City suggests renewing downtown stadium proposal with the Angels

When the Angels opted out of their stadium lease in Anaheim in October 2018, Long Beach officials reached out to offer the option of building a waterfront stadium downtown, in an area next to and possibly including the Long Beach Arena.

When the Anaheim City Council on Tuesday night voided a deal to sell Angel Stadium and the surrounding land to Angels owner Arte Moreno and his management group, Long Beach was back on the phone. The 13-acre Elephant Lot next to the arena still is available and Long Beach officials are ready and willing to resume talks.

“The Long Beach waterfront downtown has always been the perfect location for a major league sports stadium,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in an email. “If any sports team is interested in engaging the city, we would welcome those discussions.”

Preliminary estimates in 2019 pegged the price of a new stadium at $900 million to $1 billion. That did not include provisions for fan parking when the downtown area already is short on parking.

City officials have been looking for ways to develop the lot as the largest available waterfront property. It currently is used as parking for arena and convention center events and as part of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach course. It also is earmarked for use as a venue for the 2028 Olympics.

The Olympics likely wouldn't create an obstacle — it would take several years to figure out how to finance a stadium, complete an environmental impact study and get all the necessary government permits, including state Coastal Commission approval.

And the Angels don't necessarily have to move all that quickly — their lease on Angel Stadium runs to 2029.

After lengthy negotiations, Anaheim agreed last year to sell the stadium and its surrounding 150 acres to Moreno for $320 million with Moreno's company taking responsibility for stadium renovation and development of the property. But Tuesday, the Anaheim council voided the sale in the wake of an FBI corruption investigation and resignation of Mayor Harry Sidhu, who is accused of giving the Angels inside information in an attempt to get a large campaign donation.