Fans not into the L.A. Angels

Andrew Edwards

Baseball’s Angels made an expected move Monday that doesn’t appear

likely to earn the team more local fans.

After months of debate, the franchise announced it picked up a new

name -- the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Reaction around the community and the county was swift, frequent

and pretty straight-ahead.

“[The Angels] kind of split the baby in half,” Newport Beach City

Councilman Steve Rosansky said.

The long name was a compromise made by the team to comply with its

lease agreement for Angel Stadium, team spokesman Tim Mead said. The

contract requires the team to include Anaheim in its name but does

not specify where or how the word Anaheim must appear in the name.

Anaheim officials plan to go to court over the name change, city

spokesman John Nicoletti said. The city will request a restraining

order against the name change later in the week, followed by an

attempt to secure an injunction to deny the new name, which Anaheim

City Council members consider a snub to the city and local fans.

“It proves that you have an owner that doesn’t understand Southern

California, baseball fans or the term of his lease agreement,”

Nicoletti said.

The Newport Beach City Council passed a resolution in November in

support of Anaheim’s efforts to prevent Angels owner Arte Moreno from

changing the team’s name. Both Rosansky and Newport Mayor Steve

Bromberg said an Orange County team should have an Orange County

name.

“The Angels have been something that Orange County has been real

proud of for years; we stayed with them when they were real bad,”

Bromberg said.

Reps. Chris Cox and Dana Rohrabacher had also voiced their

opposition to the name change. The pair could not be reached for

comment on Monday.

The change was part of a long-term plan to increase revenue that

includes an effort to enhance television revenues by appealing to a

larger demographic base, Mead said.

The Angels have Major League Baseball’s third-highest payroll, and

without a new cash source, would have to raise ticket prices, he

argued.

Bromberg said he could understand the business angle behind the

decision, and John Hamilton, president of the Newport Sports Museum,

said the new name is fine if it allows the team to hire the game’s

big guns.

“I understand how the people of Anaheim feel, but if you want to

win, you have to pay your people money,” Hamilton said.

But many Orange County fans don’t want their home team to be named

after Los Angeles.

“We’re not L.A.; Orange County’s pretty passionate,” Costa Mesa

resident and Angels season ticket holder Danelle Peterson said.

A former Costa Mesa American Little League board member, Peterson

and her family don’t plan to give up their seats, but she said she’ll

make her opinion known on opening day.

“The first game of the season, I’m sure there’s going to be a lot

of signage,” she said. “I know I’m bringing one.”

* ANDREW EDWARDS is the news assistant. He can be reached at (714)

966-4624 or by e-mail at [email protected].