Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno announced Monday that he plans to continue overseeing the franchise for the foreseeable future, despite exploring the possibility of a sale five months earlier. In a statement, Moreno, 76, wrote that as talks about selling the team “began to crystallize, we realized our hearts remain with the Angels, and we are not ready to part ways with the fans, players and our employees.”
Moreno bought the Angels from the Walt Disney Company for $183.5 million in 2003, the year after the first and still only championship in franchise history, and a sale 20 years later had been widely predicted to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion. Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob and Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong had been rumored to be among those involved, with a sale expected to take place at some point before Opening Day.
In a statement, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wrote: “Despite strong buyer interest in the Angels, Arte Moreno’s love of the game is most important to him. I am very pleased that the Moreno Family has decided to continue owning the team.”