Angels' Pujols Signing Brings Boost In Ticket Sales, Expected Bump In Merch Demand

The Angels Friday reported that they had “sold about 1,000 season-ticket packages and additionally had taken more than 500 on-line orders for season-ticket packages since Thursday's signings" of 1B Albert Pujols and P C.J. Wilson, according to Jim Peltz of the L.A. TIMES. Sports business experts said that that kind of spike “would be expected, along with a boost in merchandise sales.” They predicted that “attendance and concession income should also rise … and show sustained strength if Pujols, 31, stays in the lineup and is productive over a number of years.” Already the value of the Angels franchise has “surely risen with Pujols' arrival and the news that the team has reached a new television deal with Fox Sports worth at least $3 billion.” The new agreement “dwarfs the $50 million per year the Angels currently take in from Fox” (L.A. TIMES, 12/10). CBSSPORTS.com's Scott Miller noted team Owner Arte Moreno "has pushed the Angels onto the same level as the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies and, perhaps, Cubs as one of the game's superpowers." Moreno "would not comment on the new TV deal Saturday, but he did acknowledge generally that the new economics 'stabilize this franchise for the longer term' and that this was carefully planned far in advance of the whirlwind 24-hour period that brought both the contract offer and Pujols' acceptance" (CBSSPORTS.com, 12/10).

BASEBALL'S NEW BOSS: ESPN.com's Jim Bowden wrote in "one fell swoop, Moreno has made himself this generation's George Steinbrenner in terms of providing financial support (but without meddling in baseball operations)." Moreno has remained "largely silent on personnel decisions in his first decade of ownership, but "not anymore." Ten years after he bought the team, Moreno "finally showed baseball who's boss" (ESPN.com , 12/10). Moreno has pointed out the "marketability and nationwide appeal of a star like Pujols is enough to tempt a team to extend its preset budget" (MLB.com, 12/10). Moreno: "I'm a marketing guy, I just thought, 'What does it mean to our fans to bring a player of this caliber here?" (L.A. TIMES, 12/11). In California, Bill Plankett noted Moreno at a press conference "was serenaded by chants of 'Thank. You. Ar-Te!' from approximately 4,000 fans who provided a pep rally-like atmosphere" when Pujols and Wilson were introduced "as the biggest expenditures of Moreno's baseball life." Moreno said, "Economically, we've stabilized enough to accomplish this." He emphasized that the Angels "operate with 'basically no debt on the team' unlike other franchises" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 12/11).

OTHER OWNERS NOT HAPPY: In N.Y., Bill Madden noted the fallout from Pujols' 10-year, $254M with the Angels "is being felt all over baseball -- from the other owners, who have been calling Commissioner Bud Selig to express their outrage and condemnation of Moreno as the all-time hypocrite; to the rest of the American League West which will be hard-pressed to counter the record $331.5 million one-day expenditure by Moreno that reaped the free-agent market's premium player." Selig "began getting besieged with calls from the other owners excoriating Moreno, who, according to sources, was the leading hawk on Selig's negotiating committee in the recent collective bargaining negotiations with the players union, and an outspoken critic of the Yankees, in particular, the Red Sox and Phillies in all the owners' meetings"(N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/11). In DC, Thomas Boswell wrote all over baseball teams are wondering, "How much is finally too much?" That is why "the hunt for Prince Fielder, the pursuit of Japan's Yu Darvish" and the courtship of Roy Oswalt "will be wracked with so much tension" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/10).

MAXIMUM EXPOSURE: In L.A., Mike DiGiovanna noted as of Wednesday, the Angels "were scheduled to appear on the Fox Network's national Saturday telecast five times" in '12. But Fox has since put in a request to MLB "to bump the Angels to nine national telecasts, the maximum for any team." In '10 and '11, "years in which they did not make the playoffs, the Angels appeared twice" on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball." The net "is still finalizing its 2012 schedule," but ESPN VP/Programming & Acquisitions Mike Ryan said he will be "looking to maximize our quota" of Angels games next season. Both Fox and ESPN execs said that the Angels' budding rivalry with the Rangers, who have won the AL West and reached the World Series the last two seasons, "will heighten interest" (L.A. TIMES, 12/10). USA TODAY's Michael McCarthy notes starting in five years the Angels "will be able to pay off Pujols' deal with somewhere between 10% and 13% of the TV money they'll pocket over 17 years for local TV rights" (USA TODAY, 12/12).