Selig: Angels’ Low Price Not Bad Sign

The Angels’ relatively low sale price does not indicate that the new collective bargaining agreement is not working, Commissioner Bud Selig said Monday.

Traditionally, baseball owners have not objected to modest operating losses. Franchise values typically appreciated rapidly, allowing owners to recoup losses -- and still turn a handsome profit -- by selling the team.

Disney bought the Angels for $140 million in 1996 and sold them to Phoenix businessman Arturo Moreno last week for $180 million, but the company spent $98 million on the renovation of Edison Field and claimed operating losses of $107 million through last season. Those figures would bring Disney’s net loss on its baseball investment to $165 million, although tax laws allow some write-offs for player contracts during the first five years of ownership.

The labor agreement reached last year was designed, in part, to stabilize payroll costs, thus raising franchise values. The Angels were the first team to be sold since then, at little more than half Disney’s original asking price. With the Dodgers, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves all up for sale, Selig said it is far too soon to conclude that the labor agreement has failed to prop up franchise values.

“This is the beginning of the first year,” Selig said. “One of my jobs is to increase asset value and, I assure you, we will do that.”

Selig confirmed having met with Moreno last week but declined to comment further.

Moreno and Disney are pushing for major league owners to approve the sale at meetings next month but that timetable appears highly optimistic. Moreno, a former minority investor in the Arizona Diamondbacks, is expected to be approved.

However, major league officials have yet to receive a copy of the proposed deal, in which Moreno ultimately could pay between $180 million and $190 million, depending on details yet to be completed.

-- Bill Shaikin