Two resolutions related to the Angels' future in Anaheim -- including the team's mouthful of a name -- will go before the Anaheim City Council Tuesday night as the city and Major League Baseball organization prepare for negotiations that could keep the Angels in the city for decades.
The council is expected to vote Tuesday to enter lease negotiations with the team -- a process that could end in a deal that would keep the Angels in Anaheim through 2057. The team's current deal that allows the Angels to play at the city-owned stadium, in which the then-California Angels first played in 1966, ends in 2029, but the team has the right to terminate that deal at the end of the 2016 season.
The proposed plan would extend that opt-out window to 2019.
The proposed resolution before the council Tuesday also hands full control of the team name -- currently, the geographically non-specific Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim -- over to the Angels organization.
Angels Baseball "has absolute control and exclusive rights concerning its team name," according to the resolution.
The team became the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim in 2005 when team owner Arte Moreno changed the name to satisfy a lease provision that required use of the name Anaheim. Under the proposal, the team could do away with Anaheim entirely, possibly becoming the Los Angeles Angels.
The possible name change and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which provides the general framework for negotiations, go before the council at Tuesday's meeting, which will include a vote on whether the city should simply enter negotiations with the team. If the framework for negotiations is approved Tuesday, the city and Angels can begin working on terms of the new lease agreement.
A key component of negotiations involves improvements to Angel Stadium, renovations that would be paid for by the team. Angel Stadium is the fourth-oldest stadium in Major League baseball, behind Boston's Fenway Stadium (1912), Chicago's Wrigley Field (1914) and Dodger Stadium (1962).
Before the Angels played their first game in the stadium, the team played at Wrigley Field in South Los Angeles and Chavez Ravine as the Los Angeles Angels.
The last major Angel Stadium renovation occurred in 1996-97.
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To join in the name-change debate, fans can visit this website.
