the Angels AAA affiliate.
Sobering wake up call!. I was born November 1949 so my lease will run out before the Angels lease! I will take it day at a time. Arte Moreno-do not drag your feet making the Angel competitive for Post Season!
Born in 66 here. Same age as the superbowl, I get a reminder every Jan.
Good news for Halos fans and LA baseball in general.
Sweet! Now sign some top free agent pitchers and a decent Catcher!
Sure. You can have Austin Hedges and Nick Margevicius for Mike Trout 😀
The Angels accomplished more towards getting a new stadium in one year than the A’s have in 25 years. Pathetic.
There’s a good chance the A’s go Las Vegas. They could play at the new raiders stadium for 2 years. While the build one next to it. However the Rays and Marlins could come to Las Vegas as well.
Las Vegas Raiders stadium design is for football only. Not compatible for baseball.
Retractable roof. It can easily work
Retractable roof means nothing. Have you seen the design of the field? 200 feet to one of the corners? This stadium is designed for football.
I’ve only seen the outside of it. Theres no pictures inside of it yet.
There’s virtually no chance of the A’s going to Las Vegas.
Why? They’re gonna demolish the Rio hotel and casino. It’s a perfect spot for them. Or is it because their triple A affiliate plays here. Las Vegas 51’s/Sunglasses
The Rio is set to be demolished?
Its been rumored for years. Whether they do it or is yet to be seen. They just need to figure what’s gonna replace it.
The Rio was sold by Caesars not long ago. It’s not going anywhere any time soon.
No franchises have moved in MLB since the Expos went to DC back in 2004.
Let’s keep it that way. If cities like Portland and Las Vegas want major league teams they can start at the bottom the next time MLB decides to expand.. I would hate to see baseball become like the NFL and screw over all the local fan bases out there just because some billionaire owner wants to stick taxpayers with the bill for a new stadium.
How “Mexican” in your words would the decision be to move any of those teams to Las Vegas, Wrek305?
not really any fault of the team’s really
Based on what Boston has done with Fenway, the Angels can easily rehab their stadium. It’s actually a pretty nice park as is (given its age) but agree that it could use an overhaul to become a premier venue.
Spent many years at that stadium and other then the food being subpar compared to many places the overall experience is still good. That being said the Rangers ballpark where I have spent the last few years was great and now that I’m in Houston I look forward to seeing the Amgels there next year. Now they need to make some on the field moves for real!!!
Probably will get rid of the grove and build an outdoor food/entertainment center in its place
This is great that is a beautiful stadium.
how bout they get finally rid of Los Angeles in their name, and stop trying to milk the marketing money out of LA. Anaheim and LA are two completely different counties, and they are an hour away from each other. The Angels DO NOT play in LA, they play in Anaheim!
LA County and Orange County are literally against each other. Angel Stadium is about 5 minutes away from LA County, and Anaheim is in the LA Metropolitan Area.
I lived in LA and had season tickets. There are PLENTY of Angel fans in LA.
Get over yourself.
Better take that petition up with the NY Giants and Jets who play in New Jersey. The Dallas Cowboys who play in Irving. The Tampa Bay Rays who play in Saint Pete, etc.
The Angels were in Los Angeles for 60 years before the Dodgers, originated the logo on the Dodgers hats, and play in the LA media market.
I preferred California, don’t get me wrong. But the fans of the Brooklyn transplant team always getting miffed at this is baffling to me.
The change bothered me because it went against the spirit of the agreement with the city to include “Anaheim” in the name. I don’t have a problem with LA Angels other than what I consider bad faith on the part of Moreno in honoring the agreement he assumed when he purchased the team.
At first I hated it, but then I realized the change had nothing to do with you or me, it had everything to do with national recognition and market share. The LA Angel’s are considered a big market team. The Anaheim Angel’s were not. Right or wrong, that’s the national perception. Big market clubs get big market TV contracts and big market players.
You may want to define the LA metropolitan in a way that suits you, but there is an actual Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) for LA, and Anaheim is part of it. Get on board and get over it. FYI, Long Beach is part of it as well.
