Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / REACTION: Arte Moreno sells Angels to Rams Owner Stan Kroenke

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REACTION: Arte Moreno sells Angels to Rams Owner Stan Kroenke · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Well, hey, Angel fans, and welcome to our first special
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: edition of Halo Territory. I am Mike DiGiovanna, former LA
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Times baseball writer and host of the show, joined by
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: my regular co-host, Mark Trumbo, the former Angel slugger. And
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: we are not doing the usual rundown of the latest
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Angel's loss or win or whatever. We have pretty huge
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: breaking news that will change the direction and course of
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: this franchise from this day moving forward. The Tarps Off
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: guys got their wish. Artie Marino has agreed to sell
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Whoa.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: That's one people have been waiting for a long time.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I already got a bunch of texts from some of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: my Angel fans' friends, and I'm not sure anybody summed
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: it up better than our Hilo Territory correspondent, Breezy Nolan.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Holy crap. for lack of a better word. Well, Stan Kroenke, uh,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: who runs the Stan, uh, Kroenke Sports Entertainment Group, has
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: reached a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest of
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the Angels from the Marino family. The deal is expected
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending Major
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: League Baseball owners' approval. Now, no official purchase price, uh,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: was released today, uh, But reporting from Bill Shakin of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the L.A. Times, who I trust completely, indicates that the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: price will set a new major league record, topping the
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: San Diego Padres' selling price of $ 3. 9 billion earlier this year.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: That's the rumored ballpark figure everyone is using now, at
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: least $ 3. 9 billion and likely more.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: That seems like a pretty nice potential profit as he
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: bought the team for $ 184 million in 2003, right.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: After they had won the world series.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: So when we get the exact figure, well, we're not
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: going to be able to probably put it on here
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: unless it comes through, but maybe these things aren't entirely
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: public until they are. This is enormous news. Nevertheless, the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: how many, Thousands, hundreds of thousands of Angels fans have
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: been waiting for something like this. And they didn't shove
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: it on the back end of the week either.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: This is a Friday afternoon.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: This is causing us to rally and we're going to
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: do the best we can to cover some of what
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: we know about Kroenke's family, their involvement, the site of
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the team's future play. Probably remain the same. Maybe it'll change.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: And any other details that Mike might be willing to
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: lead us into?
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've covered a fair amount of Rams over the years,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: so I feel like I have some insight on Stan Kroenke.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I've met the man, chatted with him a few times,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and he is a first-rate professional sports team owner. Let's
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: put it that way. Kroenke owns the Rams. They obviously
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl a couple years ago in L.A.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: He also owns the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche, the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Colorado Rapids. of Major League Soccer, and Arsenal, the Arsenal
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: football club in the Premier League in England, one of
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the top and most storied football clubs in the Premier
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: League and in all of international soccer. That's a nice
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: portfolio right there. Yes, yes, exactly. And he's also known for,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: this is like a family operation. So Stan's son, Josh Kroenke,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: is vice chairman of the Kroenke Sports and Entertainment Group.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: He's been president and governor of the Nuggets and the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Avalanche for years. He sits on the Arsenal board, and
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: he's sort of the most visible day-to-day sports executive across
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: their portfolio. Stan's daughter, Whitney, is more on the philanthropy side,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: documentary side, and doesn't really get involved in running the teams.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: But if Angel fans are wondering who they might actually
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: hear from besides Stan, Josh is the name to know.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: It's really interesting.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I was briefly looking and it looks like Stan is
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: a youthful 79 years old. So I said a 79
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: year old purchasing from, I believe Artie just turned 80. However, well,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: it seemed, well, pretty documented. Artie's kids didn't seem to
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: have any interest in the ball club, anything to do
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: with the ball club.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: And this seems like the exact opposite. Yeah, there was
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: never a succession plan in place with Artie Moreno. You know,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: he put the team up for sale in 22, and
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I don't think he was getting the prices that he
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: was looking for then. He pulled the team off the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: market in, I believe it was January of 2023. As
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: shocking as this news is today, I can't say we
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: should be totally shocked because I think Artie obviously got
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the price he was looking for. He wanted to set
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the bar. In terms of a record sales price, it
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: sounds like that's what he did. And, you know, his
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: kids did not have any interest in owning or running
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: this team. Artie's 80 years old, yeah. And then you
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: look at Stan Kroenke. I'm surprised. I didn't think he
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: was 79. He's a pretty youthful 79. I'll give him that. But,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: you know, he's got a family stake in the business.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: His son is running a lot of these teams. I
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: think there's a clear succession plan in place for somebody
