How long does it take to assess the condition and maintenance needs of a major league baseball stadium in Orange County?

Under the team’s current lease, the stadium is supposed to be maintained at a first class level. 

Yet is it?

The answer to that question is approaching two years and counting for Anaheim officials – something initially estimated to take two months. 

So far, that’s roughly a year and 10 months longer than it took for a previous city council to begin negotiations and decide to sell the stadium in 2019 – a deal that collapsed a few years later when revelations of an FBI corruption probe surfaced. 

[Read: OC Judge Halts Angel Stadium Sale Amidst FBI Corruption Probe of Anaheim Mayor]

Negotiations on the stadium sale officially kicked off in November 2019 and the sale process was started by a majority of city council members one month later – a couple weeks after the deal was made public to residents.

Now, residents are still waiting for the full assessment of Angel Stadium that officials first called for in the fall of 2022 after a FBI corruption probe derailed a planned stadium land sale that took less than two months to negotiate. 

Officials didn’t vote on a contractor to start the first phase of the maintenance assessment until May 2023. 

And it still remains unclear when exactly Anaheim residents will see a final report on the shape of the stadium they own – an assessment that city officials might be able to use to get the Angels to make repairs under a recently reinstated lease.

Meanwhile, top city staff and Angel executives met privately in January with a real estate consultant to discuss a state law regarding selling public land – sparking questions if another land sale is in the works despite city officials adamantly denying any negotiations about the stadium.

[Read: What’s the Future of Angel Stadium?]

At the same time, state auditors are also taking a look to see if the ball club has lived up to its end of lease agreement with the city when it comes to revenue sharing and maintenance of the stadium at the request of State Assemblyman Avelino Valencia and State Senator Tom Umberg.

[Read: State Auditors to Investigate Angel Stadium Lease And Canned Land Sale]

According to the state auditor’s website, the audit is expected to be released this Spring. It was launched last August – about two years since city officials voted to commission their own stadium assessment.

Umberg said he doesn’t know how long a stadium assessment should take, but said it’s an important step in letting taxpayers know how much one of the most valuable municipal property in the state is worth.

“When the former mayor and the former city council attempted to sell the stadium without a public acknowledgment of the value, it allowed them to attempt to sell the stadium for $100 million plus less than fair market value, which you know that value belongs to the taxpayers,” he said in a phone interview.

While city officials released a stadium appraisal in 2019, many critics – including Umberg – said the appraisal was undervalued. 

[Read: Two State Lawmakers Call For Delay of Angel Stadium Land Sale]

Umberg also said that former Mayor Harry Sidhu and his council majority’s decision to reinstate the lease in 2019 might not have been in the best interest of taxpayers.

[Read: Anaheim Mayor and City Staff Offer Contradicting Angels Stadium Statements]

“The Angels now have little incentive to renovate. In fact, they may even have an incentive to, in essence, depreciate the stadium so that in 2032 they can either buy it for less or it puts the city in a bad position in terms of any sale of the stadium,” he said.

The state senator also said he would like to see the stadium put out to bid in the not so distant future so residents can see the value of it and to create more affordable housing as required by the Surplus Land Act – a state law Umberg and Valencia beefed up in response to the corruption scandal.

Waiting For a Stadium Assessment 

Former City Councilman Jose Moreno, who called for the city assessment years ago, said it should not take this long to assess Angel Stadium’s condition – especially when current city council members supported looking at the public property’s maintenance needs.

“They are now seemingly dragging their feet on allowing the people of Anaheim to find out what are the costs that will be incurred to update the stadium to a first class, world class stadium level,” Moreno said.

“I would expect, and do expect our mayor and city council – who ran on platforms of transparency, honesty and integrity – to publicly inquire as to why this assessment has taken so long.”

City Spokesman Mike Lyster said the assessment is being conducted in phases and the focus is on getting the assessment right, not producing it fast.

“We are now in the second phase, which is more detailed and involves taking a more thorough look at concrete, beams, escalators, heating and ventilation and other parts of the stadium,” he said in a March 5 email. 

“We are working with the Angels on how to do that while working around the business operations of stadium, which include baseball as well as year-round events.”

According to Lyster, the second phase will cost between $750,000 to $1 million. He did not say when the assessment is expected to be completed or how many phases the assessment would have.

The Iconic “A” signage at Angel Stadium is lit up in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 25, 2025. The ballpark has been home to the Los Angeles Angels since 1966.

The stadium’s last appraisal took a little over a year to get publicly released. 

[Read: Speed of Anaheim’s Stadium Sale Proposal Raising Concerns]  

In a text message Wednesday, City Councilman Carlos Leon said he looks forward to the city and its contractors finishing the assessment and making the results public.

“It’s a longer process to do the initial assessment plus the secondary inspections and follow ups that go with it to ensure things are done correctly and we’re getting as accurate information as possible,” Leon wrote. 

