Disney Deal for Angels Hinges on Plan to Renovate Stadium

The Walt Disney Co.’s deal to purchase 25% and controlling interest in the Angels could collapse if Disney and the City of Anaheim can’t agree on a plan to renovate Anaheim Stadium.

Though baseball owners are expected to approve Disney as the Angels’ new managing general partner today, Jackie Autry, Angel executive vice president, said Wednesday that if a stadium plan isn’t developed within 60 days, Disney can back out of the deal.

If that happened, Autry said, “We’d go and find another buyer.” Former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who was negotiating to buy the Angels last winter until Gene and Jackie Autry decided in May to sell to Disney, would probably re-emerge as the leading candidate to buy the team.

However, an American League source indicated Wednesday that if Disney and the city were making progress toward a stadium agreement by mid-March, an extension would probably be granted.

Disney Sports Enterprises President Tony Tavares, who will run the Mighty Ducks and the Angels pending ownership approval of the Disney purchase, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

It is unclear how the contingency clause affects Disney’s reported plans to impose sweeping changes in the Angel front office after the owners’ vote.

“This is the last hurdle [toward a deal],” Jackie Autry said at the owners’ meetings. “All the other deal points [with Disney] have been finalized.

“I know Disney wants to work out something with the city because it’s in the city’s best interests to keep the team there. But if they don’t, the current [stadium] lease expires in 2001, and I suspect the Angels will be looking at other locations.”

A renovation of Anaheim Stadium, which would include demolition of the outfield seats to transform a 67,000-seat football and baseball stadium into a more cozy, 43,000-seat baseball stadium, could cost as much as $100 million.

That’s a price the City of Anaheim, still stinging from the loss of the Rams and Orange County’s bankruptcy, probably cannot afford.

“I think we can come up with something that is compatible to both sides, but obviously coming up with those resources is the tough thing,” Anaheim City Manager James D. Ruth said.

“We have to find a way to fund it. We’ll do everything we can to make it happen . . . but I wouldn’t say I’m overly optimistic.”

Serious stadium negotiations won’t begin until Disney receives ownership approval today, but Ruth made it clear that the city, which did not cave in to the Rams’ demands for a new football-only stadium, could not pick up the entire tab.

The renovation project will probably be a joint venture, in which Disney and the city pay for stadium improvements and the city rewrites an antiquated stadium lease Autry calls “the worst in baseball outside of Pittsburgh.” That way, Disney would have the potential to recoup a large portion of its remodeling costs in stadium revenue.

“You’re looking at a substantial investment,” Ruth said. “We’ll do what we can to put this together, but we’re not going to put our general fund at risk. . . . We’re not going to subsidize them.”

Ruth said the city will only consider renegotiating the stadium lease if the Angels are willing to commit to Anaheim for another 30 years. He did not seem to appreciate Autry’s threat that the Angels would consider leaving Anaheim if Disney can’t strike a stadium deal.

“There’s always a chance they could leave, but we don’t respond well to having guns pointed at our head,” Ruth said. “We’ve always been fair negotiators, and we’ve always been supportive of the baseball franchise. We want to move toward a resolution of this situation.

“But I also want to make it clear that this is our stadium, and we will have the final say in what improvements will be made. Disney can make suggestions and we’ll try to be responsive to their needs. . . . This will be difficult, but it’s do-able.”

Autry said an outdated stadium lease--it was written in 1964--is one of the main reasons she claims the Angels have lost between $25 million and $30 million in the last five years, “and that problem is only going to transfer from Gene Autry to the Walt Disney Co.,” she said.

Under its current lease, the Angels and the city split parking revenue, 50-50, and the Angels receive 60% of concession revenue. The city charges the Angels rent that amounts to 7.5% of gate revenue for the first 2 million fans and 10% of gate revenue above that mark. The Angels claim to make little money from their luxury suites.

“Something has to be done for the club to remain competitive, no matter who owns the team,” Autry added. “You can’t continue to underwrite those kinds of financial losses. It has become a problem trying to compete with teams that are making four times as much in stadium revenue.”

The Disney negotiations with Anaheim apparently won’t affect baseball’s stance on the $30-million sale. The ownership committee Wednesday agreed to recommend approval of the Disney sale to fellow owners, who will vote on it today. Angel President Richard Brown said the deal will be approved.

“Certain areas of the transaction still have to be finalized, but the quality of ownership is fine,” said Brave Chairman Bill Bartholomay, who is also chairman of the ownership committee. “This is one of the great global companies. Their aura of success can only help baseball.”

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Major leagu owners are expected to conclude their winter meetings here by approving interleague play in 1997, pending approval by the players’ union. Each team in a five-team division would play 15 interleague games, with teams in four-team divisions playing 16. The designated hitter would be used in American League parks, but not National.

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Disney’s Blueprint

There are several elements of Disney’s plan to transform Anaheim Stadium into an arena for baseball only:

* Remove outfield seats to reduce seating from 67,000 to about 43,000, creating a more intimate setting.

* The renovations could cost about $100 million, a sum city officials say they cannot afford alone.

* Disney can back out of its deal to buy controlling interest of the Angels if a deal with city isn’t reached.