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: like that. So let's talk about the thing every fan
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: is probably wondering after being bought by Kroenke. Where are
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: they going to play? Now, Stan Kroenke, he owned the Rams.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: He's part of the Walmart. He married into the Walmart family.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: He owned the Rams in St. Louis, moved on to
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, and is really the driving force behind one
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: of the great stadium projects in the world, SoFi Stadium.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I think it's a $ 5 billion project. price for the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: whole project, and it was on a 300-acre parcel on
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the Hollywood Park development around it. So, you know, he's
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: buying the Angels. They come with Angel Stadium. The question is,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: will he be able to do what Artie Marino and
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the city of Anaheim have not been able to do
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: for so many years, and that is get a new
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: stadium built.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: It seems like the Cronky playbook is to own the
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: team on the dirt, uh, and build the village, so
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: to speak. So, uh, in this case, their speculation is warranted. Uh, however,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: briefly looking, um, you know, is there room next to
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: SoFi potentially to build a major league baseball stadium, which
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: takes up not a small footprint. It is a large footprint. Um,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: I have some notes in front of me, Mike, but
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: you've been there more recently than I have.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Is there a room?
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: There is not. I mean, they just built the Clippers
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: just built an arena down the street. It's all developed.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: They have the NFL studios. Well, I guess they're now
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: owned by ESPN. Massive building right next to SoFi Stadium.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: There's housing developments around there. Now, I think Stan knows
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: this market pretty well, and he's going to look to
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: develop the Angel Stadium site. that would be my prediction.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Don't know for a fact, everything's very fresh today, but
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I think there's just, there's so much potential. And we
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: talked about it in a previous show about what you
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: could do with that site, whether it's, you know, uh,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: LA live type thing with restaurants and shops, hotels, whether it's, uh,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: you know, a youth sports complex that we've, as we've
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: talked about. Uh, so there's a lot of things, uh,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: you can do on the angel stadium site that I
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: just don't think are going to be available, uh, on
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the SoFi Stadium footprint as of now?
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that that might, let's say that that's
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: out of the equation. Logically, I think that they're probably
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: going to stay put. What would you say the odds
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: are of staying in the current ballpark? But that ballpark,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: I'm assuming if you're used to the amenities of SoFi
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: and what I can only, again, using assume, his other
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: stadiums are probably first class and Angel Stadium is, well,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: in need of some repairs.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Extensive repairs. It's showing its age.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: And if he wants this ballpark to reflect the other
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: teams that he is the owner of, it's going to
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: need some serious planning. And I'm sure you don't jump
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: into something like this without some sort of semblance of
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: a plan already.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Agreed.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Angel Stadium is like SoFi's first class. Angel Stadium is
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the last rowing coach, and it's on a middle seat.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Talking Spirit Airlines here? Yeah, well, they're no longer with us.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: In need of a repair, badly in need of a repair,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: but I'll say this about Stan Kroenke. He doesn't do
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: anything second rate. SoFi Stadium is, you know, I've been
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: in Jerry Jones's palace down there in Arlington, and it's amazing.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Marble fixtures everywhere. Beautiful. Everything about it is beautiful. But
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: I think SoFi, if you talk to most people who
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: cover the NFL, is even nicer. I think he's going
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: to have to embark on some kind of stadium project.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: I hope it's in Anaheim. Wherever it is, it's going
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: to be a first-rate stadium. And he's probably going to
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: be able to do it without the required, you know,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: municipal funding that so many team owners need. You know,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: we saw it in Las Vegas. They're going to need,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: you know, money from the city to complete that project.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Stan has some deep pockets. I think he's going to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: be able to, he's a guy who just gets it done.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: He's got people who work for him and know how
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: to get it done. Everything he said he would do
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: when he moved the Rams to Los Angeles, they've done.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: They've won a Super Bowl. They're hosting another Super Bowl
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: next February. And I think what Angel fans can be
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: most excited about is he doesn't spare any expense when
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: it comes to fielding a first-rate team. Look at what
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: just happened. Aaron Donald wants to come out of retirement,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: and that's after the team acquires Miles Garrett, the best
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: defensive end in a trade. Aaron Donald, two years removed
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: from his last game. They're going to pay him $ 20 million,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: $ 30 million because they can. They work out all the
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: salary cap and all that stuff later. When they wanted
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: to upgrade a quarterback for Jared Goff a few years ago,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: they went out and got Matthew Stafford. So we're going
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: to take a quick break for a word from our sponsors,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: and we'll come back with more on this big news.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Angels sold to the Kroenke Sports Group.
