Debate over Angel Stadium future returns in 2026

The future of Angel Stadium will be in play this year, as the Los Angeles Angels and the city of Anaheim will take another run at determining the fate of the 1966 ballpark as well as its huge footprint.

To say that the relationship between the Angels and the city of Anaheim is messy would be an understatement. The Angels say the city has failed to perform adequate maintenance on Angel Stadium, while city officials say they’ve been prevented from evaluating the current state of Angel Stadium—something they rectified last fall. With site evaluations completed, the next step is looking closely at the testing and determining the true condition of the ballpark, per the Voice of OC:

City Manager Jim Vanderpool said last month a detailed evaluation of Angel Stadium that city leaders called for in the wake of the canned land sale is expected to be completed this year.

“Engineering consultants have completed testing concrete and metal columns as part of the ongoing stadium assessment. I can share that lab testing is underway as expected, with results set to take four to six weeks,” he said at the Dec. 9 city council meeting.

The assessment is expected to evaluate the condition of the stadium and its maintenance needs.

“The next step will be to hire an engineering firm for a final assessment based on the testing and results. A finalized assessment is expected around mid-2026. There are no significant stadium developments other than this,” Vanderpool said.

Once the report is done, the city is expected to reopen talks about selling Angel Stadium and the surrounding land, something that was broached in 2022. Indeed, the city and the Angels announced a deal that also called for the team to update the ballpark and funding development, but the process was halted when the FBI charged former Mayor Harry Sidhu with an attempt to receive $1 million in campaign contributions as a condition of the sale. The payment never took place, and the Angels were never accused of wrongdoing, but it did help to put an end to the Angel Stadium sale.

Any proposal to sell the land will undoubtedly be contentious and, given the nature of California development, likely draw some litigation from groups who think Anaheim is overcharging or undercharging for 150 acres of prime real estate. The Angels did extend their Angel Stadium lease to 2032, so there is no hard deadline in place.

Which is good, given the rapidly changing landscape of MLB revenues. The Angels have perhaps been hit hardest in MLB with the collapse of RSNs, formerly enjoying one of the richest TV contracts in MLB. With the collapse of the FanDuel Sports Network and Main Street Sports, the Angels and eight other teams are facing an unsure 2026 after cutting ties with the RSN, with the Halos slashing payroll by $86 million, down from $230 million in 2025. As of this writing the Angels don’t have a solid TV deal in place, and unless DAZN buys FanDuel Sports Networks and injects a lot of capital—both to cover past payments and guarantee future payments—Angels TV revenues could be down even more under the MLB umbrella.

And without knowing what sort of TV revenues are on tap, it would be hard for Angels ownership to price out the cost of Angel Stadium renovations as well as a fair-market acquisition of the ballpark acreage.

About Kevin Reichard
Kevin Reichard is founder and publisher of Ballpark Digest.

Debate over Angel Stadium future returns in 2026

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