You sir have flunked Marketing 101.
Go back to California Angels. That was the n best of the names they have had.
How about the Disneyland Angels.
I’m a Gen Xer, please change name back to California Angels
The Orange Angels
I’m a Gen Xer and prefer Anaheim Angels personally.
my son is 23 and he likes and understand the reason for the l. a. angels name.
I’m an atheist and get triggered when people mention “angels”. So please change your name.
Atheist? Or agnostic?
I’m a boomer. I became an Angel fan when they played in LA. I’m glad they changed their name back to the LA Angels. :).
Great that I’ll be able to bring my son to the same place I enjoyed as a child. That the Angels will now have autonomy over the ballpark and be able to upgrade it without dealing with as much gov’t bureaucracy.
The old park still has some good things going for it.: the site lines, open concourses, patios, views of the San Gabriels. But it needs either a down to the girders remodel or possibly a replacement.
good thing for the league to get squared away.
Thank you to the new mayor. For getting this done.
I went to old Commisky park during the last games played there. In the parking lot was home plate of the new ball park. I wonder if they can do something similar.
They have the room, and I’m sure they are smart enough where they wont give up too many parking spots for too long a period of time.
But regardless. They should have a 200 million dollar payroll virtually every year.
parking lot is too big anyway. hope they build a parking structure.
*slow clap* they really had no where else to go, but glad they reached a deal. Now, please, for the love of god, build a winning team around Trout!!!!!!!!!!
325 is nothing, steal! They’ll make a significant amount of the just on naming rights and the rest easily on development. This is a HUGE win for the Angels.
Great location, great investment for Arte. They have to remodel the stadium, other than that it’s very ideal location.
You can actually park and leave our stadium, unlike the one in the city.
i usually park at irvine station and ride. unless my son comes home and drive. he is the designated driver since he doesn’t drink.
Yes and getting there is a disaster even at 7 for a 730 game- Anahiem is 100% disgusting, nobody in Orange County considers this city its home, its actually where they drive their cities homeless TOO
Touchy subject…. People love to talk about how everyone should treat homelessness, until it’s in their backyard, then it’s a problem. Hypocrites (I am not referring to you, JD, just making an objective, general observation about leftists).
Now the lawsuits begin……..
your wife?
Random Funny Angels Stadium memory:
Back when Charlie Sheen was at the height of his drug use and wild behavior, he bought something like 3,000 tickets in the outfield, for the sole purpose of him being able to catch a homerun ball.
The entire OF only had him and some drinking buddy sitting there. No one homered in that game…LOL
As a former season ticket holder, I love the Big A. It’s one of my favorite places to be, especially in spring or fall, evening game, 72 degrees….
All that being said, it’s falling apart. The Trout pond or whatever they call the LF section, is literally crumbling underfoot. It would need structural retrofitting and repairs just to get it back to great, and that says nothing of sight lines, suites and press box config, and the rest.
I’m hoping they build a new one right in the current parking lot and start fresh, and we know Arte is King of advertising, so…I see a new ballpark as a legit money maker.
Maybe they can counter some marine layer effects, too…
They need to put the big A back in the outfield.
Too bad, Vancouver could have used a team.
like when texas floods?
The Texas gas stink will take over the state before the flood.
lol!
Well considering their only NBA team left and their hockey team hasn’t won a championship, I say pass on that one.
I was honestly hoping they’d move to Long Beach – would’ve been a nice addition to what is a really nice area and still close enough that the Orange Co fans could attend. And much more metro accessible.
the surrounding area of long beach is not that desirable.
Vizionaire, you and many other Orange County=based fans are right about Anaheim being much better in terms of accessibility than the Long Beach waterfront. Anaheim is definitely the better place for a team, especially with the Angels already there.
As for desirable surroundings, a 15-mile radius around each puts Long Beach and Anaheim very much on par in every direction except one industrial wedge to the north of Long Beach.
