Disney Still in a Mood to Sell

The Angels’ kingdom cannot get much more magical than this: Sellout crowds at Edison Field, fans camping out at the ballpark to buy playoff tickets, rally monkeys as must-have collectibles and a probable prime-time playoff series against the New York Yankees.

There is no magic in the bottom line, however. Although Disney executives are proud of and pleased with the Angels’ success this year, the terrific season has not persuaded the company to hold onto the team rather than sell.

“One really has nothing to do with the other,” Angel President Paul Pressler said. “It isn’t a strategic asset. If the right buyer came along, we would consider it.”

Although the Angels expect this year’s excitement to generate additional season-ticket sales next year, that won’t restore the team to profitability. The team projects an estimated $18-million loss this year.

The Angels started this season with a $60-million player payroll, a figure that probably will increase next season because they have committed $60 million to only 10 players.

The playoffs will help, but not much. According to major league rules, participating teams do not retain ticket revenue from the first three games of the division series and the first four games of the league championship series and the World Series, so all the Angels are guaranteed is about $350,000 a game for concessions and parking.

Revenue sharing increases next season, but the Angels are projected to gain a modest $2.6 million.

With the adoption of the new labor agreement, Disney is believed to have accelerated efforts to find a buyer for the Angels.

One highly placed major league source said he believed Disney might accept $180 million, three years after putting a $300-million price tag on the Angels.

Peter Ueberroth, the former baseball commissioner, is believed to be interested in buying the team.

Disney has declined to comment about Donald Watkins, the Alabama businessman who has pursued the purchase of the team for months, but Watkins remains interested.

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After pitching five years for the Angels, Shigetoshi Hasegawa turned down a slight raise from the Angels to sign a more lucrative deal with the Seattle Mariners.

His timing is poor--the Mariners are about to miss the playoffs for the first time in three years, and the Angels are about to make the playoffs for the first time in 16 years--but he says he is happy for his former teammates.

Before Sunday’s game, knowing that the Angels would clinch a playoff spot with a victory, he joked about removing his Mariner gear to sneak into a possible Angel celebration. And, asked whether he was the bad-luck charm keeping the Angels out of the playoffs all those years, he couldn’t resist another joke.

“No,” he said, cracking a wide smile, “it was Mo Vaughn.”