What does the future hold for the Angels once the team’s stadium lease expires?

At the start of the 2025 season, we published a column titled, “What is the future of aging Angel Stadium? It feels increasingly uncertain.”

With the opening date of 2026 upon us, we would like to update: “What is the future of the Angels? It feels like growing uncertainty.”

I don’t mean to be alarmist. Nothing is happening today, or tomorrow, or in the very near future.

However, the Angels’ outfield lease expires in six years, so the possibilities beyond that are starting to come into focus. Angels owner Arte Moreno turns 80 this summer. Moreno – or the new owner, if Moreno eventually sells the team – can simply exercise options to extend the lease for another six years.

But that would not solve the big problem of replacing or repairing Angel Stadium. In the coming months, the city expects to release an assessment of what it will take to keep the stadium operating for years to come, which could spark a debate between the city and the Angels over who should pay.

The Angels are frustrated by all of this, and especially by what they think of the timely battles involving their 21-year-old Los Angeles franchise. They are upset that, for the second season in a row, the city’s problems have sapped the hope and faith and excitement surrounding opening day. It was the city, after all, that gave up two deals that would have secured the long-term future of the Angels in Anaheim.

During negotiations for the final deal, city officials made it clear that keeping the Angels was a top priority, even if Anaheim could make more money by selling the stadium to a developer who wouldn’t need to keep the stadium.

Now, with six years left on the lease and no commitment beyond that, Anaheim’s mayor says it’s time to prepare for a future with or without the Angels.

“We need to plan what we see as the vision for that place once the lease expires,” said Mayor Ashleigh Aitken. “That will take time, regardless of how that agreement will go, we have no work planned for next year.

“But what we need to do, whether it involves the Angels – which I hope it will – or not, is come up with a vision that includes everything the residents want to see happen in that land. And only then can we really represent a project that makes sense to us.”

On the day of the home opener last season, Aitken issued an open letter inviting Moreno to meet with him to “have an open and honest conversation about the future of baseball in Anaheim” and listed eight points to start negotiations on a new deal, including the return of the Angels name to Anaheim.

“They have not contacted us about re-opening discussions for potential development in the area,” Aitken said.

Moreno previously explored other potential ballpark sites, including Tustin in 2014 and Long Beach in 2019.

In Tustin, the target land is no longer available. In Long Beach, the proposed waterfront site remains vacant, but the challenge remains: Over 81 games per season, how would tens of thousands of fans get in and out of a stadium that is primarily accessible by one freeway?

For the Los Angeles Angels, perhaps the solution can be found in Los Angeles County.

The Dodgers can block every other major league team from moving to LA, but not the Angels. Under MLB rules, no team can prevent another team from traveling anywhere within Los Angeles County or Orange County.

A logical destination would be Inglewood, where the Rams, Chargers and Clippers have moved since 2020. Inglewood Mayor James Butts said SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome have helped revitalize the city, with lower unemployment, rising home values, and rising municipal revenue.

“Before, we were known for gangs and crime and poverty,” Butts told me.

“Now, we’re known as the sports and entertainment capital of the western United States.”

How about a baseball field instead of the Forum?

“The Forum parcel is not big enough to fit a baseball field,” Butts said.

Butts said he believes the baseball field would require about 170 acres of land and surrounding parking lots. Angel Stadium and the surrounding parking lots cover about 150 acres.

On the other hand, the Athletics are building a ballpark on nine acres in Las Vegas, where nearby parking, entertainment and dining facilities already exist, and more are on the way, and the A’s are not responsible for that. The same would be true of the Angels in Inglewood, where Rams owner Stan Kroenke and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer are developing land around sports facilities.

However, Butts said he didn’t think baseball was coming to Inglewood, at least not as long as he was mayor. There is not enough space in the city, he said.

“We have suffered when it comes to sports,” said Butts. “We’re not going to reduce housing stock and evict residents to own a baseball team.”

Anaheim has one location, and a 150-acre site perfect for a new arena surrounded by restaurants and shops and homes. There will be days of worry and anxiety about the future of the Angels in the city they have called home for 60 years. Today is not one of them.

He took it to the mayor of Anaheim, who told me that even after telling me why he wanted the city attorney to look into whether the Angels were in violation of their stadium lease.

“Opening day, to me, is not about the clauses of the contract,” Aitken said. “It’s about family traditions. It’s about kicking off the summer. And it’s about bringing a lot of teams and areas of Anaheim together for one purpose, making our guys happy. That’s the beauty of baseball.”

And, as a lifelong Angels fan, he had one thing to say.

“Right now,” Aitken said, “we’re tied for first place.”