Angels’ fans support for terrible 2024 team has one absolutely huge downside
Baseball, as a sport, is in a favorable position. For the first time in over a decade, attendance has increased in each of the last two seasons, proving that there is a continued interest in watching games in person. There was some universal worry that baseball was losing the attention of millions of sports fans, but maybe that can be kicked to the curb for the time being.
Teams all across the league saw a respectable number of fans turn up for each game, which included 30,000 or more people per contest (over half of MLB average). The Angels averaged 31,822 fans per game, totaling 2,577,597. That mark was good for 13th-best, which can be viewed as a bit alarming for Halos fans.
Yes, it is good that fans are still showing up to support their team. However, considering that Los Angeles had the second-worst record in the American League, there may be repercussions for this. Angels owner Arte Moreno did not put a good product on the field in 2024, yet is somehow still being rewarded for it monetarily. In a way, this could tell Moreno – who has been the owner since 2003 – that he does not need to make any major improvements to the roster, nor to the stadium.
Be it Angels Stadium or the Spring Training facilities in Tempe, AZ, Moreno’s inability to remodel the Angels workplaces have put the team at a competitive disadvantage. The team recently announced that they will be establishing hitting and pitching labs in Tempe, AZ. These labs should have been installed and functioning years ago to accommodate their R&D, Scouting, and Player Development departments.
Moreno continues to benefit from others without pulling much weight in his own right. It would be a statement by Angels fans to boycott going to home games until Moreno does something to change the direction of the franchise, but that’s much easier said than done. Going to baseball games are a tradition, regardless of whether or not your favorite team is amidst a decade-long playoff drought.
Those two aspects are the perfect combination to halt Moreno from digging into his pockets and signing big-time players or building around the stadium…because why would he? He thinks of the team solely as a business. So, if he can generate a profit without maxing out his credit card, then he is probably happy with the current state of affairs.
