Disney Sizing Up New Anaheim Offer

The Walt Disney Co. is considering a proposal from Anaheim that city officials hope will resurrect the company’s aborted plans to buy a controlling interest in the California Angels, city and Disney officials said Sunday.

Details of the new proposal on refurbishment of Anaheim Stadium have not been revealed, but if it meets Disney’s approval, it could go before the City Council for action later this week.

City Manager James D. Ruth said “there has been movement on both sides” in the renewed negotiations, which broke off last month as a Disney-imposed 60-day deadline approached for agreement on the renovation of Anaheim Stadium and an extended lease for the baseball team.

“It’s far from a done deal,” he added. “Disney hasn’t said yes or no. We are hoping it won’t fall apart. If reasonable people get together, usually there are solutions. You keep talking and exploring.”

Disney Sports Enterprises President Tony Tavares said Sunday that “it’s a stretch to say we’ve come together” and hesitated to say that a deal was imminent.

“Right now, I don’t know when a deal might be made,” he said.

However, Angel President Richard Brown sounded more confident Sunday.

“From what we are hearing, they have reached a point where both sides are very pleased with the deal,” Brown said. “Whether we’ve reached closure or not, I don’t know, but they’re talking and they are talking with civility. Both are pleased with the progress they are making.”

The rekindled talks represent a dramatic change from March 13, when Disney declared the baseball deal dead. Angel executive Jackie Autry blamed the city for the failed deal and threatened to move the team from Anaheim.

Disney’s 25% purchase of the Angels and operational control, approved by major league baseball in January, was contingent upon the company reaching an agreement with the city over stadium issues within 60 days. When the deadline was not met, Disney elected to walk away from the bargaining table.

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It was Autry, with the help of American League baseball officials who visited Anaheim last week, who played a key role in convincing the two sides to officially reopen negotiations on Friday, city officials said.

But Tavares said that unofficial talks continued even after Disney ended the negotiations.

“Talks on the deal itself ceased, but I talk to Jim Ruth on a variety of subjects,” he said. “We broke off serious discussions, but our discussions were never indeed over.”

Before the official talks resumed, Disney had already rejected a proposal floated by the city that would have given the company the option of developing Sportstown Anaheim, a proposed sports, entertainment and retail complex proposed for Anaheim Stadium property that could include a new football stadium. The project, unveiled by the city in January, has no known investors.

“We were exploring the option to see if Disney was interested, and they weren’t,” Ruth said. “So then you go back to the original deal points and try and figure out where we were apart and try and find creative solutions.”

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The Sportstown complex was one of the major obstacles in the negotiations primarily because of Disney’s concerns about its impact on parking at the stadium. Disney--intent on beginning renovations to the Big A after purchase of the team--was also opposed to a football team sharing the stadium until a new football facility can be built.

At the same time the two sides were trying to close a deal, Seattle Seahawk owner Ken Behring announced that he planned to relocate his team to Southern California, possibly Anaheim.

But that move is being fought by the NFL, and in the Seattle and Washington courts. The Seahawks began practicing in Anaheim last month but returned to Seattle because of heavy fines being threatened by the NFL.

Ruth said the city is still committed to proceeding with Sportstown and landing a football team, but that if a deal with Disney is sealed, a football team would not be able to play at Anaheim Stadium next fall because of work needed to make the Big A a baseball-only facility.

Tavares said the company’s concerns about Sportstown and football have not changed.

“We’ve never been against football in Anaheim,” Tavares said. “The only thing we care about, and are making sure of, is having a viable baseball stadium.”

Other issues that prevented the deal included the length of the proposed stadium lease and revenue from the Big A and a possible new stadium.

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Before the original talks ended, the two sides tentatively agreed to a 70-30 split of a proposed $100-million stadium renovation, with Disney paying the bigger share.

Ruth said that if Disney agrees to the new proposal, the earliest it could be presented to the council for consideration is Wednesday because Councilman Tom Tait is on vacation.

A deal requires the approval of at least three of the five council members in order to move forward.

“Based on where I think we are, if both parties are in agreement, this is something that I feel I could recommend for [the council’s] favorable consideration,” Ruth said.

But details of the new proposal have been carefully guarded and kept from some council members, Councilman Bob Zemel said Sunday.

“I don’t have any idea what the deal points are at this time,” Zemel said. “But I’m very impressed that the city manager feels that he can recommend a new deal, because it must be a dramatic turnaround from the last effort, which was rejected by the council unanimously. . . . This makes me feel that the deal points have swayed back to favor the taxpayers. If that’s the case, this effort over the last couple of months will be well worth it.”

Zemel and Tait were opposed to the use of taxpayer funds to renovate the stadium unless the city could be guaranteed of a direct way to make back the investment.