Angels cancel stadium sale after City Council rebuke
ANAHEIM -- After the Anaheim City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to halt the sale of Angel Stadium and the surrounding property to a management company led by Angels owner Arte Moreno, the Angels Friday agreed to the city's request to cancel the deal.
The Angels released a statement through spokesperson Marie Garvey explaining their decision. The Anaheim City Council voted to void the deal after mayor Harry Sidhu resigned amid an FBI investigation on Monday, which notably did not implicate the Angels in any wrongdoing.
“For almost a decade now, Angels Baseball has been working with the city to be able to continue to deliver a high-quality fan experience at Angel Stadium and create certainty on the team’s future in Anaheim.
“There has been a lot of misinformation and falsehoods stated throughout this process and we want to be clear: we negotiated in good faith with all elected officials and City staff and created a fair deal that was good for Anaheim and Angels Baseball.
“Given that the City Council unanimously voted to cancel the stadium land agreement, we believe it is the best interest of our fans, Angels Baseball, and the community to accept the City’s cancellation. Now we will continue our focus on our fans and the baseball season.”
It's unclear, however, if Moreno will renegotiate a new deal with the city. The Angels have a lease to play at Angel Stadium through 2029 and can extend that agreement through 2038. If no new agreement is reached on a sale, the Angels can continue to play at Angel Stadium, but the stadium and surrounding property would not be redeveloped.