Rams owner Stan Kroenke to purchase Los Angeles Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. (KESQ) - Rams owner Stan Kroenke announced Tuesday he is purchasing the Angels from longtime owner Arte Moreno with ESPN reporting the price to be $4 billion, a record for a Major League Baseball team.
A controlling interest in the Angels will be acquired by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, with the deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to approval by Major League Baseball.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
"The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market,'' Kroenke said in a statement. ``We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organization.''
Moreno said in a statement that ``The Angels Organization is pleased to announce this transaction with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. The Moreno family has been honored to steward the Angels for 23 years and we believe with KSE's experience and success they are the best next owner for the franchise.
"The Angels Organization looks forward to continuing its commitment to the fans, our employees, the players and our business partners.''
The previous record for a sale of a Major League Baseball team was $3.9 billion for the San Diego Padres by the husband-and-wife duo of José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones. earlier this year.
Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said in a statement that "Fans and residents welcome the start of a new chapter for baseball in Anaheim. I an encouraged by Stan Kroenke's track record with the Rams and his commitment to investing in and uplifting neighborhoods.''
Aitken added she looks ``forward to working with the team's incoming ownership to advance our city's priorities around housing, open space and youth sports at the right time.''
State Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, said in a statement, ``A great day for Angels fans and Anaheim. This agreement ushers in an exciting new era for the team, the city and the generations of fans who call Anaheim home. Looking forward to what's ahead.''
The sale would end the Moreno family's 23-year ownership of the Angels.
Moreno purchased the Angels from The Walt Disney Co. for $183.5 million in 2003, a year after they won their lone World Series championship. Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the sale in May 2003, making Moreno the first Latino controlling owner in MLB history.
The Angels enjoyed their greatest sustained stretch of regular-season success early in Moreno's tenure, winning American League West titles in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2014. The team later endured a prolonged postseason drought despite featuring perennial all-stars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
Moreno announced in August 2022 that his family had begun exploring a possible sale of the franchise. Five months later, however, the family ended the process and announced it would retain ownership,with Moreno saying at the time that the family had ``unfinished business'' with the team.
It has been a rocky several years for the franchise off the field. Former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu was sentenced last year to two months behind bars for his role in the failed sale of the Angel Stadium property, while a state audit raised concerns about access for stadium inspections and revenue- sharing terms in the team's lease.
Also last year, details about the Angels' front office were aired publicly during a civil trial stemming from the 2019 overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Weeks of testimony detailed how former team public relations executive Eric Kay provided painkillers to several players, including Skaggs. Kay was convicted in federal court on drug charges and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Skaggs' family settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount while jurors were deliberating.
Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Doug Chaffee, who has been an Angels fan since the team's days in the Pacific Coast League when it played at since-demolished Wrigley Field in South Los Angeles, said he was optimistic about the change in ownership.
"He's made a success out of his Rams, that's for sure,'' Chaffee told City News Service. ``I think he also knows how to develop real estate, which has been an issue with the city. It's kind of what fans were hoping for -- a change in ownership... We haven't had a winning year for a dozen seasons.''
Chaffee recalled cheering for players such as Steve Bilko and Gene Mauch when they played for the Pacific Coast League Angels in the 1950s.
"We've had some great players but not at the same time,'' Chaffee said. Chaffee noted that the Angels were not widely viewed as World Series contenders entering the 2002 season.
"They weren't supposed to win that year, but we did and that made it even more fun,'' Chaffee said.
As for the years when the Angels featured Trout and Ohtani, Chaffee said, ``It takes a little bit more than two guys. You need some good pitching for one. They didn't seem to have a whole team.''
Chaffee also pointed to the widely criticized blockbuster contract given to Anthony Rendon, who was limited to playing 257 games with the Angels over six seasons after signing a seven-year, $245 million contract in December 2019.
Rendon's time with the Angels was derailed injuries which limited him to 257 games. He last played in 2024.
Former Anaheim City Councilman Jose Moreno, who grew up rooting for the Angels but was vocal in his opposition to the proposed stadium deal, said he was skeptical about the city getting a good deal out of the new owner, but he hoped for the best.
"My hope is Kroenke will come in and restore the name of the team or maybe even do polling or a survey with fans to see do they prefer California Angels or Anaheim Angels,'' Moreno said.
Moreno also hoped the new owner will ``develop a vision with the city of mutual benefit that generates living-wage jobs and builds up the future of the city along with OC Vibe and Disney and give this hard working city what it deserves.''
Moreno pointed to some of the tension between Kroenke and Inglewood officials over advertising on digital billboards and public infrastructure upgrades around SoFi for his skepticism on the new owner's dealings with Anaheim leaders.
"I hope the council and mayor don't somehow give a lot of references to how it played out in Inglewood because they would be disappointed if they talk to the folks in Inglewood,'' Moreno said.
"I hope our City Council and mayor and whoever does the negotiations with him does their due diligence and homework and do what Ronald Reagan famously said there's a lot of trust but we need to verify.''
Kirk San Roman, a longtime fan of the team who works with the Cal State Fullerton Athletics Communications department, said, ``I feel like there's a collective weight taken off the shoulders of Angels fans.''
Roman saw all year how young fans who participated in the ``tarps off'' trend of shedding their shirts during games would chant ``sell the team'' during games.
``I don't want to get too religious about it, but I feel like Kroenke will be on donkeys to Anaheim greeted by fans with palm fronds,'' Roman joked.
Moreno ``went in with the best intentions but it just didn't work out... He had so me really good players, but never any depth. He had Trout and some other great players and Shohei Ohtani, but six or seven other holes and you can't win like that in baseball,'' Roman said.
Roman said he hoped the new owner would change the team's name back to California Angels or Anaheim Angels.
``The Los Angeles Angels thing never went over well in Orange County,'' he said. ``I think he wanted to expand the base, especially with Latino baseball fans who were Dodgers fans, but I don't think he got what he wanted out of that other than annoying people.''
The acquisition would expand Kroenke's Southern California sports holdings. Kroenke-affiliated entities own the Rams and developed SoFi Stadium and the surrounding 300-acre Hollywood Park district in Inglewood.
KSE's other sports holdings include the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League and Arsenal Football Club of the English Premier League.
The company also owns and operates SoFi Stadium, Ball Arena in Denver and Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, along with media properties.
The Angels joined the American League as an expansion team in 1961.
Completion of the sale remains subject to customary closing conditions and MLB approval.