• 11:24
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• 12:24
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbo and
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Mike DiGiovanna. And we're here with the big breaking news. Angels'
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Artie Marino has sold the franchise to Stan Kroenke and
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: his sports group. Now, one other thing Stan did is
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: he built a new training facility for the Rams in
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Woodland Hills that just opened. Now, I wouldn't You know,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: there's that question of would he move the team to L.A.?
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I don't think the SoFi Stadium site would be able
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: to handle that. But would he move the Angels to
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: another area of L.A.? Maybe the Valley? You know, there's
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: some people who think Los Angeles is a two-team market.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: But I don't know, Mark. What do you think? I
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: look at the Angels and, you know, Stan said it himself.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: It's a storied franchise. They've been here for, what, 65, 66,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: something like that years now. They have a very distinct
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Orange County market. I don't know that he's going to
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: change a name to Anaheim, but this is still a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: really good baseball market. I don't know that you want
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: to just, as good as the Dodgers have been, I
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: don't know that you want to mess with, you know,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: trying to encroach on their territory right now. There was
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: a great article that I'm not going to remember the
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: exact name of, nor the author in The Athletic, but
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: it was talking about the Giants at A's and when
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: basically when there's a giant, giants, but I'm going to
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: use it again, two teams in one market in close proximity.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: So SoFi to Dodger Stadium, what is that roughly? 12
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: to 14 miles or so? Yeah, yeah. That's very close.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: And it is very tough to have two powerhouse teams
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: playing in close proximity. One usually, and the Dodgers are
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: going nowhere. They are a juggernaut. They're a monster. I
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: think it would be a very tall task despite stands
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: deep pockets and everything else. Uh, I don't think it would,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: I'm not a business person, but I doubt that would
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: be the greatest strategy, at least on paper. I think
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Anaheim sits right, you know, in a nice comfortable spot, uh,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Padres to the South Dodgers to the North. They have
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: their own market that will show up and, uh, support
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: this club. Barring the, uh, you know, the on-field product is, uh,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: up to par and that it might change drastically in
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: very short.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Totally agree. This, this market is so hungry for a
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: winner right now. They're on their 11th straight losing seasons.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: We see those fans and up in the corner, sell
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the team, sell the team. I mean, they have kept
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: at it all season long and, They're probably all having
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: major parties around the Southland tonight, and it's going to
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: be really interesting to see how they show up and
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: what they chant tonight against the Yankees. They're going to
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: have to come up with something new, but they are
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: a happy bunch right now. Yeah, I think this market
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: has been dormant. There's been so many fans who are–
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: how many, Mark? How many have we seen in the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: comments section? I gave up my season tickets. I'm boycotting
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: the Angels until Artie sells the team. I'm not going
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: to pad Artie's wallet. because, you know, he's just not
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: a very good owner. He's just not trying to win.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: He cares more about fan experience and what was it? Affordability.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Stan Kroenke's, I mean, he cares about all those things.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: He's got people, you know, Kevin Demoff runs the Rams.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: He handles a lot of these, uh, you know, uh,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: fan related things, stadium related things, operations, the business end
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: of it. He's going to have people to take care
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: of all that stuff, but he's not a guy who's
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: going to tolerate, you know, a losing franchise. So, uh,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Whether there's enough in the free agent market this winter
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: to support a pretty rapid turnaround of this team, I
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: don't know. John Moselock and Bill Shagan's column in the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: paper this morning even admitted on the record this is
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: not exactly an extremely robust free agent market. It may
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: take some time. But that does bring us to the
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: next question. You know, with John Moselock in June, he
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: said he didn't think the Angels needed a full rebuild.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: And his quote to Ken Rosenthal, the athletic at the time, was,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: I don't think in this market you need to do that.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: He talked about having the resources. And this was, of course,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: well before Artie decided to sell. He didn't like the
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: idea of tanking. And then at the deadline, he traded
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: off eight or nine big leaguers for nine or ten prospects.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: So that process has clearly begun. How quick is that
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: process going to take now that Stan Kroenke owns the team?
