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State auditor Grant Parks has issued a review of Anaheim’s leases with Angels at Angels, criticising the lack of access to inspections and its revenue sharing terms, comparing them to other stadiums in the state.
Senator D-Santa Ana called for an audit with D-Anaheim’s Avelino Avelino Valencia in August, denounced the lease agreement and said he would work with the city on how to get a more detailed inspection of the stadium for nearly 60 years.
“If there’s nothing else, then at least we need to be aware of the health and well-being of those who attend the stadium,” Umberg said.
A detailed assessment of the stadium is necessary “from the perspective of property degradation,” Umberg added. This is a major asset for Anaheim taxpayers. Basically, you have to make sure that is not the case
It’s falling to the ground.”
Umberg said extreme weather from climate change poses new risks to stadiums that weren’t there when they were built, including strong winds that fuel wildfires.
“The building was built long ago so long ago that the conditions that existed that day changed,” Umberg said. “That’s a concern for the time being.”
Umberg said he wrote a bill passed in 2022, but would void the public contract “if the negotiated contract is not in the best interest of the district.” “Official corruption, such as bribery, can lead to, for example, emissions of contracts.
On Friday, former mayor Harry Sidhu will be sentenced to him in his role in a failed stadium sale deal. When Sidhu pleaded guilty in August 2023, he admitted he shared negotiation terms with then-Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament and an Angels consultant, but thought he was caught on an undercover tape expecting a $1 million campaign contribution from the Angels for his help steering the deal through the city council, he has been emergency in court papers that he never asked for a contribution and was never charged with bribery.
Parks said in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators that Reese, which began nearly 30 years ago, “doesn’t explicitly provide Anaheim with the right to inspect publicly owned stadiums to confirm its retention.
and maintenance, and NO conditions require public reporting of physical condition of the stadium or postponed maintenance. ”
Anaheim Mayor Ashley Aitken said the audit will help guide city officials in the future.
“We welcome any recommendations to inform future lease discussions,” Aitken said. This is a 30 year old lease where we are bound. The Sidhu Council had the opportunity to address many of these issues, but it was not. Going forward, we are confident that the city’s audit team will oversee the lease with the latest audit set later this year. ”
The city earns a small income from the stadium as the Angels paid $76 million in rent in 1997.
The city’s percentage of ticket revenue is $2 for every ticket that exceeds 2.6 million tickets per year, according to the auditor.
“Low attendance means Anaheim did not receive baseball revenue from 2020-21-2022,” Parks wrote in his letter. $415,000 in Anaheim over this period, excluding rent income and stadium renovation costs.
City officials “returned to ownership $76 million, which was rented in 1997, $76 million, which was prepaid for rent by ownership in order to contribute to the Angels’ stadium renovation efforts,” Parks wrote.
“Angels ownership does not pay ongoing rent and will not pay ongoing rent despite the option of extending its lease multiple times with Anaheim, including the three-year extension option that it exercised in February 2025.”
The city’s lease will be held until December 2032 and can be extended to six years.
The city and angels said they could be on a conflict course in court over the amounts contested for repairs over the years.
The contract includes a “capital reserve fund” that the angels and the city pay for improvement.
“This lease provides that if Angels ownership spends more on capital maintenance and repairs to the stadium and parking lot than is available in the fund, Angels ownership can trust additional amounts for the next subsequent obligation to fund future capital reserves,” according to the audit.
The team spends $35.6 million more than what is available on the fund, so the owners claim the city is on the hook for its costs, but city officials claim it is “not worth it” according to the audit.
Auditors denounced city officials for “minimum effort” to ensure profit sharing with the team was accurate.
“Angels ownership provides the city with a letter each year indicating the city’s revenue, but the letter does not include support documents,” the audit reports.
“City staff will report baseball ticket sales figures with reported ownership of the Angels by comparing them to (Major League Baseball), but do not take any other steps to determine whether the revenue from parking lots and other events appears reasonable.”
Non-baseball events at stadiums, such as monster truck shows and motocross competitions, have been “the biggest source of Anaheim’s stadium revenue in recent years,” but “city staff have not documented other events
According to the audit, it will not be held at the stadium or request information about other events from the Angels’ ownership.
City officials say they rely on “regular audits” rather than auditing twice a year as permitted under the lease. Over the past 12 years, there have been two audits in 2013 and 2018.
Auditors found that the revenue the team paid for the city was “consistent with the lease requirements,” but the team appears to have overpaid $95,000 for tickets in 2021, and the city is seeking a refund.
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