In an attempt to make the team more appealing to a broader market, on January 3, 2005, the Anaheim Angels announced the franchise would henceforth be known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The idea was to imply that the Angels were from Southern California in general, and not just from Orange County. The “of Anaheim” phrase was included to comply with the terms of a 1996 lease that called for the city to fund renovations to Anaheim Stadium, and required the team’s name to contain the name “Anaheim.” The city of Anaheim filed an injunction seeking to immediately reverse the name change, but this proved unsuccessful, and the Angels began playing under the new name for the 2007 season.
If they really wanted to appeal to a “broader market” shouldn’t they have just gone back to their original name — the California Angels? If broadening out was the goal, after all, why not the entire state? And, to comply with their lease agreement they could have called themselves “The California Angels (of Anaheim and everywhere else in this big, beautiful state, including wherever you are right now)”. Maybe too long? 🙂
I kind of wondered the same thing, but who knows what these guys are thinking? I do like your suggestion. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is already pretty ridiculous, so as long as we’re doing that kind of thing, why not go all out? 🙂