Anaheim officials still don’t know if one of their largest assets – Angel Stadium – is trashed four years after their predecessors ventured to find out the condition of the taxpayer owned property in the wake of a corruption scandal that tanked a previously proposed land sale.

Near the start of this year, city leaders said the results of the long awaited and multi-phased assessment of Angel Stadium would be expected to be finished by mid-2026 as elected leaders began to ponder what the future could hold for the ballpark. 

Now officials say the results of the study won’t be completed before the end of the year, possibly after an election that could bring about new faces to the governing dais. 

“We selected a structural consultant to perform the final engineering analysis and assessment of the stadium test results. The final assessment is expected to be completed late this year,” said Interim City Manager Greg Garcia said at a city council meeting earlier this month.

“We will continue to provide general updates as the process plays out.”

While officials this year have been giving brief monthly updates on which phase the assessment is on, they won’t share what has been discovered so far and aren’t providing how much they have incurred in costs since they started it. 

City spokesman Mike Lyster wouldn’t comment on the assessment’s delay or if the city intended to use the results of the study to ensure the ballclub is fulfilling its stadium maintenance obligations outlined in a reinstated lease scrutinized by auditors and elected officials.

“We are now looking at the end of 2026,” he said in an email last week. “Beyond that, we want to let the process play out and avoid any advance speculation.”

Marie Garvey, a spokesman for the Angels, directed questions about the assessment and lease to the city. 

Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said the city is finishing up the assessment – a report she says will influence future negotiations with the Angels and is important to be done correctly.

“The consultants are concluding the assessment, and I favor getting it right over getting it fast,” she said in a Wednesday text message. 

“No one knows what the assessment will reveal. The city is entitled to a first-rate professional stadium, and this study will help inform any future negotiations with the team.”  

The rest of the city council did not respond to requests for comment.

Former City Councilman Jose Moreno, who called for the assessment in 2022, said despite some of his successors seeming adamant about getting the study done on the campaign trail when they came into office, they failed to hold top city executives accountable following the corruption scandal.

“That was a really bad sign about getting an honest and thorough assessment in good time, and of course from there begin to look at the lease and the negotiations and hold people accountable,” he said in an interview last week.

“When you put those things together, it becomes actually not surprising that we are now four years later and do not have an assessment.”

State Senator Tom Umberg, who called for an audit on the Angel Stadium with State Assemblyman Avelino Valencia, said he isn’t an expert on property evaluations, but it should be completed quickly so the property can be sold. 

“We should get the assessment done as quickly as possible and then sell the stadium,” he said in a Tuesday interview. “The issue is how to get the highest value for Anaheim’s taxpayers from perhaps the most valuable municipal asset potentially for sale in California.”

Valencia said residents deserve to know what state the stadium they own is in. 

“Angel Stadium is a public asset, and residents deserve a clear picture of its condition,” he said a Tuesday emailed statement
 

Read more here: The Voice of OC