As jubilant Angel players prepare for the playoffs and a hoped for appearance in the 2014 World Series, team owner, Arte Moreno, nixed further negotiations with the Anaheim City Council that would keep the team in Anaheim. Particularly now, fans do not welcome considering the possibility of losing the team to Tustin or any other city.

The yearlong impasse between the Council and Moreno has been detrimental to both parties. Moreno doesn’t need three more years to decide whether to stay or move his mega-moneymaker and the city’s mega tax generator. Regrettably, both sides neglect consideration of inveterate fans and their passionate investment in the Angels. Conspicuously absent is love of the game, so poignantly evidenced this week in every ballpark within which Derek Jeter appeared.

Moreno recently expressed a feigned caring for Angel fans to a Los Angeles Times’ reporter: “I’m very emotionally tied to the fans and the players.” In fact, Moreno cares much more about how much money the team will balloon his wallet: “I learned a long time ago there is no sentiment in it. . . . At the end of the day, it is business.” The Council, particularly Mayor Tait, shares Moreno’s penchant for money, wanting a bigger cut for the city of the revenue generated by the Angels and the future development of land juxtaposed to Angel Stadium.

Are Council members ready, particularly Tait, to permit Moreno to walk off, a losing decision for Anaheim? Local taxpayers would foot the bill to raze an outdated stadium—and a city treasury would never see millions of dollars in new tax revenue. The question to answer is whether the Anaheim City Council will give Moreno the contract he wants so he stays or continues the stalemate too long—and Moreno takes his ball and glove to get richer somewhere else. What would happen if Tait and others were to remain steadfast for a bigger piece of the Angel financial pie than Moreno is willing to serve?

A study by CSL (2012) quantified the financial benefits to Anaheim resulting directly from Angels baseball. The failure to extend the team’s contract through 2036 assures the loss to the city of $3,000,000 in net new cumulative spending. And approximately 2,500 full-time jobs would end along with $4,700,000 annually in cumulative taxes and other direct revenues. Moreover, 88% of persons who buy Angel tickets do not live in Anaheim (CSL, 2012, p. 4).

There is enough pie to divide between Moreno and Anaheim so that he and the city feel financially sated. If time runs out, Anaheim is the big and permanent loser.

Source:

Conventions, Sports & Leisure International (CSL). (2012). Economic Impact          Study of Angels Baseball. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/pe8nfqb

 —Hugh Glenn