TEMPE, Ariz. — On the eve of the Angels’ first spring training game of the season, the team is still trying to figure out what their television situation will look like when the regular season starts in just over a month.

The uncertainty is a large reason why the Angels payroll is down so much from last year, owner Arte Moreno said Friday.

“We’ll be on TV,” he said. “But put it this way, it hasn’t been easy.”

A year after Moreno said he expected the Angels to lose $50 million in 2025, their payroll for 2026 is at least $50 million less than it was a season ago.

As cord-cutters have hurt the business model for television networks, they have been unable to pay sports teams the rights fees they negotiated years ago.

“We took a (revenue) cut going from Fox to Main Street, and they’re going to go down again,” Moreno said. “A lot of teams have gone to MLB and I haven’t done it yet. I’m not telling you I won’t do it. We’re still working on it.”

Moreno added that “we’ll know here in the next five to seven days.”

Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of FanDuel Sports Network, was in bankruptcy proceedings until last year. Many of the other teams that had deals with Main Street simply handed their rights to MLB, which collects subscription fees from fans and passes that directly to the teams, who also generate money from advertising.

That doesn’t amount to the same revenue as the rights fees, though.

The alternative is for the Angels to create their own television network, but that requires much more work and negotiation. It’s also complicated because the NHL’s Kings are a part of the Angels’ partnership with Main Street.

In the meantime, the Angels chose not to do a temporary arrangement that would have allowed some of their spring training games to be aired, although Moreno said “there’s still a possibility” they could.

All that’s known right now is that the Angels’ regular-season games will be available to stream on MLB.tv. It’s also likely that whatever linear outlet — cable or satellite — that fans used to watch games before will still be available. What’s uncertain is who will produce those games, and how much revenue the Angels will generate.

The television situation was the most pressing issue facing Moreno as he sat down for his annual interview with writers who cover the Angels.

As for the standard question about whether he’s considering selling, Moreno reiterated that the team is not available.

“Let’s put it this way, I’m not shopping (the team),” Moreno said. “But there’s just a lot of people wanting to buy a baseball team right now.”

The San Diego Padres and Minnesota Twins are both currently for sale.

Moreno, 79, has owned the Angels since 2003. He announced in 2022 that the team was for sale, but he changed his mind early in 2023, and has not changed his stance since. He does acknowledge his age leads to more questions about the team’s future when he’s not around.

“I love being an owner,” he said. “I’ve always liked being the owner. It’s just, you get into an age … I’ve got a big birthday this year. I can’t believe I made it.”

Moreno has come under fire in recent years for the team’s failures. The Angels haven’t been to the playoffs since 2014 and they haven’t had a winning season since 2015.

As the Angels have continued losing, and with the unsettled TV situation, Moreno has trimmed the payroll.

“Will it 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.”

Moreno suggested the way to improve the product on the field is to continue trying to develop young players, rather than spending money on free agents.

“The question is do one or two players substantially change (the record)?” Moreno said. “If you go out and spend $15 or $20 million a year times three or times five, it doesn’t get it done.”

Moreno also addressed the recent Tyler Skaggs wrongful death civil lawsuit. After a trial that lasted more than two months, the Angels settled for an undisclosed amount of money with the family of Skaggs, who died in 2019 after a drug overdose.

Moreno said the settlement has “zero” effect on the finances for the rest of the operation.

“It’s just very unfortunate,” Moreno said. “But economically it has nothing to do with it. Two basically separate situations. Kept that separate.”

As for the ongoing discussions about upgrades to Angel Stadium, Moreno said the Angels spent $5 million for improvements this winter. They redid the seating in the Diamond Club. They also did steelwork, painting and they are about to redo the blacktop in the parking lots.

“We’ve put in double what we’re supposed to under the (lease with the city),” Moreno said.

Moreno reiterated that he’s committed to the fan experience, specifically to making the games affordable for families.

“The number one thing fans want is affordability,” Moreno said. “They want affordability. 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.”

Moreno said that information comes from surveys they’ve done.

“The moms want to be able to afford to bring the kids,” Moreno said. “Moms make about 80 percent of the decisions. 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.”

When asked what his top priority is, Moreno said: “For me, I’ve always wanted to win. It’s just what’s the cost of winning right now?”

As Moreno spoke, he motioned toward Mike Trout, who still represents one of the keys to the Angels ending their drought.

“If we can keep him healthy, he changes the games,” Moreno said. “It changes the audience. Everything.”

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