Title of Article
by Asher B. Chancey, Baseball Evolution
Date of Article
The professional sports world will probably be wondering how much weight should be given to today’s ruling in California that allows Major League Baseball’s Angels to call themselves “the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.” Does this mean that professional sports franchises can name themselves after any city they want? Well, that wasn’t the question that was answered today.
Rather, the issue before the court was whether the baseball club had breached a contract it had entered into with the City of Anaheim to call itself the Anaheim Angels. The team argued that the contract merely required that the team keep the city’s name in the name of the team, an obligation the team feels it fulfilled by retaining the “of Anaheim” tag at the end of its official team name. The City of Anaheim felt the agreement between the city and then owners Walt Disney Co. required the team to be called “the Anaheim Angels.”
Today’s verdict is a victory for the Angels, as they will be allowed to continue to affiliate themselves with the second largest media market in the United States. However, the verdict is a loss for the City of Anaheim, and indeed for common sense. For Anaheim, this sends a message to the world that Anaheim is not a “Major League City,” an important distinction from a tourism perspective. Think New Orleans isn’t freaking out at the prospect of the Saints and Hornets leaving town post-Hurricane Katrina? Think Cleveland and Charlotte didn’t act fast when pro-sports franchises left town? For a growing city, professional sports can be a boon, and you better believe that the City of Anaheim very much enjoyed having their name on a list of a thirty Major League Baseball cities.
As I pointed out last year when this story first arose,
Angels owner Arte Moreno’s rationale for wanting to change the team’s name rings a bit hollow. After the verdict was announced today, Moreno was quoted as saying, “we're going to have a healthier franchise that can compete.” Moreno wants to pretend that his team is at a disadvantage by being in Anaheim instead of Los Angeles, but this has not proven to be true – the Angels have finished first in the American League West each of the last two years, won the World Series in 2002, and finished with a winning record in five out of eight seasons in which they were known as the “Anaheim Angels.”
Now, obviously I am being obtuse – when Moreno says he wants to be able to “compete,” he of course means in terms of money, not in terms of winning percentage. Nevertheless, again his arguments rings hollow. The top two media markets in the country are, of course, New York and then Los Angeles. That takes care of three teams – the Mets, the Yankees, and the Dodgers.
Disagree with something? Got something to add? Wanna bring up something totally new? Asher B. Chancey resides in Alexandria, Virginia, and can be reached at asher@baseballevolution.com.
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