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: I think that it's going to take at least a
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: couple of years, but the whole landscape of this team
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: is different in.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Virtually every way.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: You have an owner who has the resources and most
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: likely will use them to the best of his advantage. This, uh, baseball,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: as opposed to some of these other sports, probably all
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: of those, I don't know about, um, football or soccer in, um,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: But as far as salary caps go, is this his
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: first foray into a professional sports team without a salary cap?
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm not sure how it's done in the Premier League.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: I love the soccer. So we'll get back to that.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Let's just let's do it domestically. We'll see for sure,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: because this is this is quite a bit different. Now,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: the timing of the sale is a bit interesting with
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: the collective bargaining coming up. And is it smart to
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: sell before? Is it smart to sell after? Well, you
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: know what, when you get a number and somebody puts
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: it in front of your face, uh, and we're, we
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: have to assume this is north of $ 4 billion. You
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: take it. And I would have taken it. I think
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: you would have taken it too. Although, uh, you know,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Um, but, uh, it seems like it
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: was already his legacy too. I mean, if this is
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: the happiest you've ever made the fans, That's kind of
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: a tough one. I don't know if it necessarily is.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: There's been good moments, but for a long time, it
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: has been rather depressing.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: That's why I really couldn't understand why Artie insisted on
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: holding on to this team for as long as he did.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's been nothing but grief for the guy,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: let's be honest. I mean, he is just... I hate
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: to use this word, but he's been hated in Orange County.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: He's been, he's turned into a villain. Remember when he
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: first bought the team, lowered beer prices, went out and
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: got Vlade Guerrero, Bartolo Colon, Kelvin Escobar, win the division
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: in 04, you know, first of five division titles in
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: seven years. They were, they were above the Dodgers at
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the point. They were drawing, their attendance was every bit
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: as good as the Dodgers, if not better. They were
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: making the postseason as much, if not more, than the Dodgers.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: They went to the American League Championship Series twice in
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: that span. You know, came within two wins of the
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: World Series in 2009. And then from there, it's just
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: been not straight downhill. You know, they had the great
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: year in 2014. But, you know, once Manager Mike Social
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: left and the carousel began and the manager's seat, And
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: some of the signings, and I know you love Albert Pujols,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: but I really don't think that was the best idea
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: at the time. They should have just left you at
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: first base and spent the money on pitching. And then
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: you get into the, you know, the Vernon Wells, the
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Josh Hamilton deals, Anthony Rendon deals. He just, he meddled
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: in areas that he really, really shouldn't have been meddling in.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: And it just led to this, just really a disaster.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: You know, how do you, 11 straight losing seasons, I
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: believe they have the longest playoff drought in North American
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: professional sports right now. How does it even happen to,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: as Kroenke said, such a storied franchise? Yes. I can
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: only surmise.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, the talent acquisition really went from finding guys
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: that were great fits in Anaheim to overpaying for guys
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: that potentially didn't want to play here or didn't stand
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: a good chance of having success here. Josh Hamilton, I
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: still question what was going on. That seemed very reactionary.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Rangers just beat them. Sign him. I remember he came
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: to camp like 50 pounds lighter or something. which is
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: getting off on a tangent, but that's, that's like, you know,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: if you're going to commit to 125 million bucks to
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: a guy, I want to know what I'm going to get.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: I don't want some drastic change and you know, a
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: whole new guy, the bat was too heavy for him
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: to the next year. I'll talk about that on another show,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: but so it's told him point blank, your bat's too big.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Talk about interesting. This is I don't know, angel fans.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: I I've seen the reactions online. I, I'm still getting
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: texts as we are going, uh, people alerting me as
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: if I'm, I'm not hip to this with what I'm
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: doing now. If we, if we weren't hip to this, uh,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: it shouldn't be here, but yeah.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: And they said bad news travels fast, huh? This is a,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: this is actually good news for angel fans for sure. Hey,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you, Mark, as a, as a
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: guy who went through free agency, I don't think the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: angels have been a destination for free agents, uh, for
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: a couple of years now. And, you know, they're not
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: going to build a stadium overnight. They're not going to,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I don't think they're going to transform this team into
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: a 95 win team overnight. But if you're a free agent,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: can you at least sort of see a better plan
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: in place now that you have this guy owning the team?
