Mayor Wants Anaheim Angels Back: ‘High, High, Priority For Me’

The mayor of Anaheim, Calif. wants the Angels to start using her city’s name again.

“I have always been an advocate that the Angels should have the city’s name at the forefront, especially considering that [property] is our largest asset,” mayor Ashleigh Aitken told the Los Angeles Times. “That is something that is a high, high priority for me.”

The mayor doubled down in an open letter to the team Friday, the same day as the team’s home opener. It details her intention to develop a relationship with Angels ownership and the main points she’d like to bring to the team in “an open and honest conversation about the future of baseball in Anaheim.” (The team and city are not currently negotiating any kind of deal, the Times reported.)

Aitken’s points include building a “good-faith relationship” and the city gaining “full access” to inspections at Angel Stadium. She wants to have a process that includes and helps her community, such as employing local residents for renovations and staffing, meeting the requirements of public land laws, investing in Anaheim schools and parks, and hosting surveys and community meetings. 

She ends her list by reiterating that she wants Anaheim back as “the team’s location and partner.”

In their MLB history, the Angels have not changed their mascot, but they have changed their geographical marker. The team began as the Los Angeles Angels in 1961 before switching to the California Angels in 1965. The team held onto that name until 1997, when it became the Anaheim Angels. Then in 2005 came the long and geographically inconsistent Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, before shortening back to Los Angeles Angels in 2016. Through all the name changes, the team has called Angel Stadium home since 1966.

“We appreciate Mayor Aitken’s letter and the desire to strengthen the relationship between the City and Angels Baseball,” an Angels spokesperson tells Front Office Sports in a statement. “We look forward to Opening Day at the Big A and the future of Angels Baseball in Anaheim.”

Many professional sports teams don’t use the name of the city in which their stadium is located. For some, it’s more of an issue, including the Tampa Bay Rays, which actually play in St. Petersburg, Fla. The city and the team have been back and forth about a potential new stadium, and changing the name has been a strict no for the team in those discussions. 

The situation is common in the NFL, where teams find more room for stadiums in the suburbs outside their metropolitan area. The Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington; both the New York Giants and Jets play in New Jersey; the Washington Commanders play in Maryland; the San Francisco 49ers play in Santa Clara; the Las Vegas Raiders play in Paradise, Nevada; and the Buffalo Bills play in Orchard Park, New York. Like the Angels, the Rams and Chargers also use the Los Angeles moniker, even though they play in Inglewood.

The Angels and Anaheim have a long history of negotiations for a new stadium deal, and twice the city has backed out of its agreements. One former mayor was sentenced last month to two months of federal prison time for providing the team with confidential city documents and trying to hinder an FBI probe. (The Angels were not found to have committed any wrongdoing.) Aitken was elected mayor and took office in 2022 after her since-sentenced predecessor resigned.

Arte Moreno has owned the team since 2003, and in February the team extended its lease at Angel Stadium through 2032. Moreno, 78, has the option to further extend the lease through 2038.