Posted on 04/15/2003 7:37:56 PM PDT by socal_parrot
By Jeffrey Goldfarb
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Disney has reached a tentative deal to sell its Anaheim Angels baseball team for about $180 million to a Mexican-American billboard magnate who aims to attract more Latinos to watch the defending World Series champs, people close to the situation said on Tuesday.
Arturo "Arte" Moreno, with a net worth approximating $940 million, must await approval from Major League Baseball and its owners before closing any deal with Walt Disney Co. .
Disney declined to comment. Baseball officials and Moreno could not immediately be reached.
Moreno's bid appears to have edged out separate offers from Boston real estate developer Frank McCourt and members of the Nederlander family, the theater impresarios who have worked closely with Disney on various productions, these people said.
Billionaire Carlos Peralta had submitted an early bid for the Angels with hopes of being baseball's first Mexican owner, but the league has frowned on foreign ownership, so Disney did not consider his offer.
The deal with Moreno offers about 1.8 times the Angels' average revenue of about $100 million over the past few years, a similar multiple to other recent baseball team sales. Forbes magazine estimated the team's value at about $225 million.
The Angels took in about $130 million last year, boosted by the extra revenue from its playoff run and World Series crown. Still, the team lost about $10 million.
Nearly half of Anaheim's 330,000 residents are Hispanic, as is about one-third of Orange County, California, where it is located. The Angels reached out to Hispanic fans by advertising in Spanish-language media and by offering "Domingos Alegres" -- fun Sundays -- discount ticket packages.
Even with the championship run, however, the Angels drew only about 2.3 million fans -- a 15 percent gain from the 2001 season -- but just three-quarters of the 3.1 million people who showed up to watch the nearby Los Angeles Dodgers.
A Latino owner could help generate fresh interest in the team, whose roster includes the Mexican shortstop Benji Gil, the Venezuelan pitcher Francisco Rodriguez and the Dominican outfielder Julio Ramirez.
Moreno, who lives in Arizona, banked his fortune in 1999 after he and his partner sold their outdoor advertising company, Outdoor Systems, to Infinity Broadcast Corp. for $8.7 billion. Moreno recently sold his minority stake in the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, but still owns part of the National Basketball Association's Phoenix Suns.
The Angels sale would need approval from three-quarters of the owners of baseball's American League, where the Angels play, and half of the National League owners. One source said the owners have not yet set a timetable to vote on the deal.
Disney spent about $100 million to refurbish the home stadium after it paid $147 million to buy full control of the Angels in 1998 from the family of Gene Autry when the team's founder and cowboy film star died.
The theme park Disneyland is located in Anaheim, and Disney, like other media companies, envisioned benefits from combining sports teams with other entertainment properties and broadcast holdings.
Disney, which is now preparing to sell its Anaheim Mighty Ducks hockey team, is abandoning that strategy, as is News Corp., which is shopping the Dodgers, and AOL Time Warner, which is trying to sell its three Atlanta-based sports teams. (Additional reporting by Peter Henderson in Los Angeles)
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