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Are you maybe more willing to commit to the Angels
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: for five or six years when, you know, you might
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: not have been willing to do that because you can
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: see a future and see a brighter future?
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: There's no question that, This is a more attractive team
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: to sign with already. The allure of living down near
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: the beach. We've talked about this. It is quite nice,
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: and it is unique to this club and maybe a
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: couple others, Padres and Dodgers probably, but it's just not enough.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: If the stadium that you're going to, and that's the
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: thing about being a professional ballplayer and a spouse of
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: a professional ballplayer, you are spending a lot of time
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: in your home stadium throughout the year. And if it's
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: a place that resembles more of an antiquated, old ballpark, dungeon,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: darkly lit, that's one of these things that we've talked about,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: the way the Blue Jays treat the players' families and
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: the infrastructure and everything. Having a weight room with no
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: air conditioning.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Or it was the weight room, if I remember right.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: All of these little rinky-dink issues that should have never
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: been a thing uh, were things. And I think it,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: it probably stemmed from already at some point pivoting from
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: being all in it to win it. Um, maybe he
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: got beaten down by, you know, 2009 thinking he had
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: a legitimate contender and yet another season that didn't go
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: that way might've shifted the business model to literally a
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: business model, trying to make money, trying to figure out
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: how to save. And it, and it showed the stadium is, uh,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: the urinals and many other things. I got a laundry list, but,
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: They're okay. They pass, but they don't pass in 2026.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: I said earlier in one of our first episodes, fans
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: don't want cheap. Now the word got, you know, it was,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: it was debatable. Should I have used that? I had
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: to get something in. The affordable part is great. And
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: I wonder, I don't know if Stan's teams are priced affordably,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: but I have a suspicion. Maybe the prices might go
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: up a little bit, but the fan experience will probably
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: go up significantly.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the prices go up with the fan experience,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: with a new stadium, with all the modern amenities, the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: club lounge, the suites, the luxury boxes. I think when
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: you have a premium experience and product, like Dodgers, in
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Dodgers Stadium, they've spent hundreds of millions of dollars to
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: upgrade that stadium. That stadium's, what, a year or two
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: older than Angel Stadium? You never know that walking into
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Dodgers Stadium. You just don't. And you feel the age
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: of Angel Stadium when you're down walking the concourses and
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: the tunnels underneath and seeing all the exposed watering and
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: wiring and all the buckets catching the drips and, you know,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: all the narrow hallways. It's just, it's an antiquated, outdated stadium.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: It needs to be replaced badly. All right, we'll close
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: the show with what, you know, the timing of this.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it seems interesting to you, Mark.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if, obviously this has been in the works for,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: These things don't happen overnight. They don't happen in one month.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Could Artie and John Moselock, knowing that this sale was
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: imminent and coming down the pike, do you think that
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: had an impact on his trade deadline approach and what
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: he pulled off? Or do you think he would have
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: done that anyway?
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: I don't like to speculate on things that I don't
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: know a ton about, but why did they hire a
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Mo in the first place? That seemed a little outside
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: the box, but he is a St.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Louis guy. And he is thinking the same thing.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Louis guy, uh, Molly Jolly might've played a much bigger
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: role in addition to finding a new president of baseball operations. I,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: he's not going to be the GM. Um, they will
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: find a GM is what my, uh, assumption is, but
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: this deal was most likely in the works. What do
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: you think for months? Possibly longer.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Probably at least two to three months. Yeah, these things
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: don't come together that quickly.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: Zero leaks either. Not a single rumor that I saw.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Maybe if anyone did get a whiff, they kept it
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: to themselves. But credit to all those involved for keeping
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: this tightly sealed until the time came to let everyone know.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: But I think that there's some dots to be connected.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: And the veteran scribes, yourself, Shaikh, Sam, others, get on it.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: We want to know all the details that the ex-Angel
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Slugger just is not qualified to discuss.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: The ex-Angel Slugger did a pretty good job on short notice.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: All right, that's going to do it for us today.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Just to reiterate, huge breaking news. Stan Kroenke and his
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: sports group buying the Angels from Artie Moreno, ending Artie's tumultuous, what, 20...
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: three-year tenure as Angel's owner. And we're going to leave
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: you with that. Thanks for joining us today. Please like
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: and subscribe, and we will see you next time on
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Halo Territory.