Angels Owner Arte Moreno Makes Insane Claim That Fans Do Not Care About Winning

There's been a concerted effort to blame the Los Angeles Dodgers for "ruining baseball." 

The thinking for some fans seems to be that an ownership group should, instead of building the best possible team with the financial resources at their disposal, pocket more in profits. This mentality, inexplicable as it is, has been used by owners of teams in smaller markets or with less financial resources, to tell fans that they simply can't afford to compete with the Dodgers. 

There are several flaws with this argument, namely that teams in small markets are handed tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue sharing each year. And those who receive high draft picks are able to select top prospects, who they then control for most of a decade, throughout the majority of their years of prime production, at well below market rates. 

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Regardless of any broader structural issues in baseball though, those fans who hate the Dodgers for trying to win are going to absolutely love what Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno just said about the importance of fielding a competitive team. 

 Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images)

Arte Moreno Says Fans Don't Actually Care About Winning

When speaking to reporters last week, Moreno said that the "number one thing fans want is affordability," when it comes to their favorite team. More importantly, he added that according to team survey data, "Winning is not in their top five." 

"They want affordability," Moreno said, according to the Orange County Register. "They want safety, and they want a good experience when they come to the ballpark. Believe it or not, winning is not in their top five."

"Moms make about 80% of the decisions," he continued. "They want to be able to bring their kids and be affordable and they want safety and they want to have a good experience, so they get all the entertainment stuff or whatever. The purists, you know, it’s just straight winning."

The Angels, despite playing in the second-largest television market in the country, are in the middle of the pack in payroll, and have never once paid the luxury tax. When asked about it, Moreno displayed even more disconnect with what fans actually want. "Will [payroll] get back to $200 million? Probably," Moreno said. "We’ve got to get our TV thing worked out, and we just have to improve our brand."

Predictably, the Major League Baseball Players Association heard these remarks and did not take kindly to them. 

"If you can’t have a successful operation in Los Angeles, it’s hard to see what the problem is," said new interim MLBPA head Bruce Meyer. "It’s easy to make excuses, but certainly the Los Angeles Angels have resources to compete in every respect.

"To come out and say that winning is not a priority, not even in the top five priorities, is really pretty remarkable."

You know what can "improve" a "brand," like Moreno wants? Winning. You know which team has the best on-field brand in Major League Baseball right now, the one that can bring in massive television ratings and pack stadiums? The Dodgers. You know which team has historically had the best brand in baseball? The New York Yankees. Why? Because they win, and have won. 

Obviously, it's absurd to say fans don't view winning as one of their top-five priorities. Fans watch the games because they want to see their favorite team win. It's quite literally a competitive sport, and the point of competition is to win the competition. But this attitude has become pervasive across the league, especially with the group of owners who have taken advantage of fans' anger towards the Dodgers. 

Ken Rosenthal, just a few weeks ago, reported that some teams could receive as much as $200 million in revenue-sharing money from the league and tax-paying teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets. That's a free handout to teams like the Pirates, Rays, or Marlins. Not including the revenue they generate from ticket sales, concessions, parking, merchandise, television rights deals, national media, luxury boxes, or advertising and sponsorships. Then they cry poor and act as though signing even mid-tier free agents is simply not possible. 

Then they weaponize the frustration with LA to push for a salary cap which will have no impact on competitive balance, and serve only to increase the value of their franchises and push player salaries down.

In reality, they project the attitude they have, where winning is a happy accident, not the only ultimate goal, onto fans. Too many fans then make excuses for it, instead of realizing what most owners actually value. The Dodgers aren't ruining baseball, they're showing opposing fans how little most of the teams care about fans' top priority. And reaping massive financial and on-field rewards in the process.