IMPACT ON ANAHEIM : Franchise Could Save City Millions--and Embarrassment : To some, the move by Disney appears aimed at winning city’s blessing on company’s proposed $3-billion park expansion.

Should the Walt Disney Co. bring a hockey team to the new, $103-million Anaheim Arena by next fall, the city would be rescued from a multimillion-dollar financial obligation and the embarrassment of opening an arena with no major sporting tenant.

For a financially strapped city faced with hiring freezes and budget cutbacks, the timing of the Disney announcement is fortuitous. A hockey team in the arena saves the city as much as $8 million over eight years--part of the money the city has promised to pay the arena management if no professional team becomes a tenant.

For Disney, which is in the midst of seeking city and public approval of an environmental impact report on its $3-billion Disneyland project, the timing is interesting, if not suspicious, according to some.

“They’re doing a major PR job on the city,” said Curtis Stricker, a member of a homeowners group that opposes the Disneyland expansion. “I’m sure Disney is trying to use this hockey team to their advantage as far as the expansion goes. . . . They’re pulling out all the stops the way I read it.”

In addition, Disney has been wooing the city and other agencies seeking as much as $1 billion in public money to pay for part of the Disneyland Resort expansion, especially public works and infrastructure improvements.

Finding a team for the arena “ingratiates you enough to (get the city to) build the infrastructure for” the Disney expansion, said analyst Emanuel Gerard of the investment company Gerard Klauer Mattison in New York. If Disney gets nearly $1 billion in construction concessions from the city, he said, “it doesn’t matter if you lose $5 million a year for 20 years” on the hockey team.

City and Disney officials, however, did not see it that way.

“It’s just a coincidence of timing,” said Anaheim City Manager James D. Ruth.

He bristled at the suggestions that Disney might be intentionally helping the city out of a potentially costly situation to better its negotiating position with the city on the expansion project.

“That’s just bull, that’s a bunch of malarkey. Disney is not bailing us out of anything,” Ruth said. “This has nothing to do with the expansion. This was nothing other than (Disney’s) interest in hockey.”

Mayor Tom Daly said he thought discussion of the city being beholden to Disney is “a relevant question to pose, but I think when you reflect on this, it’s not valid. It doesn’t stand up to rational scrutiny.”

But the city more and more is finding its future intertwined with Disney and its ventures.

For one thing, a Disney hockey franchise reduces the city’s financial obligation for the arena. Critics have called it a boondoggle that should not have been built without assurances of winning at least one major-league sporting tenant. Under the city’s agreement with its partners in the arena project--Ogden Entertainment Co. and the Nederlander Organization--the city is liable for annual payments of up to $2.5 million for eight years if the facility is not being used by a professional basketball or hockey team after it opens next summer. That liability is reduced by $1 million per year if the arena has one professional sports tenant.

In addition, Disney’s massive expansion at the theme park would bring in thousands of jobs, boost local business and add to city tax revenue. Top city officials are overwhelmingly supportive of the project despite the likelihood that it would require major public works expenditures by Anaheim.

“Will the city look more favorably on the expansion because of this? The answer is no.” Daly said. “Are we desperate for money that we have to do this? No. Can we find $1 million a year if we had to? Yes.”

At the same time, Kerry Hunnewell, Disney Development Co. vice president, said that expansion project negotiations have been completely separate from Disney’s hockey team negotiations.

“The city would not let any goodwill flowing from the hockey announcement interfere with the economics of the (theme park) expansion project,” he said. “The city is not going to do anything that is not in its best economic interests.

“These are two separate projects and each has to stand on its own two feet,” Hunnewell added. “We’re trying to make this a foremost destination resort in the world. (The hockey announcement) is another present under the Christmas tree.”

The overwhelming reaction Thursday from city officials, business leaders and the public about the Disney announcement was favorable.

Councilman Fred Hunter, who was the leading force behind the arena construction, said he felt vindicated by the news and believes that the “doomsayers and naysayers” who said the arena would fail are being proved wrong.

“My field of dreams has come true,” Hunter said. “This is a win for the whole city and it won’t cost the taxpayer a dime.”

Hunter and former Councilman William D. Ehrle said they felt they were politically damaged in the November election because of their role in building the arena.

“This is a great day,” Ehrle said. “I just wish it would have happened 30 days ago.”

Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) said he was leaving a lunch when he heard the news.

“Four people immediately came up to me and wanted to know if I knew who to contact for season tickets,” he said. “This is going to be very good for the area and Orange County and it shows the commitment Disney has for the community.”

Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez called the addition of a hockey team to the county’s sports scene a “great achievement and milestone.”

Times staff writers Kevin Johnson and Terry Spencer contributed to this story.