The Arte of Baseball

The rancor isn't keeping fans, or sponsors, from the ball park. Under Moreno, who purchased the club from an indifferent Disney ownership in May 2003 for $183.5 million, the Angels are soaring. Soon after buying the team, which was a surprise winner of the 2002 World Series but finished under .500 the next year, Moreno did the unthinkable for a sports owner: he lowered the cost of family-ticket packages and upper-deck seating, cut the price of premium draft beer from $8.50 to $6.75 and increased payroll to field a competitive team. The Angels have the 22nd lowest (out of 30) average-ticket price in baseball and the fourth highest payroll. Result: the team won a division title last season and drew a record 3.4 million fans to Angels Stadium; 2.8 million have already purchased seats this year. Overall revenues jumped 16.7% last season, to $140 million, and Moreno expects about $155 million in 2005. He says he lost $20 million on the team last year--"You have to invest in your product to get a return later"-- but expects to turn a profit next season.

The outdoor-ad magnate pasted the team's A logo on 480 billboards throughout the Los Angeles metro area. "We're not trying to sell a city," says Moreno. "We're selling Angels baseball, period." He has tapped into the region's booming Hispanic population by ramping up Spanish- language advertising and signing Latino stars like Guerrero and pitcher Bartolo Colon. The Angels say they doubled the percentage of Hispanic fans over the past four years and have attracted more season ticketholders from Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, beyond the team's base. In-stadium advertising revenues have more than tripled, to $17 million, since Moreno took over--the team signed Anheuser-Busch, General Motors and Verizon to new sponsorship deals this season. "I can't say Verizon is buying us now because we changed the name," says Moreno. "Verizon is buying us because we're putting a winning product on the field."

But Moreno is betting that the Los Angeles tag will raise the fees broadcasters pay to show Angels games. Fox Sports Net pays the Los Angeles Dodgers $35 million a year to show its games; this year it is paying the Angels just $19 million. "All our broadcast partners come out of L.A.," Moreno says. "Plus, when I go to New York and turn the Angels on the TV, it will be New York/Los Angeles, large market vs. large market, and over time that brand grows." Not everyone agrees that the L.A. tag will affect TV deals. Says Robert Hollander, president of Los Angeles-- based Brand Sense Marketing: "I'm not sure that's going to be critical."

Moreno is not backing down from the pundits, the city or the Dodgers, who have begun selling LOS ANGELES DODGERS OF LOS ANGELES T shirts and caps. At the end of the day, he notes, the fans will determine his fate. Says Moreno: "If the ball park is not a safe, affordable place, guess what--you as a fan, you as a customer are not coming back." Guess that's the real name of the game.