Brown Says Disney to Take Angels to Next Level : Baseball: He believes corporate giant will do what’s necessary to accelerate team’s climb toward a championship.

These may indeed be the final days for Richard Brown as Angel President, but he’s not about to stop putting what he believes is the proper spin on the club’s future.

He’s certainly not going to put down anything Disney might have in mind for the Angels when the billion-dollar corporate giant takes control of the day-to-day operations of the club. After all, Disney holds Brown’s future--and others in the front office--in its hands.

With that in mind, Brown will hold a meeting with front-office personnel on Friday to discuss possible changes. He said Wednesday he expects major league owners to approve the sale of 25% of the club to Disney within 100 days, but doesn’t know whether Disney will clean house when they assume control.

Early betting is that Brown, club president since 1990, will be out and that he will be replaced atop the Angel hierarchy by Mighty Duck President Tony Tavares when the deal is completed.

“In all candor, I think it’s too early to speculate,” Brown said before Wednesday’s game against the New York Yankees at Anaheim Stadium. “Let me just say that the reports of the demise of the front office are greatly exaggerated. Frankly, I’m worried about other people besides me. I think everybody would like to stay and work for Disney. They all signed on to bring a championship to the Angels and now with Disney it’s going to happen sooner [than expected].

“Disney will take it to the next level. The next level is a championship.”

In addition to Friday’s staff meeting, Brown expects to meet with Disney officials over the next few months to talk about the future. The future as Brown imagines it features a new state-of-the-art baseball-only ballpark.

“That will be put on the front burner,” Brown said. “Once Disney owns 25%, one of their priorities will be to have a new stadium.”

Another noteworthy change figures to be Disney’s relentless approach to marketing, something the Angels have lacked more than a consistent 20-game winner over the years.

“One of their areas of expertise is marketing,” Brown said. “To compare us to Disney is absurd.”

Looking around at another sparse crowd at Anaheim Stadium, Brown expressed disappointment in the club’s paltry attendance so far this season. But he wondered whether all of Disney’s marketing genius could alter the damage created by last season’s strike.

“Certainly, 14,900 [Tuesday’s crowd] was a tremendous disappointment,” Brown said. “But don’t blame marketing. It’s a signal all around baseball. The fans aren’t going to come back until they realize there’s not going to be an interruption in the season. And that’s not going to happen until there’s a new collective bargaining agreement.

“The chances this season will not be completed are one in a million. It would be a death knell for baseball if that happened. I think as time goes on, fans will come to the realization that this season will culminate with a World Series.

“If this team plays well, I’m sure we’ll draw better. But it’s a tremendous disappointment that this team is in first place and isn’t drawing 35,000 fans to see the Yankees, even on a week night.”

Attendance is down 25% around the majors and the Angels are averaging 19,731, down from 28,337 at this point last year.

The Angels expect to lose $12.5 million this season, based partly on drawing 1.3 million fans. They say they need to attract 2.2 million to break even.