Anaheim Stadium Is Ready for a Face Lift : Letting Disney Work Its Wonders Can Help the City

Anaheim Stadium lost much of its charm 16 years ago when it was walled in and extra seats were installed to lure the Rams from Los Angeles to play their football in Orange County.

This year the Rams have run a down and out pattern to St. Louis, leaving a stadium that typifies the much-derided “concrete doughnut” school of architecture. It also will leave the ballpark featuring the sounds of silence on late fall Sundays.

But there could be a welcome change to the look of the Big A, thanks to the Walt Disney Co. The operators of Disneyland are a prospective owner of the California Angels, the baseball team that has been the major tenant of Anaheim Stadium since it opened in 1966.

Disney is awaiting approval of its purchase of a 25% share in the Angeles from owners Gene and Jackie Autry. Disney Chairman Michael D. Eisner and Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly said this month that among the items they are discussing is renovating the stadium. That could include removing the seats added when the Rams came and the facility was enclosed. Other possible upgrades include swankier luxury suites and seats, a restaurant and new concessions.

The city owns the stadium and will have to beam a sharp eye on the price tag of any overhaul. Still, it would be cheaper than building a new baseball-only park. Any money saved by renovating rather than building anew could be applied to building a new stadium just for football. New football-only stadiums seem to be one of the enticements these days for existing teams to move or for getting a new expansion franchise.

Anaheim lost money in Orange County’s bankruptcy, like other cities in the county, and is pinching pennies. But the city has a good record in sports.

It wooed and won the Angels, attracted the Rams, and built an indoor arena several years ago when it didn’t even have a tenant.

Disney stepped in then, creating its own hockey team, the Mighty Ducks, and installing it as tenants at The Pond. With razzle-dazzle marketing for which the company is known, the Ducks have proved an enormous hit.

The Ducks also deserve credit for helping the community. On the day Eisner mused about renovating Anaheim Stadium, he officially unveiled a new community skating rink in downtown Anaheim. The Ducks will use it for practice, but it also will be a facility for a nonprofit youth program. Disney built the rink and Anaheim donated the land, a good public-private partnership that could prove a shot in the arm to the renaissance of the city’s ailing downtown.

Fans soured by last year’s baseball strike have not flocked to Anaheim Stadium this year in numbers that a team in first place would be expected to draw.

With nearly 70,000 seats, regular season games would be unlikely to sell out, but tens of thousands of empty seats at ballgames are a depressing sight. It’s hard to work up enthusiasm if your closest neighbor is 10 rows away.

A renovated stadium, backed by Disney’s marketing muscle and, it is hoped, a winning team, could bring new excitement to the city and the region. The idea merits further exploration.