Sports-Entertainment Boom Just Over Anaheim Horizon

Anaheim in the year 2000:

The Disney-owned California Angels playing in a redesigned Anaheim Stadium; the former Seattle Seahawks, with a new name and logo, playing in a brand-new football stadium next door, the Los Angeles Clippers calling the Pond of Anaheim their one and only home arena. Next to Disneyland, a second theme park about to open its gates.

This heady scenario may have seemed farfetched a year ago, but it’s one that city officials believe could be imminently possible if things go their way in the coming weeks.

These projects, the subject of separate negotiations for some time now, appear to be coming to the fore all at once. They make for an exciting--but daunting--time for the city.

“There is nothing in the history of the city that even comes close to this,” City Manager James D. Ruth said last week. “These are all significant issues that will have a lasting impact on the future economy and quality of life in the city.”

Juggling such major developments at the same time is “akin to trying to juggle elephants,” said city spokesman Bret Colson. “You don’t pick and choose how things unfold. Oftentimes, circumstances just kind of descend upon you. You get to work on some of the most exciting and creative projects in the world, and that can be intensely frustrating at the same time because of the demands placed upon you.”

Mayor Tom Daly said the pressure is on to make the right decisions for future generations.

“We have to balance the economic development opportunities with what is best for the community and make sure that we set a high standard for every project we pursue,” Daly said. “We are in this position today because of wise and careful decisions made in the past. We have to be sure to make wise and careful decisions now.”

While the city is knee-deep in negotiations involving professional baseball and football, talk has heated up in recent weeks about the Los Angeles Clippers, who play a series of well-attended games at the Pond each year. There is intense speculation over whether they will make a permanent move from the aging Los Angeles Sports Arena to Anaheim.

“Who knows what’s going to happen?” said Brad Mayne, general manager of the Anaheim arena. “Nothing has happened so far that has me excited or disappointed. We are having the same general discussions that we continue to have with the Clippers.”

If the Clippers wish to move to the Pond this year, the decision must be made by Friday, the deadline for notifying the NBA of a move for next season.

“I think the Clippers should be in Anaheim,” said Councilman Bob Zemel. “The effort to bring an NBA team here has never really stopped. It’s always been a part of our agenda. I think we’re getting closer to that. It’s no secret that the NBA wants the Clippers in Anaheim.”

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But the most pressing item on the city’s crowded agenda is ongoing negotiations with Walt Disney Co. over renovations to the Big A, which both sides said could wrap up in the next couple of weeks.

Disney Sports Enterprises spokesman Bill Robertson confirmed that talks are “moving forward in a positive direction.”

On Jan. 18, the day that major league baseball owners approved Disney’s proposal to purchase 25% and operational control of the California Angels, Disney set a 60-day deadline to settle the issue of stadium renovations that could cost as much as $110 million. If the deadline is not met, Disney could simply walk away from the Angels purchase.

Although the renovation price is still being negotiated, the cost would be split between the city and Disney, which is likely to shoulder a larger share because Anaheim has said it has limited financial resources and won’t tap into its general fund.

Preliminary designs commissioned by Disney call for the Big A to be transformed from a 67,000-seat multipurpose stadium to a more intimate, baseball-only facility with about 20,000 fewer seats.

The stadium’s Big A scoreboard, moved to the parking lot when the stadium was expanded for the Rams in 1980, would be moved back to its original place beyond the outfield. There also would be a new restaurant overlooking the ball field, sources said.

Ruth said there has not yet been any final agreement on a design. But sources say Disney’s and the city’s visions for the baseball park are very much the same.

A renovated Big A is already a component of Sportstown Anaheim, the proposed sports, entertainment, retail and office complex that was unveiled last month and is scheduled to be built on 159 acres of stadium property.

City officials are counting on private investors to foot much of the bill for the new development. At this point, the project has no known investors. Disney officials have had little to say publicly about Sportstown, but if the baseball deal is finalized, it’s likely that the entertainment giant would become involved, sources said.

The blueprint for Sportstown leaves room for a new football stadium to be built next to the Big A. But for that to happen, the city must land a professional football team to replace the Rams, which departed for St. Louis last year.

The Seattle Seahawks emerged as a distinct possibility last month when owner Ken Behring announced that he wants to leave the Kingdome and move his team to the Southern California area, possibly Anaheim.

It remains to be seen whether the Washington and Seattle courts will give Behring permission for such a move. Anaheim officials have said they will not begin any serious negotiations until the Seahawks’ legal problems are solved.

Still, Ruth and Daly had met personally with Behring earlier this month. And in an effort to gain an edge in any future negotiations, Anaheim officials have offered the Seahawks the use of Rams Park, a practice facility with administrative offices.

“It gives us an opportunity to build a relationship,” said Ruth.

While the Seahawks have moved some of their equipment to Rams Park and renovations are underway, the arrangement could fall through if the Magnolia Elementary School District, which owns the site, is unable to close out the Rams’ old lease by Friday.

At issue is the more than $1 million in renovation costs that the school district says the Rams are obligated to pay to change Rams Park back into an elementary school that would help accommodate the district’s growing enrollment.

Representatives of the Rams, the school district and the city met last Friday but failed to resolve the situation, which could result in a legal battle, sources said.

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In addition to the developments in professional sports, Disney officials appear poised to unveil their plans for expansion on land next to Disneyland, a year after their originally announced date.

What is known is that the project will be approximately one-third smaller than the $3-billion plan that was abandoned last year. The original project was unveiled in 1991 and called for 4,600 new hotel rooms, a separate park, a 5,000-seat amphitheater, a six-acre lagoon and two of the nation’s largest parking structures.

The new, scaled-down project is said to have a price tag of approximately $2 billion and would include some new hotels. Another component would be a nightclub and shopping complex modeled after the company’s popular Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World in Florida. The aim would be to draw local residents as well as out-of-town tourists, sources said.

In 1994, Anaheim embarked on a $174-million revitalization plan aimed at improving the infrastructure around Disneyland and Anaheim Convention Center. They are also proposing a major expansion to the convention center in order to keep it competitive with similar venues around the country.

“I believe we can accomplish all of these things,” said an optimistic Councilman Zemel. “One by one, these cards are lined up and can happen.”