Angels Owner Seeks $5 Million From Anaheim After City Voided Stadium Sale

Angels baseball owner Arte Moreno’s management firm is asking Anaheim to return $5 million plus legal fees for walking away from a stadium sale earlier this year and said the city has violated the team’s lease by planning to build a fire station in the ballpark’s parking area.

SRB Management sent a letter to the city Sept. 29 saying it is filing a complaint to retrieve what’s already been spent on title, inspection, escrow, and legal consulting, among other expenses. It also gave the city 30 days to drop its plans to build the new fire station.

“[The] landlord has no right to construct or operate any permanent structure within the Parking Area under the Lease other than that certain development known as ‘Sportstown,’” SRB Management’s attorney Allan Abshez wrote in the letter.

Owner Arte Moreno of the Los Angeles Angels walks off the field prior to a baseball game between the team and Texas Rangers at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, on April 9, 2016. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

The Anaheim City Council met in a closed session Oct. 4 to discuss the claims, which city officials are reviewing, spokesman Mike Lyster told The Epoch Times.

“The SRB claim regarding the now-voided proposal to sell the stadium remains under review, both by the city administration and as a closed session matter for the City Council,” Lyster said.

The firm first asked the city to return the money in June after Anaheim abandoned an agreement to sell the stadium and surrounding property to Moreno for $320 million following a federal investigation into the deal.

Moreno has since said he is exploring options to sell the team.

Sportstown Anaheim, mentioned in the letter, was a development concept adopted by the city in the mid-1990s to build a professional football stadium, a high-tech exhibition hall, two new hotels, and a variety of shops and restaurants around Anaheim Stadium.

Angel Stadium of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team in Anaheim, Calif., on May 24, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

In 1996, then Angels team founder Gene Autry threatened to move the team to another city unless Anaheim agreed to abandon its Sportstown plans.

The Walt Disney Co., which owned the Mighty Ducks at the time, also held off buying a minority stake in the baseball team until plans for Sportstown were scaled back, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. Disney purchased 25 percent of the team for $30 million in 1996 and later took over the rest for $110 million after Autry died—before ultimately selling the team to Moreno in 2003.

Plans for Sportstown on 159 acres surrounding the stadium were included in SRB’s current lease.

“A fire station is not a permitted use within Sportstown,” Abshez wrote.

The city approved a firm in August to construct a fire station in the parking area. SRB Management claims the lease allows the team to have exclusive control over maintenance, pricing, operation, charges, and operation of the parking area during events at the stadium.

In its demand letter, SRB said the city would be in default of the stadium lease and it could take further legal action if the city doesn’t comply. The company said it sent the cost recovery request in June but didn’t get a response from the city.

Anaheim city councilors at Anaheim city hall on May 24, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Last week’s claim regarding the team’s lease does not mean the Angels plan to walk away from its lease, according to the city.

“There has been no request to be released from the stadium lease and this is not a consideration at this time,” said Lyster, the city’s spokesman.

The current lease allows the Angels team to manage and play at the stadium through 2029 with possible extensions through 2038.