Early Tuesday morning, Anaheim mayor Ashleigh Aitken started getting a slew of calls and texts — rumors were swirling about a potential landmark day in her hometown.
It wasn’t until a few hours later that the news became official. Arte Moreno, the Angels’ beleaguered owner, with whom Aitken had sparred on numerous issues and occasions, was selling the team.
“I feel like it’s my birthday,” Aitken said — with an audible laugh — during an interview with The Athletic. “As a diehard Angels fan my entire life, I am so optimistic about the future of Anaheim Angels baseball.”
The city’s relationship with the team has been rocky in recent years, but now the sale offers Aitken renewed hope for a massive land deal between the city and the team, and the potential that the club might return to using the name of its actual home city, Anaheim, instead of nearby Los Angeles.
The strain between city and club began in 2022, when a land deal between two parties for the Angels to purchase the stadium and surrounding property fell through amid a scandal. Former mayor Harry Sidhu went to prison on corruption charges, and the two parties never re-engaged on talks. Anaheim owns the stadium, which the team has leased through 2032.
Before last season, Aitken penned an open letter to the Angels, pleading for a better partnership, a name change, and more access to inspect the stadium. The request seemingly fell on deaf ears. Aitken is hopeful that the team’s sale will open a path to a new land deal with incoming owner Stan Kroenke.
“Not to put the cart ahead of the horse,” Aitken said, “but if the deal goes through, and if it’s approved by Major League Baseball, then I’m very hopeful that he’s going to want to work with the city to come up with a really innovative development plan that would benefit the residents. Youth sports fields and housing, and potentially hotel development. And make it a vibrant place.”
The land deal brings significant implications for the team and its future in Anaheim. While the Anaheim Ducks, located a stone’s throw from Angel Stadium, are in the midst of a massive refurbishment project, the area surrounding the baseball stadium is largely dormant. If the team were to own the land, it would create incentives to upgrade the ballpark and the surrounding area.
Kroenke has experience with that kind of sports-anchored development. His organization is developing Rams Village at Warner Center, a 52-acre mixed-use project in Woodland Hills anchored by the team’s future permanent headquarters and training facility. The plans also call for housing, retail, office space, a hotel, public open space and entertainment venues.
She also hopes that new ownership will be open to renaming the team the Anaheim Angels. The club has had Los Angeles in its name since 2005, when the City of Anaheim sued the team and lost in civil court.
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the “Home Run for Anaheim Act” — a bill that was brought by an Orange County assembly member and would provide tax breaks and incentives if the team renames the club with the Anaheim moniker. Notably, Kroenke’s news release referred to the team by its former name, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The usage “of Anaheim” was dropped by current team management in 2015.
“Orange County is its own unique fanbase,” Aitken said. “And the residents of Anaheim have been behind this team in good times and in bad. Call me superstitious, but if the only time you won a World Series is when you have Anaheim in your name, it’s probably time to start re-thinking calling us Los Angeles.”
Aitken said she believes the new ownership will have “a lot more goals in common” with the city. This year, the city was able to begin the process of inspecting the stadium. They will receive results of the inspection at the end of the calendar year, Aitken said.
The mayor said she plans to send a note to Moreno congratulating him and his family on the deal, and hopes to sit down with Kroenke in a more official capacity when the deal is approved by owners and the league in 2027.