Sportstown Plan Pared to Entice Disney on Big A

City officials appear willing to scale back their vision for a sports, entertainment and retail complex around Anaheim Stadium in hopes of cutting a deal with Walt Disney Co. over stadium renovations and a new lease for the California Angels.

City Manager James D. Ruth declined on Monday to reveal details of the city’s latest proposal to Disney but acknowledged that a deal would result in a smaller version of the complex called Sportstown Anaheim.

“You have to look at what’s practical,” Ruth said as he left an Angels booster club luncheon at the Disneyland Hotel. “Maybe it’s too ambitious.”

The proposed 167-acre complex, unveiled by the city amid much fanfare in January, would be built on the stadium’s parking lot and figured prominently in Disney’s decision last month not to buy the Angels. Disney has never endorsed the plan and has expressed concern over its effect on stadium parking.

The two sides officially resumed talks last week, and Disney is considering a new city proposal that initially would mean a 25% Disney share of the Angels, along with operational control. Eventually Disney would assume full ownership of the team.

If Disney agrees, the proposal could be put before a bitterly divided City Council for consideration as soon as Wednesday.

“We’re much closer than we were in previous weeks and are hopeful that both parties can resolve the remaining issues to get the deal done,” Ruth said Monday.

As to whether the city’s new proposal is substantially different from the last, Tony Tavares, Disney Sports Enterprises president, said Monday night, “I think that’s in the eye of the beholder.”

Negotiations, he said, are “moving ahead slowly and cautiously.”

The tenor of the renewed negotiations is a dramatic change from March 13, when Disney officials declared the baseball deal dead.

The talks officially reopened Friday, and both sides have taken pains to keep details under wraps.

But sources said Monday that a March 22 offer made by the city is a strong indication of what Anaheim is now willing to concede in order to close a deal.

That offer gave Disney the option of developing Sportstown--an idea the company rejected, according to Ruth.

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Sources said the company would have been given 15 years to develop Sportstown, but the city’s proposal included several conditions that would make such a project--as currently envisioned--very difficult to build.

The city’s conditions included:

* A guarantee of 12,500 ground-level parking spaces at the stadium, leaving the city with only 40 acres to build a new 20-acre football stadium and any retail and entertainment development. Parking for Sportstown would also have to be accommodated within those acres. This would mean considerably less room to build than the roughly 80 acres the city had hoped to use for new development.

* A large view corridor that would allow motorists traveling on the Orange Freeway to see into the renovated stadium but would further limit what the city could build on the property.

* A ban on fast-food restaurants near the Big A to eliminate competition for stadium concessionaires.

As currently envisioned, Sportstown would be anchored by a renovated Big A and a brand-new football stadium, as well as linked to the Pond of Anaheim nearby. It would be divided into five districts and include two hotels, restaurants, an area for amateur sports competition called the Little a, coffeehouses, nightclubs, music stores, sports retailers and the Flying A Ranch, a Western-themed area with restaurants, live entertainment and a dance hall.

The Angels’ current lease guarantees 12,500 ground-level parking spaces for each baseball game at the Big A. Unless the team’s owners give consent, the city would not be able to build on a large portion of the parking lot until 2001.

This is one of the reasons, Ruth said, why the city is now willing to consider a smaller project.

“You have to look at the down side” of not cutting a deal, Ruth said. “There could be nothing built on the property for six years.”

The March 22 proposal contains other points that benefit Disney and that the Anaheim council strongly opposed in earlier negotiations, sources said.

They include a 33-year lease with a one-time “bailout” option after 23 years. City officials had previously said they would insist on at least a 30-year extension on the Angels’ current lease. If Disney were to break the lease, the company would lose the money it had invested in the city-owned stadium and would have to guarantee the city its share of renovation expense.

Disney would get parking, admissions and concession revenue until established thresholds are reached, when the city would get a portion. The company would book all events held in the stadium parking lot and keep any profits.

Anaheim would remain responsible for the $9.3-million stadium debt, which is now mainly covered by stadium revenue. But because much of the stadium revenue would go to Disney, the city could no longer depend on that money to pay the annual debt, which is now $1.2 million per year. This could force the city to use money from its general fund, sources said.

A major issue that has complicated negotiations has been the city’s desire to retain the right to impose a tax on admission tickets, which many cities have done. Disney has been historically opposed to such taxes and in negotiations has sought exemption from any such in the future, sources said.

For its part, Disney would establish an annual fund of $800,000 to cover stadium maintenance costs.

Before the original talks ended March 13, the two sides tentatively agreed to a 70-30 split of a proposed $100-million stadium renovation, with Disney paying the bigger share.

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Councilmen Bob Zemel and Tom Tait opposed the use of taxpayer money to renovate the stadium unless the city could be guaranteed of a direct way to make back the investment.

Sources said that Disney would be able to make much of its investment back through such lucrative avenues as stadium-naming rights and advertising.

Disney’s 25% purchase of the Angels and operational control of the team was approved by major league baseball in January. The purchase was contingent upon the company reaching an agreement with the city over stadium issues within 60 days.

When Disney abandoned the negotiations, Angels Executive Vice President Jackie Autry blamed the city for the breakdown and threatened to move the team from Anaheim when its current lease expires in 2001. Autry accused city officials of putting their desire to build Sportstown and land a professional football team ahead of keeping the Angels in Anaheim.

But Ruth said that if the deal on the table is accepted by Disney, it would eliminate any chance of a National Football League team playing at the Big A next fall. Disney was opposed to a football team sharing the stadium while a new football facility was being built.

And at Monday’s booster luncheon, Mayor Tom Daly talked about the city’s commitment to keeping the Angels at the Big A for at least 30 more years.

“My colleagues and our great management staff are hard at work to make that happen,” Daly said.

Times staff writer Chris Foster contributed to this story.