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Arte Moreno. | Photo courtesy of Jemill/Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
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Arte Moreno, who has owned the Los Angeles Angels for nearly two decades but said last year that he was exploring a possible sale of the franchise, announced Monday that he will maintain ownership of the team.
“During this process, it became clear that we have unfinished business and feel we can make a positive impact on the future of the team and the fan experience,” Moreno said in a statement released by the team. “This offseason we committed to a franchise record player payroll and still want to accomplish our goal of bringing a World Series championship back to our fans. We are excited about this next chapter of Angels baseball.”
Moreno thanked Galatioto Sports Partners, the firm he hired last August to help explore a possible sale of the team, and said the process “allowed us to meet with a number of highly qualified individuals and groups who expressed strong interest in the Club.
“However, as discussions advanced and began to crystallize, we realized our hearts remain with the Angels, and we are not ready to part ways with the fans, players and our employees.”
Moreno bought the team for about $180 million from the Walt Disney Co. in 2003.
He purchased the team following the Angels’ World Series title in 2002, but the team has struggled over the past decade, failing to make the playoffs since 2014 and recently suffering its seventh straight losing season.
The team has also had off-the-field struggles, most notably the 2019 overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs in a Texas hotel room, and the conviction last year of the team’s former communications director for providing him with the narcotics.
Moreno has also been mired in failed discussions with the city of Anaheim over the proposed purchase of Angel Stadium. The city officially pulled the plug on the proposed sale last May, acting amid an FBI investigation into allegations that former Mayor Harry Sidhu fed insider information to the team in hopes of landing a substantial campaign donation.
Sidhu resigned as mayor in May.
The Angels have a lease to play at Angel Stadium through 2029 with the option for three three-year extensions through 2038.
Mayor Ashleigh Aitken told City News Service that she “looks forward to working with them on decades of championship Angels baseball. … When the time is right we’ll be open to structuring an arraignment that is fair to taxpayers, but for now let the dust settle for the organization and move forward.”
Aitken added that 2022 “was a tough time for the city residents, who were let down by the leadership, but we’re a new council and we’re ready to move forward and there’s always a chance for a fresh start.”
The mayor acknowledged that “fans and residents are very interested” in who owns the team.
“But I respect it is a private enterprise and a private decision for the Moreno family,” she said.
