Anaheim taxpayers won’t make any money off Angel Stadium for the next two to three years under a legal settlement signed by city leaders that pays the Major League Baseball team $2.75 million because a deal for them to purchase the stadium fell through.
The stadium deal collapsed after FBI investigators intervened in 2022, saying then-Mayor Harry Sidhu had illegally aided the Angels during negotiations by giving them access to confidential city records in exchange for an expected campaign contribution.
“It appears that Sidhu, on at least two specific occasions, provided City-specific information to the Angels for use by the Angels in their negotiations with Anaheim,” FBI investigators wrote in a 2022 affidavit.
Sidhu resigned and ultimately pled guilty to lying to federal investigators last year. He is still awaiting sentencing.
The FBI affidavit and subsequent investigations by both the county grand jury and state auditors killed any talk of a stadium deal, which led to Angels’ owner Arte Moreno suing the city for $5 million in transaction costs they’d already spent to move the deal forward.
Under the sales agreement, city officials agreed to reimburse team officials if the deal didn’t go through.
[Read: Angels Baseball Still Wants $5M From Anaheim Over Illegal and Dead Sale of Angel Stadium]
Under the new settlement, team leaders are giving up the right to pursue the rest of that money in exchange for a $2.75 million settlement.
The structure for the payment eats into any profit the city currently sees from the stadium.
Instead of paying the team in a lump settlement, city leaders are forgoing their gate tax and other fees on the stadium until the full amount is paid off, which city spokesman Mike Lyster said should take between two to three years.
The team makes around $117 million each year at the gate alone, according to Forbes.
The city is also still required to maintain the stadium, which is set to cost at least $1.5 million over the next two years, according to city Lyster.
City leaders celebrated the deal on Monday, pointing out how they also gained the power to build a new fire station on city owned land that the Angels are currently leasing.
“This is a fair settlement for our city,” said Mayor Ashleigh Aitken in a statement, noting “Clearing the path for a fire station is a priority for Anaheim.”
Angels representatives did not return requests for comment on Monday afternoon.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
•••
Can you support Voice of OC with a donation?
You obviously care about local news and value good journalism here in Orange County. With your support, we can bring you more stories like these.
