Angels end talks with Anaheim on stadium lease

ANAHEIM, Calif. >> The Angels have ended negotiations with the city of Anaheim over a renewed lease on the baseball team’s existing stadium and are considering options for a new home ballpark.

The team has also held talks with the nearby Orange County city of Tustin about a possible park, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday.

The decision to end talks with Anaheim comes a year after the city approved a framework for negotiations under which the team would pay $150 million to refurbish Angel Stadium and get a $1-per-year lease on the parking lot. Angels owner Arte Moreno would be allowed to develop the site to recoup stadium-renovation costs.

Anaheim’s mayor had objected to the framework, and suggested the city should share in development profits.

The city commissioned an appraisal that valued the land at $225 million when leased to a developer. The team decided to end negotiations after Anaheim asked for an appraisal of the land without a stadium and a determination of how much it might cost to build a ballpark elsewhere, the newspaper reported.

“It’s been over a year,” said Arte Moreno, the team’s owner. “We’ve gone backward. We haven’t accomplished anything.”

The Angels can opt out of their current lease starting in 2016 and until 2019. If they don’t opt out, the lease would extend through 2029.

Moreno said the team can afford to build a new stadium. He carries no debt on the team, he said.

Anaheim officials said they were ready to continue talks.

“We believe the Angels will not find a better location, better city partners, and most of all, better fans than here in Anaheim,” interim City Manager Paul Emery said.

The Tustin City Council has held at least nine closed-session meetings on the possibility of a new ballpark and has another meeting scheduled for Tuesday. The proposed site in Tustin would be on a former Marine Corps base about eight miles southeast of Anaheim.