Professional sports teams are getting set to embark on a stadium development boom, but as the price tags of their ambitions have ballooned into the billions, negotiations for taxpayer help are drawing ever more scrutiny, and the risks of a public blowup have grown. Take the saga of the Los Angeles Angels. The Major League Baseball team has been playing at Angel Stadium in Anaheim since 1966, and when owner Arte Moreno was looking for a new ballpark for his club, he struck a deal for 153 acres of city-owned land on which he could build a new stadium, as well as 4M SF of commercial space, nearly 950 hotel rooms and multiple apartment buildings. Until the FBI got involved. 
In May, federal law enforcement revealed that it was investigating then-Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu for soliciting campaign donations in exchange for information on the land sale. Sidhu resigned the same month, and Moreno is now looking to sell the team he’s owned since…  Read the full story here. | 
