Anaheim City Council members Tuesday night are scheduled to publicly discuss the latest news on the Angel Stadium lease negotiations, just over a week after Angels baseball team owner Arte Moreno cancelled ongoing negotiations.
The Angels sent a letter to Anaheim Sept. 26 notifying city officials the team was canceling negotiations over a controversial memorandum of understanding.
Under the proposed deal, Moreno’s investment firm, Pacific Coast Investors, was supposed to receive 150 acres of land around the stadium at $1 a year for 66 years. Also, the Angels would be allowed to drop “Anaheim” from the team’s official name, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
In theory, Moreno would have used revenue from developing the land make up to $150 million in renovations to the stadium, and supporters said it kept the Angels in Anaheim for decades at no cost to taxpayers.
But critics, led by Mayor Tom Tait, said Moreno is already obligated to make the improvements under the current lease, and criticized the land grant as a massive giveaway of a public asset to a billionaire sports franchise owner.
The Anaheim City Council meeting begins Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
Please contact Adam Elmahrek directly at aelmahrek@voiceofoc.org and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/adamelmahrek