City of Anaheim may have shattered law in Angel Stadium sale

On Wednesday, LA Angels fans will finally be able to hear more on what's going on with the lawsuit set to nullify the land sale that came with Angel Stadium. There will be a hearing on Wednesday where a ruling will likely not be made, but more clarity on where this will go will likely be established.

Over two years have passed since the lawsuit was filed. Under the land sale agreement, Arte Moreno and a company from under him would establish a "mini-city" that featured hotels, shops, homes, places to eat, and office spaces around the stadium. Nothing has happened, however, in that land area since the sale was approved by the Anaheim City Council back in 2019.

The state housing agency claims that the sale was illegal, as they have ruled that the city of Anaheim violated California's affordable housing law. This is because they say that Anaheim did not make the land available to housing directors first.

There is issue taken with negotiations allegedly happening in private between Anaheim and LA Angels owner Arte Moreno.

The People's Homeless Task Force, which is a citizens' group, says that Anaheim violated the Brown Act in this sale surrounding Angel Stadium. The Brown Act typically requires public business to be done in public.

If the city has indeed violated this law, an Angels attorney did say that it doesn't mean that the judge has to do away with the deal. Bill Shaikin of the LA Times details that when asking if the judge would have to throw the deal out if the city violated the law:

"No, say attorneys for the Angels, citing a provision of the law that allows a deal to survive a lawsuit if a third party assumed a contractual obligation and acted 'in good faith and without notice of a challenge to the validity of the action,”" wrote Shaikin.

The People's Homeless Task Force's attorney says that they aren't trying to destroy the deal, but rather have Anaheim re-do the negotiations with input from the Anaheim public. Again, it is odd that even with a league-wide lockout in full effect, there are still problems surrounding the Angels organization.