Ethics Bob

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. The city of Anaheim, California isn’t easy to fool twice. In 1996 the city and the then-California Angels agreed to a long-term lease for Anaheim Stadium. The city agreed to spend $100 million to renovate the stadium, and the team agreed to change its name to include the word ‘Anaheim.’ Years later a new owner, Arte Moreno, weaseled out of the deal by changing the team’s name from Anaheim Angels to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim—or, universally known as the LA Angels. The city sued to reverse the change, but lost in court.

Now the Sacramento Kings NBA team is considering a move to Anaheim, and the Anaheim city council unanimously approved a $75 million bond deal Tuesday night to entice the Kings to move. The team would be known as the Anaheim Royals (there already is a Los Angeles Kings hockey team.) No Los Angeles Royals of Anaheim: the city won’t be fooled twice. Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait said that the team name would have “Anaheim as its first word and sole geographic identifier.”

Tags: Anaheim, Anaheim Angels, Anaheim Royals, Anaheim Stadium, Arte Moreno, California Angels, ethics, LA Angels, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Sacramento Kings, Tom Tait

This entry was posted on March 31, 2011 at 7:03 am and is filed under Ethics-general, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.