LA Times columnist floats overly optimistic scenario that could save the Angels

Angels fans will search far and wide for any hope. From losing Shohei Ohtani to the Dodgers, to having their worst season in history, to not making the playoffs in a decade, the Halo faithful has been left in a panic. There isn't much positive to look back on from the 2024 season, but a recent column from Bill Shaikin of the LA Times has offered a potential ray of light on the struggling franchise.

A sub-10-minute drive from Angel Stadium sits Honda Center, home of the Anaheim Ducks. Their team owner, Henry Samueli is set to build a world-class village around the arena that will include dining, hotels, music acts, nightlife, and more. Similar to what the Angels had hoped to do several years back, which has seen an endless list of issues with their stadium, Samueli hopes to have 'OCVIBE' opened and fully constructed by 2026 to draw people in for all-day entertainment before going to a Ducks game.

This is good news for the Angels. Their stadium has nothing around it besides a parking lot, which doesn't entice non-diehards to come to a game. OCVIBE can help change that as a push in the right direction for the Angels. If more people come to games, maybe they will sign better players to dig themselves out of this miserable playoff drought. This could also encourage the Angels to re-negotiate construction around their stadium.

Throughout Major League and Minor League Baseball, the most valuable commodity is real estate. Since 2000, MLB was swept away with an information, data, and technology boom. Now, real estate is taking over as the most integral aspect of a sports team moving forward. Owners of sports teams are highly incentivized to own the arena/ballpark/stadium, and all the subsidiary restaurants and bars that surround their home field/court/ice. Often times at the Minor League level, team owners will move their ballpark from an area surrounded solely by a parking lot, a single dive bar, and a chain restaurant to a more vibrant city and neighborhood to maximize their earning potential. Arte Moreno is benefitting from a more vibrant neighborhood without doing anything! Seems about right.

Samueli's name gets thrown around as someone who should buy the Angels from Arte Moreno. He seems fully invested in building up the Ducks first, even if his efforts may indirectly benefit the Halos. It might not be an earth-shattering piece of news for the Angels, but considering the regular season just ended behind an AL West worst 63-99 record, any change is good change for this organization.