San Pedro, Palos Verdes, Redondo, Hermosa, and Manhattan Beach and Torrance to the west and northwest of Long Beach hold their own with Huntington and Newport Beach, Irvine, and Tustin to the east of Anaheim. The territories 15 miles west of Anaheim and east of Long Beach that don’t overlap are equally desirable.
Not mad at you, just standing up for our misunderstood corner of Los Angeles County over here.
you are right with everything. except north long beach. though i haven’t been there for long time.
Yes, you can include the North Long Beach neighborhood in the areas to the north that cannot compare to the areas immediately north of Angel Stadium.
@agentx It’s not about how wonderful LB is or isn’t; the area the LB City Council proposed at the aquarium was about as bad as it gets for quick, convenient access. LB streets would have been overrun with game traffic making its way to the freeways.
It was an idea so awful it wasn’t even plausible as leverage against Anaheim.
I agree with your assessment of game-day traffic and the many shortcomings of the Long Beach waterfront site. As much as I would have loved a stadium there, I recognize that it was the longest of long shots vs. anything Anaheim could offer.
My prior message was just a friendly rebuttal to an earlier comment about desirable neighborhoods in and around Long Beach.
Is San Diego as nice as I hear it is (like paradise)? I’m told the weather there is perfect ask year long, 70s in summer, 60s in winter. No sweating, no freezing, and beautiful place to live. I am a New Yorker.
We could host baseball games at Petco 360+ days a year
Metro accessible? The metro station is literally across the street from the Big A. LOL
Become the Anaheim Angels again
Living in City of Orange this is great news!
Since they purchased the property maybe they can go ahead and make a nice complex.
Driving to Long Beach was not going to happen.
Go Angels!
Am I missing something here? Angel stadium is an old dump. While Dodger Stadium is nestled into the beautiful Chavez Ravine, Angel Stadium sits next to the 57. The exterior of the stadium is nothing i look at, while the interior is fairly bland. The rock water fall is a joke, and last time I checked, Angel Stadium had a rat infestation a few years ago. Arte upgrades the sound system and put in a nice new scoreboard. Other than that, they whole place needs a remodel, and the exterior of the park needs to be turned into an area of nightlife (if there is still room if Arte stops building “luxury” apartment complexes.
Yes, you are missing something… A clue.
I understand the traffic around Dodger Stadium is a frigging apocalyptic nightmare.
The Chavez Latrine is older than Angel Stadium. Also it was the Angels home first. The Angels will probably get a new stadium here in Anaheim and more fans will come because people like shiny new things.
Even as the 3rd oldest park Dodger Stadium is a much better baseball experience than Anaheim Stadium. Completely agree on the waterfall. A remnant of Disney ownership that needs to go. They should rescue the “Big A” from the parking lot and reintegrate it into the park.
A friend of mine chimed in and obliterated this dump even more: They have Jack in the Box in left, the Bud Pavilion in right, they serve Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Light, Modelo and like 1 other beer so you have a HUGE selection of beer, you have a beautiful view of the 57 freeway from the upper deck, and to cap it all off, the giant Monster logo in CF looks fantastic.
Did your friend also remind you of the multiple craft beer carts with 20 to 30 different beer selections and the fact that angel stadium has the cheapest beer prices in all of baseball (thanks arte!). Before trashing a stadium might want to get some real facts!
This stadium may not be the nicest but it’s far from a dump. Arte will fix it up the right way.
It doesn’t mean that any of them are good. The only “craft beer” they have are ones owned by inbev, Constellation, etc. The area is a craft beer Mecca, why not get some local products in?
Angel Stadium features over 35 beers lol
Yay !
Let’s go Angel’s!!
I think more teams needs to use the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim motif.
Ex.- The San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles.
Everyone could have been happy.
That “motif” hasn’t been used for like 10 years
The Los Angeles Oakland Rams of Las Vegas
I live in Long Beach and go to my share of Angels and Dodgers games.. I drive to Angel games, 15 miles, 30 min, going and coming., and parking 10.00. I use public transportation to Dodger Stadium. 20 miles, A Line to the E Line to Union Station, to Dodger Express.. Going about an hour or so, getting home can take up to an hour and a half depending on how long it takes the bus to get out of the parking lot. Senior Tap card cost ..35 cents. Parking at Dodger Stadium $20.00..
