Anaheim agrees to pay $2.75 million settlement to Angels over canceled stadium deal

Anaheim and the Angels have agreed to a $2.75 million settlement, city officials announced Monday, July 15, two years after the City Council called off the sale of Angel Stadium after it was revealed federal investigators were looking at the negotiations.

A business partnership led by Angels owner Arte Moreno filed a claim with the city in June 2022 seeking $5 million, plus legal fees, to cover costs associated with arranging the sale. The settlement, signed Thursday, July 11, will have the Angels credited $2.75 million of the city’s share of stadium revenue. The Angels will also no longer object to the city building a fire station near the stadium.

“This is a fair settlement for our city,” Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said in a statement. “It allows both sides to move forward without needless expense and distraction. Clearing the path for a fire station is a priority for Anaheim. A new station will serve the growing number of people who visit and call the Platinum Triangle home and will allow us to bring expanded emergency services to the area without added delay or cost.”

The $2.75 million will be paid to the Angels out of future shared stadium revenue the city would have gotten beginning this year.

Each year, the city gets a share of stadium revenue once certain benchmarks are passed for ticket sales, parking and special events. City officials estimate it will take two to three years for the $2.75 million credit to be paid off.

The city’s share for its last fiscal year was $1.4 million.

The Angels organization declined to comment on the settlement.

Also a part of the settlement, the city will get to build its long-sought fire station in the Platinum Triangle in a parking lot near the stadium. An attorney for SRB Management told the city in 2022 that it had no right to build a fire station there since the land is covered by the existing stadium lease.

The city’s 12th fire station could start construction next year and open as early as 2026.

City spokesperson Mike Lyster said the Platinum Triangle has around 10,000 residents now and could triple in population in the next decade. The new fire station will reduce fire and medical response times in the growing area by half, according to a city news release, serving homes, sports stadiums and entertainment venues in the Platinum Triangle.

The two sides were in discussions in recent months over the claim, according to a city news release. The city manager, city attorney, the Angels and SRB Management all signed the settlement agreement on July 11.

The city in May 2022 had agreed to sell the aging stadium to SRB Management, a business group led by Angels owner Arte Moreno, in a $320 million deal that was a combination of cash to the city and money for affordable housing and a large park. The sale agreement had a provision that the business partnership could seek $5 million, plus legal fees, if the sale didn’t occur.

The City Council canceled the sale in May 2022 after former Mayor Harry Sidhu resigned from office following the revelation the FBI was investigating him for alleged corruption, partly in connection with the stadium deal.  In August 2023, Sidhu agreed to plea guilty to four federal charges; in the plea agreement officials said he was recorded telling people he expected to solicit a $1 million campaign contribution from the Angels after the deal was complete.

Sidhu had provided confidential negotiating information to a consultant working for the Angels so that the team could buy the stadium on favorable terms, according to his plea agreement. Sidhu is scheduled for sentencing in December.

The Angels haven’t been accused of any wrongdoing by investigators.

The Angels’ lease at the stadium lasts until 2029 with extensions that could keep the team in Anaheim through 2038. There currently are no ongoing discussions about extending the stadium lease or selling the stadium, Lyster said.