ANAHEIM : Arena Team to Occupy Big A Offices

Orange County’s new Arena Football League team, which will play its home games at The Pond of Anaheim, is planning to set up its corporate headquarters at nearby Anaheim Stadium.

The City Council today will review a proposed rental agreement with the company that owns the team--Orange County Arena Football--and the city.

Under terms of the agreement, the football franchise, yet to be named, would occupy 2,100 square feet of space in Anaheim Stadium’s new Gate 6 office complex for a monthly fee of $2,835.

The team already has a five-year lease with The Pond, where one preseason and seven regular-season games are to be played starting in late April or early May.

Formerly the Las Vegas Sting, the team was acquired in September by an Anaheim-based investment group headed by sports promoter Roy Englebrecht. The team is one of 13 franchises in the 9-year-old Arena Football League.

Babe Parilli, a backup to quarterback Joe Namath on the 1969 Super Bowl champion New York Jets, is returning for his eighth season as head coach of the arena football team. Rich Saul, a former All-Pro center with the Rams, was recently appointed vice president of football operations.

The team’s nickname and logo are to be announced Nov. 14. The six final proposals are the Piranhas, the TigerSharks, the Beach Dogs, the Crush, the Commandos and the Americans.

Arena football games are played on a 50-yard field, typically in basketball and hockey arenas.

The eight-player teams have four downs to score, and punting is not allowed.