Civic pride, sure. But what is it really worth to the city of Anaheim to have its name on the hometown baseball team?<\/p>\n
Hundreds of millions of dollars, the city has said. As the Angels\u2019 stadium lease approaches its end, and as Anaheim prepares for negotiations either with Arte Moreno<\/a> or a potential new owner, it\u2019s worth keeping in mind.<\/p>\n So too is a concept floating around City Hall in Anaheim: What if we could put a new stadium and a youth sports complex next to one another?<\/p>\n Nothing is imminent, and even a bill winding its way through the state legislature<\/a> would not necessarily require the Angels<\/a> to return Anaheim to the team name.<\/p>\n It\u2019s leverage: If the Angels\u2019 owner wants to build atop the stadium parking lots, the city can pursue an exemption to a state law that currently restricts what can be built there, which could mean more money for the team and its development partners. In exchange for the exemption, the team name would revert to the Anaheim Angels.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s the carrot, this is the stick: The city would have to approve the zoning changes that could make the land \u201ctwo to three times more valuable than it is as a parking lot,\u201d Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken<\/a> said.<\/p>\n Said Aitken: \u201cThere are no gifts. For an ownership to truly be a partner to the city in what that property could be, there is going to have to be some realization that Anaheim is not Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n The Angels\u2019 stadium lease expires<\/a> in 2032, and the team can extend it through 2038. A new owner could move the Angels \u2014 or at least leverage the threat of a move \u2014 but Anaheim offers a 150-acre site with what every owner in pro sports covets<\/a>: land around the venue to turn the property into a year-round money-making operation.<\/p>\n The standard ballpark villages include restaurants, shops, hotels, homes, offices and entertainment venues. The Ducks are launching one, called OC Vibe<\/a>, around Honda Center, and within walking distance of Angel Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n What intrigues the city, for at least part of the parking lots around Angel Stadium: a youth sports park for all those travel ball teams. Ontario is building<\/a> a 199-acre one around a minor league ballpark<\/a>; Irvine has<\/a> a 194-acre one up and running<\/a> at its Great Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n Katie Wright, who books sports events for Anaheim\u2019s tourism bureau, said there would be a market if her city built a sports park.<\/p>\n \u201cThe demand for, specifically, soccer, baseball and softball is tremendous,\u201d Wright told the Anaheim City Council<\/a> in April. \u201cThey would be filled every single weekend, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n What Anaheim has that Ontario and Irvine do not: Disneyland down the street for visiting families, a variety of restaurants within walking distance, and hotel rooms aplenty. In Anaheim, 40% of the city\u2019s general fund comes from taxes on hotel rooms<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Angels baseball right next to a youth sports facility, to have the synergy of hotels and restaurants, and players interacting with the Little League kids and soccer fields,\u201d Aitken said, \u201cI just think it\u2019s a unique opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Everything old is new again: In 1996, Anaheim pitched a youth sports center called the \u201cLittle A\u201d<\/a> in part of the stadium parking lots as part of a ballpark village that never materialized.<\/p>\n What might be in the best interest of the city now might not be in that of the developer, whether that turns out to be the Angels or a real estate partner. While a sports park might drive tax revenues to the city, a developer might pay the most for land used for hotel and retail properties, said Louis Tomaselli, the Irvine-based executive managing director at JLL, a nationally prominent commercial real estate brokerage.<\/p>\n \u201cA youth sports complex would likely be at or near the bottom from a land value perspective,\u201d Tomaselli said.<\/p>\n That\u2019s all part of the negotiation, and for now the city of Anaheim has no party with which to negotiate. That leaves room for all sorts of brainstorming, including Aitken\u2019s curiosity about flanking the development with high-rise residential buildings, similar to the condominiums that have risen next to Petco Park in San Diego. In some of them, you can watch the game from your balcony<\/a>.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s get back to the value of the Anaheim name on the baseball team.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of times, we get the question, \u2018Exactly where is Anaheim?\u2019\u201d Wright, the Anaheim tourism official, told the City Council. \u201cWe\u2019re always fighting to say, \u2018We\u2019re not L.A.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In 2005, when Anaheim sued the Angels after Moreno slapped the Los Angeles label on the team, the city commissioned experts that testified the name change would cost Anaheim<\/a> nearly $200 million over the following decade and close to $400 million through 2029. The Angels dismissed both numbers as wildly high, but that is what the city presented in court.<\/p>\n I asked Sean Moran of Los Angeles-based Innovative Partnerships Group for an update. Moran estimated the worth of the Anaheim name at $26.5 million per year \u2014 or more than $500 million over the life of a 20-year deal \u2014 based on the value of references to the city on game broadcasts, digital and social media, highlight clips, betting sites, in fantasy leagues, and more.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think you can put a monetary value on civic pride and respecting your fan base,\u201d Aitken said. \u201cSo, if a new owner wants to come in and start fresh and really respect the fan base in Orange County, the name should not even be a negotiating point.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should be the first thing you do, out of respect for where this team is located, and the fan base that is so loyal in good times and bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps. But, if I\u2019m the new owner of the Angels and the city is on record saying its name on the team is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the first thing I say to the city in negotiations is: You can get your name on the team for that $500 million, which would help me build a new ballpark that could cost $1.5 billion.<\/p>\n Who else could benefit from that? Moreno, as the need for a new owner to pay for a ballpark could lower the sale price.<\/p>\n Even without that exemption from state law, a new owner could pursue a fair amount of development on land Anaheim has failed to develop for 60 years, on a site the city\u2019s own land use plan<\/a> envisions as \u201can exciting mix of high energy uses while providing additional housing.\u201d Or a new owner could simply inherit the existing lease and deal with potential development later.<\/p>\n