The War Is Over, Halo Fans: Moreno Is Gone

Written By Cruz Cambero

Angels News

September 1, 2026 - Written by Cruz Cambero

After 23 long years, the Angels are finally getting a new owner. The news broke early today and came as a surprise to most Angels fans. Stan Kroenke and his ownership group have reached an agreement to purchase the Angels from Moreno, ending what has been a frustrating 23-year era for the franchise.

Moreno has repeatedly said that he had no plans of selling the Angels, so to finally see the news that the team is changing hands is something that a lot of Angels fans probably never thought would happen.

Kroenke owns many other professional sports teams, including the Los Angeles Rams, Arsenal Football Club, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rapids, and Colorado Mammoth. Now, he is adding the Angels to that list, and as an Angels fan, I could not be more excited.

So what made Moreno so bad? First off, there was the name change. In 2005, Moreno changed the team's name from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The move was clearly made to give the team more exposure and appeal to the larger Los Angeles market, but it still frustrates Angels fans to this day. The Angels play in Anaheim, which is in Orange County, not Los Angeles County.

But the name change is not even close to the biggest reason Angels fans have wanted Moreno gone. The biggest reason is simple: winning. All Angels fans have wanted for the past decade is to see the Halos back in the postseason. Instead, the Angels have missed the playoffs for 11 straight seasons. That is even more frustrating when you consider that the Angels had Mike Trout, one of the greatest baseball players of all time, for all of those years and also had Shohei Ohtani for six seasons. Somehow, the organization could never build a consistent winner around either of them.

Moreno also deserves criticism for some of the biggest contracts in franchise history. To be fair, he was not afraid to spend money when he first became owner. The problem was that a lot of that money went toward contracts that eventually became major problems for the team. Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, C.J. Wilson, and, of course, Anthony Rendon are some of the biggest examples.

I can't completely blame Moreno for becoming more cautious about handing out massive contracts after seeing how some of those deals turned out, but at some point you still have to find a way to build a winning team. For years, the Angels simply could not do it. Fans watched superstar after superstar come through Anaheim while the team continued to miss the playoffs. It became exhausting.

Now you might be wondering, why would Moreno sell the Angels now? The timing is certainly interesting. Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season, and there is a possibility of a league-wide lockout. If there is no baseball, there are obviously fewer ticket sales, fewer concessions, and less revenue coming in from games. But I don't think that is the only reason.

Moreno is 80 years old and has owned the Angels for 23 years. Maybe he finally realized that it was time for a change. Whatever the reason may be, Angels fans are not going to complain. After years of hearing that Moreno was not selling, finally seeing him step away feels like a weight has been lifted off the entire fan base.

Now here is why I love Stan Kroenke buying the Angels. Look at what he has done with his other teams. The Rams won the Super Bowl in 2022, and Kroenke has never been afraid to go all-in when he believes his team has a chance to win. The Rams traded for Matthew Stafford and gave up multiple years of first-round picks because they wanted to win right then and there. They have continued making aggressive moves and recently brought in Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie, and Aaron Donald because they are trying to build another championship team.

That is something the Angels desperately need.

Then you have the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup in 2022, and the Denver Nuggets, who won the NBA Finals in 2023. Arsenal has also become one of the top clubs in England under Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, with the organization willing to spend big money on players like Declan Rice and Bruno Guimarães to build a team capable of competing for championships.

Wherever Kroenke goes, his teams seem to have one thing in common: they want to win.

Obviously, baseball is different from football, basketball, and hockey, and Kroenke cannot simply spend money and guarantee a championship. But he can give the organization the resources and leadership it needs to succeed. That is what makes the combination of Kroenke and John Mozeliak so exciting.

Mozeliak already gave Angels fans a reason to be excited with what he did at the trade deadline. He showed that he was willing to make moves and improve the team instead of sitting around and doing nothing. Now he potentially has an owner who has a track record of supporting his teams and doing whatever it takes to compete. That combination could be exactly what the Angels have been missing.

September 1, 2026, could eventually go down as one of the best days in Angels history, right alongside the day they won the 2002 World Series. Obviously, nothing will ever replace that championship, but this could be the day that started the next great era of Angels baseball.

To all the diehard Angels fans who have spent the past year sitting in the right-field corner, going shirtless, holding signs and screaming “SELL THE TEAM!” at the top of their lungs, your work is finally done. For the past year, those guys became one of the most recognizable symbols of the frustration surrounding this organization. They kept showing up, kept yelling, and kept demanding that Moreno sell the team.

Well, today, he finally did.

Arte Moreno is out. Stan Kroenke is in. John Mozeliak is here. And for the first time in a long time, Angels fans have a reason to believe that things could actually be different.

The Angels have spent far too long wasting some of the greatest talent baseball has ever seen and giving their fans very little to celebrate. That needs to change. Maybe Kroenke is the owner who can finally change it. Maybe Mozeliak is the guy who can finally build this team the right way. And maybe, after 23 years of frustration, Angels fans can finally start believing again.

To all the fans who have been there through the good, the bad, and the absolutely terrible, this is your moment. The chants, the signs, and the shirtless guys in the right-field corner yelling “SELL THE TEAM!” finally worked.

Today starts a new beginning.

Go Halos!

Disclaimer : (1) Links of players are property of MLB, MiLB, and Baseball Reference. (2) InsideHalos is a fan-made site not affiliated with Angels Baseball.

Cruz Cambero

A Lifelong Angels fan and a diehard for all sports. Pepperdine Undergraduate Student.

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