Angels tell Anaheim they're opting out of their lease on Angel Stadium

[The_Admiral]

Be that as it may, there's a lack of clarity that comes from referring to Sauganash as "suburban Chicago," is there not?

[kimball]

11 hours ago, GDAWG said:

If the Angels move out of Anaheim, what happens to Angel Stadium?

 

Stores. Restaurants. Hotels. 

 

SIDE NOTE: I'm somewhat surprised we haven't had 2-3 posts suggesting a Los Angeles Angels of Long Beach name change. 

[pmoehrin]

46 minutes ago, LMU said:

The Dodgers don’t have a choice. Unlike the Bay Area the market is shared between the Dodgers and the Angels without a dividing line.

 

Traffic-wise, the location is right at the end of the 710 so it’s not too far from freeway access. I’d certainly expect for the capacity to be lowered from the current Angel Stadium number but there definitely won’t be a support issue since Long Beach itself has a population of 450K.

 

This is true.

 

The Bay Area is explicitly laid out where the Giants can play and where the A's can play.

 

Technically speaking the Angels could build a new stadium in the Dodger Stadium parking lot if they wanted to.

 

There is a reason Long Beach was the original spot picked out for the Angels. They can still keep the biggest advantage Anaheim has over LA, which is pulling in Orange County residents, but their local fanbase will also jump by about 100k.

 

The question is where do you find the land to build a stadium and for how much? The most logical choice would seem to be right around where the Queen Mary is docked, but the city is not going to be at a loss for developers wanting to do something with that land.

 

The other factor to consider for the Angels is that this is moving about a half hour away from their old stadium. That's going to significantly change the makeup of potential season ticket buyers. That can be a good thing, or it can completely blow up in your face.

 

It sounds like a good idea on paper, but a lot of factors need to line up for this thing to come to fruition and I don't see it happening. I believe local opposition is going to be strong and I think the price tag is going to be too high for the Angels liking.

[sc49erfan15]

18 minutes ago, the admiral said:

Be that as it may, there's a lack of clarity that comes from referring to Sauganash as "suburban Chicago," is there not?

 

What's the issue?

 

Granted, I'm not intimately familiar with Chicago suburbs, but Google Maps shows me a planned streets, mostly single-family residential (small-ish lot sizes, but yards exist), 2 golf courses, a few commercial strips, 12 miles from the CBD, abutted by an Interstate... looks like a streetcar suburb to me. What's not suburban about it?

[sc49erfan15]

11 minutes ago, kimball said:

 

Stores. Restaurants. Hotels. 

 

SIDE NOTE: I'm somewhat surprised we haven't had 2-3 posts suggesting a Los Angeles Angels of Long Beach name change. 

 

Southern California Angels, maybe?

 

The Padres and Dodgers might have an issue with that, but did those teams (plus the A's and Giants) get up in arms about "California Angels?"

[The_Admiral]

2 minutes ago, sc49erfan15 said:

What's the issue?

 

Granted, I'm not intimately familiar with Chicago suburbs, but Google Maps shows me a planned streets, mostly single-family residential (small-ish lot sizes, but yards exist), 2 golf courses, a few commercial strips, abutted by an Interstate... looks like a streetcar suburb to me. What's not suburban about it?

Well, it's a neighborhood in the city, albeit one on the edge of it, and "suburban Chicago" typically refers to the suburbs. 

 

Perhaps the reason no one has suggested "Long Beach Angels" is that Long Beach isn't really a place people think about too much, not like Anaheim, the Disney city. Also, such a move would bring them closer to Los Angeles than they are now, so the current name would fit fine. Long Beach is right next to San Pedro, which is part of L.A., the system works.

[sc49erfan15]

Just now, the admiral said:

Well, it's a neighborhood in the city, albeit one on the edge of it, and "suburban Chicago" typically refers to the suburbs. 

 

Is "Suburban Chicago" a thing (sorry) used specifically to refer to places outside of the city limits?

 

If Chicago annexed Cicero or Rosemont or Des Plaines, would those places cease to be Surburban Chicago?

[Sodboy13]

Chicago annexed Austin a hundred and some odd years ago, so yes.

 

Mount Greenwood is Suburban Chicago, though. It's almost Honorary Will County.

[The_Admiral]

Mt. Greenwood should incorporate so it can have a city seal that says "The Irish Were The Real Slaves"

[LMU]

35 minutes ago, pmoehrin said:

The question is where do you find the land to build a stadium and for how much? The most logical choice would seem to be right around where the Queen Mary is docked, but the city is not going to be at a loss for developers wanting to do something with that land.