If I was not a National League guy (Philly fan, I go to more Dodger Games.) I would get my baseball fix at Anaheim Stadium it is so much more cconvient and easy to access than Dodger Stadium, hands down.. (I go to 15 to 20 games a year)
Yet another team that will have their second stadium built in the same amount of time the A’s have been fighting to get one stadium built.
About time the city of Anaheim relented on this. Took way too long. Arte, build a new park in the parking lot and tear down the Big A.
325 mil for the stadium and I’m guessing parking lots ? Is there other land that is blank that is included but not parkibg lots or is all the land considered lots around the stadium ?
Not only are there parking lots but recently they had homeless encampments alongside the nearby flood control channel.
I don’t think that deal is as sweet as the price indicates… Homeless people cause a lot of damage, create the need to clean up and secure things.
Maybe that’s the motivation by the city to give them that valuable area, to free themselves from the burden. Who knows, maybe private property owners have more rights against the homeless (I doubt it, but…).
donate your money to orange county mission so that the shelter can take more people. my wife and i have been donating ever since we moved south.
Thank you so much
Good suggestion, Vizionaire. And good to hear that you and your wife have supported others doing real good in the world.
This is a woefully ignorant comment. One, the flood control is a cement halfpipe. There is no damage. Two, Im sure this had zero relevance to the price, plan or anything. You think the city told a private business “deal with this homeless people” like they have a private police force?
Cmon man.
So are they getting the new stadium?
Are they still going to be labeled “of Anaheim?”
it will still be l.a. angels which was the original team name. cowboy graciously allowed dodgers into his own team’s territory which included all of l.a. and arte hasn’t decided whether to build a new one or not.
Actually, Autry bought the rights to the name from O’Malley in 1960 or 1961 as an expansion team. He became owner after the Dodgers had already moved to LA.
The stadium was renovated after the Rams left Edison Field if I remember correctly so although it’s 50 years old, it doesn’t look it. Are there improvements that can be made? Sure. Architect to Moreno: “So tell me, what don’t you like about yourself?”
It would be financially beneficial to follow Dodgers plan of continually renovating a classic stadium, however the Angels have the big up on the Doyers because now they own the land around the stadium while McCourt still owns parking at Chavez Ravine. Will be interesting to see what happens either way.
Was it contingent on them not losing for the next 5 years?
Go to Fenway then complain about upgrades
If they purchased the stadium and surrounding property why is the deal only good for 30 years?
I suspect the agreement still includes a fixed term that Moreno must agree to keep the Angels in Anaheim to ensure that whatever stadium is renovated or built will have a major tenant long enough to have justified Anaheim selling that property.
I doubt that Moreno and the Angels would go through the trouble of negotiating such .a deal and then shopping around for a new stadium elsewhere in just a few years. The City nonetheless deserves some defense against the team turning around in 8-10 years and holding them up for additional infrastructure improvements and the like with the threat of possible relocation as leverage.
Ok. Thanks.
I’ve never stopped calling them the Anaheim Angels.
And I’ll never stop calling them the Los Angels Angels. Which they were long before they were the California Angels or Anaheim Angels.
But it’s good to know you will call things by what you think the are rather than what they choose to be called. Of course, do that in the wrong environment, like at a school, where all pronouns such as girl and boy are prohibited, and your kid will be suspended.
cleveland naps!
Wow your the one. I am sure Arte does not care what you call them.
This stadium has never felt old. Back when the Rams played there, it wasn’t a great experience, but that changed when Disney took over and rebuilt the stadium.
I love watching games there.
restrooms need to be re-built.
I sat inbetween Kevin Towers and Tawny Kitaen (Mrs. Chuck Finley) back when the Diamond Club was new. Made for some great convos that day!