Angels owner Arte Moreno bullish on team's new TV deal: 'We are raising our payroll'

Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times on Nov 11, 2024

Published in Baseball

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When the television company that airs Angels games filed for bankruptcy last year, the team appeared to be faced with a stark choice: take less money to stay on its longtime broadcast home or take much less money now in the hope that a streaming-first alternative would pay off later.

Either way, the prospect of lower revenue raised the prospect of a lower payroll. That would not be optimal for any team, but it could be particularly ominous for a last-place team coming off the worst record in franchise history.

On that front, then, the Angels have scored a much-needed victory. They have reached a new television deal and retained enough revenue that payroll will not be cut.

"One hundred percent," Angels owner Arte Moreno said Monday. "We are raising our payroll."

Under the deal, the Angels remain on FanDuel Sports Network, the recently renamed Bally Sports channels.

"It's just a name change," Moreno said.

For the first time, local fans who don't have a cable or satellite subscription will be able to purchase a streaming-only subscription.

"We're going to be working a little bit harder on streaming," Moreno said. "There are just so many platforms now. During the pandemic, a lot of people went to Netflix. They got used to streaming Disney or ESPN.

"I think, in the next three to five years, we can continue to have a transition."

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has said the league hopes to assemble the streaming rights of a critical mass of teams, then offer fans the ability to subscribe to a national package without any local blackouts.

Moreno declined to provide any details of the FanDuel deal. However, according to a person briefed on the agreement but not authorized to speak publicly, the Angels' deal with FanDuel covers three years, which would give the team guaranteed revenue now and flexibility to join a national streaming package thereafter should the league be able to offer one.

The league hopes to entice one or more of its national broadcast partners to renew their deals by adding streaming rights currently held by local teams. The current MLB deals with ESPN, Fox and TNT expire in 2028.

That timing also would give the Angels three years to explore the viability of launching their own broadcast and streaming package, as the Ducks have done this year.

On Thursday, a federal Bankruptcy Court is expected to consider whether to approve a proposed course out of bankruptcy for the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network.

Major League Baseball has objected, saying in a court filing last week that an alleged failure to disclose pertinent data leaves MLB concerned about what it called the "substantial likelihood that the debtors will find themselves once again in financial distress and/or bankruptcy court in the near future."

The Angels hold an ownership stake in their FanDuel channel and thus are not part of the bankruptcy case. It is uncertain, however, how the FanDuel network would proceed if the Bankruptcy Court rejects the proposed restructuring plan.

The Angels had been set to receive about $120 million from the old Bally's deal next year. Of the six major league teams in the three largest markets in the United States, the Angels are the only one on a FanDuel channel, and that larger audience meant the team did not have to take as steep a discount as teams in smaller markets.

Moreno said he believed fans would be more interested in how to watch the games than in the financial details of the FanDuel agreement.

"The economics for us are pretty good," Moreno said.

No matter how much money a team spends, he said, "if you can't keep them on the field, it doesn't work."

The Angels' two highest-paid players, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, played 19 games together last season because of injuries. Over the last four seasons, Trout and Rendon played together in 18% of the Angels' games.

Moreno spoke at a celebrity golf invitational to support the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton. The Angels' new deal with FanDuel was first reported by the Orange County Register.