The article cites that the land being offered is the parking lot of Long Beach Arena (aka the “Elephant Lot” as it’s where the circus animals were staged before and after shows).

 

 

And come to think of it a ballpark there would be perfect in terms that you already have a ballpark village in place with the Pike and the plethora of restaurants on Shoreline, you have three luxury hotels within a half mile, and the team would be even closer to the nearest airport (LGB vs SNA)

[The_Admiral]

Right, but once you build on the parking lot, where's the parking? Do you tear down part of the convention center? It's Southern California, people can't not drive to the games.

 

Is that Tobias's Queen Mary there?

[LMU]

18 minutes ago, the admiral said:

Right, but once you build on the parking lot, where's the parking? Do you tear down part of the convention center? It's Southern California, people can't not drive to the games.

 

Is that Tobias's Queen Mary there?

The two square shapes just north of the Arena are parking structures. I could see those being dramatically expanded. I could also see a scenario where they demolish the Arena since they haven’t had a regular tenant since the Ice Dogs and only really schedule Disney on Ice anymore. A wrench is that the outside is painted with a Robert Wyland mural.  

 

There’s also two massive parking structures already in the area (5 and 7 stories respectively) less than a half mile west on Shoreline at the Aquarium so those can definitely be utilized.

 

 

And that’d the same Queen Mary.

[Sport]

I have this weird brain thing where anytime people start talking about Southern California geography my eyes go white and time jumps forward 57.3 seconds. 

[LMU]

7 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

I have this weird brain thing where anytime people start talking about Southern California geography my eyes go white and time jumps forward 57.3 seconds. 

[Burkell007]

36 minutes ago, LMU said:

The two square shapes just north of the Arena are parking structures. I could see those being dramatically expanded. I could also see a scenario where they demolish the Arena since they haven’t had a regular tenant since the Ice Dogs and only really schedule Disney on Ice anymore. A wrench is that the outside is painted with a Robert Wyland mural.  

 

There’s also two massive parking structures already in the area (5 and 7 stories respectively) less than a half mile west on Shoreline at the Aquarium so those can definitely be utilized.

 

 

And that’d the same Queen Mary.

Also better not affect the Indy car race there, with out that Long Beach is not what it is.

[pmoehrin]

On 2/26/2019 at 1:04 PM, LMU said:

The article cites that the land being offered is the parking lot of Long Beach Arena (aka the “Elephant Lot” as it’s where the circus animals were staged before and after shows).

 

 

And come to think of it a ballpark there would be perfect in terms that you already have a ballpark village in place with the Pike and the plethora of restaurants on Shoreline, you have three luxury hotels within a half mile, and the team would be even closer to the nearest airport (LGB vs SNA)

 

The footprint seems a little on the small side, but aside from that, I can't find any criticisms to offer on it.

 

If you're going to go to Long Beach, that's where you would want to go without question. In terms of accessibility and built-in infrastructure, it checks every box anyone could think of. I wouldn't even bother considering any other location in Long Beach if it were me.

 

But as I said before, the Angels are not the only ones with that location marked off as a potential development spot. We'll see what happens going forward.

[LMU]

32 minutes ago, lilben777 said:

Also better not affect the Indy car race there, with out that Long Beach is not what it is.

The Grand Prix seems to have been slowly declining. The celebrity race was axed a couple years back and Toyota bowed out as the title sponsor after last year’s race. The city getting 81 days of tax revenue vs one weekend might be the final nail in the coffin.

[raysox]

1 minute ago, LMU said:

The Grand Prix seems to have been slowly declining. The celebrity race was axed a couple years back and Toyota bowed out as the title sponsor after last year’s race. The city getting 81 days of tax revenue vs one weekend might be the final nail in the coffin.

To be fair, Toyota doesn't run in IndyCar anymore so it might be because of that. Acura now sponsors the race. Long Beach GP is still seen as one of the biggest races of the year, and even more they've looked into hosting F1 instead semi recently. Plus changing the layout of the track isn't necessarily unheard of http://racingcircuits.info/north-america/usa/long-beach.html#.XHWW31NKjOQ

 

Also for a quick second I thought about the prospect of naming them the California Angels, before I realized they're Los Angeles still

[Brian in Boston]

18 minutes ago, raysox said:

Also for a quick second I thought about the prospect of naming them the California Angels, before I realized they're Los Angeles still

 

Long Beach is, indeed, in Los Angeles County.

[Gothamite]

So "Los Angeles Angels" can stay.

 

I worked in Long Beach a couple times in the 1990s, and traffic on the 710 was worse than anything I saw going out to Orange County.  I know that was a long time ago, but LA traffic doesn't tend to get better over time.  Any current residents have an option on the 710?