“It’s a matter of working with the team to get access while also having to work around the on-season and off-season events that go on at the stadium.”

The rest of the city council did not respond to requests for comments and questions about the delay in the assessment’s completion.

Marie Garvey, a spokeswoman for the Angels, refused to comment on the audit and the assessment directing a reporter to city officials instead.

“Neither of these are completed and it would be inappropriate for us to comment,” she said in a March 6 text message.

Garvey said in a follow text on March 10 that the Angels have done more than their fair share when it comes to maintenance called for in the lease.

“Under current ownership, we have spent millions more than what the lease requires in capital improvements and maintenance,” she wrote.

Previous elected officials like former Mayor Tom Tait and former Anaheim City Councilwoman Denise Barnes also said the assessment shouldn’t take this long.

“I’m not an appraiser, but honestly, if you want to move something forward, you get good people that expedite or would make it happen. You don’t wait around,” Barnes said.

“The people deserve to know what it’s worth. I mean, this is the taxpayers’ property.”

Tait said a very long time has passed to not have a final maintenance report by now.

“It seems like an awfully long time for an assessment,” he said. “Way back in 2018 when I was mayor, we asked for an appraisal of the property unencumbered, and that never happened.”

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim play the Houston Astros at Angel Stadium Sept. 28, 2019. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC

Both the city assessment and the state audit started after federal agents alleged in sworn affidavits that former Mayor Sidhu tried to get $1 million to help fund his campaign from the Angels in exchange for ramming through the land sale.

Sidhu resigned the same day his former colleagues on the city council canned the planned land sale and would later plead guilty to corruption charges – including lying to federal investigators about the campaign finance scheme. 

[Read: Ex-Anaheim Mayor Sidhu Agrees to Plead Guilty to Corruption Charges] 

Maintaining a ‘First Class Professional Baseball Stadium’

Under the stadium lease, originally signed almost 30 years ago, the Angels are responsible for maintaining the city owned stadium at a “first class professional” level.

“Tenant will maintain the Baseball Stadium in good condition and repair subject to ordinary wear and tear at its sole expense,” reads the lease. “The standard of maintenance to which Tenant will adhere in the maintenance of the Baseball Stadium will be at least equal to first class professional baseball stadium.”

[Read: Who’s on the Hook for Angel Stadium Repairs?]

City Attorney Rob Fabela also stated publicly in 2022 that it was the Angels who were responsible for repairs regardless of cost according to the stadium lease.

Last month, the city officials announced that Angels Baseball extended that lease to 2032. 

But it remains unclear how much money Angels Owner Arte Moreno – no relation to Jose Moreno – would be willing to put towards stadium repairs once the assessment is completed.

In an article on the Major League Baseball website last month, Arte Moreno said he puts $5 million to $7 million in the stadium each year.

“It needs money,” he is quoted saying. “But I’m not going to put $200 or $300 million into a stadium that a city owns without any of their participation. Maybe we’ll get a new mayor and council that wants us to stay.”

Angel Stadium in Anaheim on March 5, 2022. Credit: FINN CUNNINGHAM, Voice of OC

Umberg said he wants the Angels to stay in Anaheim, but they have a responsibility to residents.

“I also want to make sure that the Anaheim taxpayers are treated fairly, and that one, whoever is the lessee lives up to their obligations, and two, that the stadium remains a valuable asset for a generation to come,” he said.

In the past, the Angels have said they’ve upheld the lease and spent significantly more on the stadium than what’s required in the lease.

But others say the stadium is in decay.

“Have you been to the stadium lately?” Umberg said. “The stadium needs a lot of work”

Barnes said the assessment could be used to make the Angels bring the stadium up to par and the stadium is definitely not in world class shape – especially the stadium’s broadcast system.

“It’s like two generations old,” she said. “I still think once the evaluations are done, we’ll really see what’s not acceptable and what is acceptable.”

Where is Anaheim’s Stadium Assessment? 

While city officials first voted in November 2022 to move forward with a stadium assessment, it wasn’t until May 2023 they approved a $325,000 contract with Populous, Inc. to do a portion of the assessment. 

At the time, Anaheim Convention Center Director Tom Morton told officials that the assessment would take two months.

“Once the program starts we should have results in approximately two months,” Morton said at the May 16, 2023 meeting.

Lyster said that was the first phase of the assessment – a visual survey of the stadium.

“We look forward to sharing a final assessment. It would be premature to share results from an initial visual survey without a more thorough analysis and technical understanding of the stadium’s condition,” he said.

Former Councilman Moreno said the lack of public updates on the commissioned condition report at council meetings has him questioning if there had been any real changes made in the city since the corruption scandal first broke.

“As caretakers of our stadium and our people’s assets, they seem to again have followed the same playbook that was funded, organized and designed by corporate special interests in our city,” he said.

“The players may have changed,” Moreno added. “The game seems to stay the same.”

Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.

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