The Los Angeles Angels have not had much success on the diamond since Arte Moreno bought the MLB team for a cool $182.5 million back in 2003.
Los Angeles has not made the playoffs since all the way back in 2014 and is going nowhere fast despite boasting one of the league’s largest payrolls.
There could be some good news on this front for longtime suffering Angels fans. Moreno announced on Tuesday that he’s looking into selling the team and has contracted Galatioto Sports Partners as a financial advisor throughout the process.
“Although this difficult decision was entirely our choice and deserved a great deal of thoughtful consideration, my family and I have ultimately come to the conclusion that now is the time. Throughout this process, we will continue to run the franchise in the best interest of our fans, employees, players, and business partners.”
Los Angeles Angels owner arte Moreno on decision to sell the team
These Angels might play second fiddle to the Dodgers in Southern California. But they still do exist in North America’s second-largest media market. This will be appealing to potential owners. The same thing can be said about the presence of stars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani (for now).
Related: Los Angeles Angels set staggering asking price for Shohei Ohtani trade
Los Angeles Angels team value
According to Forbes, the Angels are said to be worth a cool $2.2 billion. That ranks ninth among MLB teams. That’s up from $1.75 billion over the past half-decade and north of $2 billion from when Moreno initially bought the franchise roughly 20 years ago.
There’s a ton of individuals and groups would who pay a bit more than the Angels’ current value to take this organization off Moreno’s hands. Capitalizing on the market while attempting to build a consistent winner will take resources. That’s for sure.
Dave Stewart-led group buys the Los Angeles Angels
Three-time World Series champion Dave Stewart is looking to bring a MLB expansion team to Nashville. He’s working with former United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, among others, to head a group. Right now, the plan is to raise $2 billion to purchase an expanion team.
“I spoke to the commissioner a couple of weeks ago and the same thing still remains. There are two teams that don’t have homes: the Oakland A’s and the Tampa Rays, so those are his priorities to make sure those places have homes to play in. But once they do, expansion becomes next on the agenda.”
Dave Stewart on potential MLB expansion, via ESPN.com
Said expansion team would be the first minority controlled organization in MLB. However, there’s still a lot of hurdles to overcome. Primarily, MLB looking to find a home for Stewart’s former Oakland Athletics team.
This is a long-form way of saying that Stewart and his group could turn their attention to buying the Los Angeles Angels from Arte Moreno. They’d have to raise a bit more money. But the idea of a minority controlled MLB team in Southern California would be seen as appealing to the league. That’s for sure.
Related: Los Angeles Angels standing in Sportsnaut’s most-recent MLB power rankings
Golden State Warriors owner gets into MLB
Warriors owner Joe Lacob had indicated in the past that he made an offer to buy the Oakland Athletics from embattled owner John Fisher. Nothing came to fruition on that front. But it’s clear that Lacob and fellow co-owner Peter Guber have interest in baseball.
The two purchased Golden State for a mere $450 million back in 2010. Fast forward 12 years, and the Warriors are in the midst of a dynasty that has seen them win four NBA titles in eight years. They moved from Oakland to a beautiful waterfront arena in San Francisco.
From a financial perspective, the Warriors are valued at $4.7 billion — the sixth-largest figure in the entire sports world. Did we mention Golden State had made the playoffs just one time in 16 years before Lacob and Guber took over? With a combined net worth of $4.5 billion, the duo could easily buy these Los Angeles Angels. It would make sense for MLB, too, given the Warriors’ financial success over the past dozen years.
Steve Ballmer buys another Southern California team
The former CEO at Microsoft, Ballmer purchased the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers for $2.15 billion back in 2014. It represented the second-largest sale of a North American professional sports franchise at the time. Much like their counterparts in the Northern part of the state, the Clippers have become more relevant with Ballmer leading the charge compared to disgraced former owner Donald Sterling.
It was back in September that Ballmer and the Clippers broke ground on a new arena in Inglewood. They’ll soon find themselves with a new state of the art venue after being a co-tenant with the Los Angeles Lakers insde Crypto.com Arena.
While Ballmer has not necessarily shown interest in a MLB team, he has been seen as a candidate to buy an NFL franchise. What’s to stop the sport’s world richest owner ($91.4 billion net worth) from taking on the Los Angeles Angels and creating another viable franchise? It almost makes too much sense.