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Long Beach Stadium For Los Angeles Angels Would Cost $1 Billion To Construct

Exterior photo of Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California.

Image Credit: Mark Mauno (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Earlier this week, the city of Long Beach turned over a 556-page analysis of records in an attempt to prove they’re a worthy home for the Los Angeles Angels. The Los Angeles Angels currently play at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim in Orange County but have chosen to opt out of their lease there. The proposed stadium would be constructed on the current site of Long Beach Arena as well as a nearby lot called the “Elephant Lot”. Long Beach Arena was the former home arena of the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.

Long Beach city officials estimate that the proposed stadium would cost more than $900 million to construct. That estimate would exceed $1 billion after factoring in the interest that would be associated with the stadium’s construction. It would be extremely difficult for Long Beach taxpayers to foot the bill for a new baseball stadium. The stadium could be financed with various 20, 30, and 40 year bonds. Additional taxes could also be levied against ticket sales, local hotels, local car rentals, etc. The construction of a new 3,500 space parking garage was also proposed and would cost nearly $105 million to build. Parking would be extremely limited in Long Beach compared to Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

There would be a ton of red tape that would need to be bypassed if the city of Long Beach got serious about building a stadium for the Angels. The plan would have to generate positive feedback via both an environmental impact report and traffic study. Those two evaluations would determine how a baseball stadium would impact the surrounding community. The stadium plan would also need to eventually be approved by the California Coastal Commission. The proposed stadium would be a waterfront ballpark and could provide a setting similar to Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The Oakland Athletics are currently lobbying for the construction of a waterfront ballpark in an area of Oakland called ‘Howard Terminal’.

The city of Tustin was previously considered as a potential home of the Los Angeles Angels. There is still a possibility that the Los Angeles Angels organization could completely renovate Angel Stadium or build a new stadium not far from their current home. The land Angel Stadium of Anaheim sits on is currently being appraised. The proposed stadium site in Long Beach, California has not been appraised. The Los Angeles Angels are expected to make a decision on where they’ll build their new home stadium by the end of 2019. The team’s lease with the Angel Stadium of Anaheim is set to expire in 2020. 

 

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