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Pearly Gates: An Angels Blog
Pearly Gates: An Angels Blog
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Saturday, November 13, 2004

What's in a name?

The saga continues:
Relations between the Angels and the city of Anaheim deteriorated further during a meeting Friday, when club President Dennis Kuhl refused the city's demand to say once and for all whether the team would change its name to the Los Angeles Angels.

Although the meeting was designed to ease tensions between the two sides, a plan to issue a joint statement collapsed. Kuhl issued a statement that did not mention the possibility of a name change; the city's statement focused on that issue and blistered the Angels for being "unwilling to publicly clarify their position" and "not committed to honoring the terms of their lease."
I wouldn't say that Kuhl was necessarily "unwilling to publicly clarify [the club's] position", because just a few hours later he released this statement:
"We are all interested in the long-term economic health of this club in our efforts to field a perennial contender and maintain ticket affordability for our loyal fans," Kuhl said in the statement. "The Angels ranked third in payroll throughout Major League Baseball last season while maintaining the 23rd lowest average ticket price out of 30 teams. The Angels televised over 98 percent (159) of our games in 2004, yet we still finished in the bottom half of broadcast revenues.

"As an organization, we are continuing to explore opportunities to expand our reach in the No. 2 media market in the country, as well as other revenue options. Today's discussion was centered on our overall objective of Angels Baseball providing a consistent contender and making Angel Stadium of Anaheim one of the premier sports venues in the country."
He may dance around the issue at hand, but it pretty clear what he's hinting at. Of course the argument that the Angel's broadcast revenue is somehow connected to the team's Orange County location is asinine. All you have to do is compare the Angels and Dodgers franchises historically, and it becomes plainly obvious why the Angels play second fiddle in the So. Cal media market (and it has nothing to do with geography). Let's face it; the team was a perennial loser with no hope when the last broadcast deal was hammered out. That is no longer the case. And while the club likely will never surpass (or even equal) the Dodgers in revenue, they should be able to increase their own revenue substantially, without re-branding.

Later in the day Angels' spokesman Tim Mead confirmed what we already knew- that a name change is in the team's plans:
Mead acknowledges the discussion of the team's name has become a "hot-button issue," but it's one that has been in play for some time now.

"Nothing's changed from what we've said previously, that it's a concept we've been talking about," Mead said. "It's been an issue we've discussed for several months. It's a major issue, but it's one of many major issues."
Clear enough for you? Anyway, this is still a very unlikely scenario, especially now that the City of Los Angeles has weighed in:
And some officials with the city of Los Angeles aren't crazy about the Angels using their name either. Councilman Alex Padilla on Friday introduced a motion to the city council protesting an Angels name change. The full council will vote on the measure Wednesday, but Padilla said he's confident it will pass. His concern is that none of the revenue Angels owner Arte Moreno will generate using the city's name will go back to Los Angeles.

"If I were an Angels fan in Anaheim, I'd feel a little disrespected," Padilla said. "There may not be a lot of things the city of Anaheim and the city of L.A. stand in common on, but this is one. This is a no-brainer."
So it looks like the Angels are caught between a rock and hard place. There's an awful lot of negative press surrounding this story (including a protest at the stadium today), so I wouldn't be at all surprised if Arte Moreno backed-off in the next few days. The longer this gets dragged out, the worse it is from a PR standpoint- and the City of Anaheim is prepared for a long, dragged-out battle through the courts. It's a battle the club may very well win- but one that will do irreparable harm to the club's image.

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