Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno’s recent comments have the Major League Baseball Players’ Association ticked off.
Moreno was speaking with reporters on Friday when he mentioned that the “number one thing fans want is affordability” to attend games during the MLB season, per the Orange County Register.
But that wasn’t the worst of it, as Moreno said, “Winning is not in their top five,” referencing data the organization procured themselves.
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“They want affordability,” Moreno said to reporters. “They want safety, and they want a good experience when they come to the ballpark. Believe it or not, winning is not in their top five.”
Bruce Meyer, the new head of the MLBPA following Tony Clark’s resignation, said “the players took notice” of Moreno’s comments, while the union did as well.
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“The bottom line is players are competitors,” Meyer told The Athletic. “They grew up competing every day. They go out, and they try their hardest to win every game. And players want to see owners doing the same thing.”
It may be hard for players to hear their owner isn’t focused on winning, especially those on the Angels’ roster like future Hall of Fame center fielder Mike Trout, who hasn’t seen playoff baseball since 2014.
In fact, that was the last season the Angels finished the regular season over .500 (98-64), where they eventually lost in the ALDS. Since then, the best record the Angels have finished with was 85-77 in 2015.
It’s been a rough go of it for the AL West franchise despite years with Shohei Ohtani and Trout on the roster, though the latter dealt with numerous injuries along the way.
Last season, Los Angeles finished 72-90 for last place once again in the division after going 63-99 the year prior.
Given the Angels are in a large market on the West Coast, one would suspect them to be a contender each year and a popular destination. However, that hasn’t been the case, and the product has suffered in the win-loss column in recent seasons.
On the other side of town, the Los Angeles Dodgers have become the franchise envied by fans and teams alike given their massive spending spree and utilizing deferred money to field an All-Star roster that continues to get better by the year.
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“If you can’t have a successful operation in Los Angeles, it’s hard to see what the problem is,” Meyer said. “It’s easy to make excuses, but certainly the Los Angeles Angels have resources to compete in every respect.
“To come out and say that winning is not a priority, not even in the top five priorities, is really pretty remarkable.”
Moreno’s focus seems to be on how he can continue to put customers in the seats at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The team was 13th in MLB for total attendance last season (2,615,506).
“Moms make about 80% of the decisions,” Moreno continued. “They want to be able to bring their kids and be affordable and they want safety and they want to have a good experience, so they get all the entertainment stuff or whatever. The purists, you know, it’s just straight winning.”
Moreno, who is worth $5 billion according to Forbes, sees a payroll around $188 million for the 2026 season, which sits 15th in MLB. The franchise is currently dealing with its TV rights, too, having left Main Street Sports Group.
“Will [payroll] get back to $200 million? Probably,” Moreno said. “We’ve got to get our TV thing worked out, and we just have to improve our brand.”
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