Angels Biggest Asset Is What Attracted Their New Owner

Ask any Los Angeles Angels fan what the team’s biggest asset is, and they’ll probably say Mike Trout. The superstar outfielder is the first name that comes to mind, or they might point to the team’s strong starting pitching, which is led by Reid Detmers and Walbert Urena. 

But that’s not the biggest asset by a long shot. New owner Stan Kroenke has made a lot of money by turning distressed assets into winners, and part of the appeal that led him to purchase the Angels is their uniquely special attendance record. 

The Angels have fielded some awful teams in the last few years, but they continue to “pack the house” with a per game rate of over 32,000 fans, although you won’t see these folks as actual live bodies in the seats. 

Think of them in terms of paid revenue, which is part of what’s allowed soon-to-be former owner Arte Moreno to run the team into the ground over the course of the last decade. The Angels ranked 13th in attendance this season, although that number did drop from 6th the previous two years, which may actually have helped trigger the sale. 

The reason for this is the sprawling LA market, which Kroenke saw as a gold mine waiting to be developed. Moreno was content to simply collect the money and then run, but Kroenke and his sports group are already rumored to be in negotiations with the city of Anaheim to purchase and develop the land around Angels Stadium. 

He’s done this before, too. When Kroenke bought the Los Angeles Rams, one of the things he did in parallel with improving the team was to develop SoFi Stadium into a multi-use area that helps keep to coffers full so the owner can spend on the team. 

It’s one of the more underrated aspects of the purchase that hasn’t been talked about much so far. Moreno tried to do this a few years back, but he mismanaged the process so badly that he managed to tick off nearly the entire city, and the mayor of Anaheim wound up resigning, then going to jail for a couple of months after an investigation into the proposed deal. 

Kroenke does business above board, and it could result in quick improvement of the team. We still don’t know who the GM will be going forward or how much that person will be allowed to spend, but we have seen this process before and there’s a blueprint in place for this kind of success. It’s one of the best aspects of being an Angels fan right now, especially once the lockout gets resolved.