January 05, 2006

Anaheim: No name, no stadium work

In papers filed in advance of next week's court case against the team formerly known as the Anaheim Angels, the city of Anaheim has claimed that it could lose $191.6 million in "exposure" through 2016 as a result of the team calling itself the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. More alarmingly, the city charges that the name change would make it easier for the team to bolt to Los Angeles when it can opt out of its stadium lease in 2016 - and further hints that Anaheim will refuse to upgrade or replace Angel Stadium if the Angels don't change their name back. When this story first broke a year ago, it didn't look like it was going to turn into a new-stadium battle, but now I'm not so sure...