> My girlfriend used to live in Southern California, and once
> mentioned to me that the Dodgers at the time (late 1980's)
> had far more fans than the Angels.
>
> That situation is probably still true.
>
> Why did KCAL drop the Angels when Dodgers' games became
> available?? The Dodgers draw more viewers.
>
Although the Angels have had the better team over the last 4-5 years, the Dodgers do have the legacy and prestige since they were here (Los Angeles) first. That's a big reason why KCAL offered more money to take the Dodgers over keeping the Angels. KCOP paid $8 million a year to air Dodgers games (with production from sister FSN West 2), while KCAL is offering a bit more for Dodgers games. The TV ratings for both teams since the Angels won the World Series in 2002 have been almost equal. Arte Moreno wants to have the same kind of broadcast deal that the Dodgers get from FSN, so that way he thinks he's on equal footing with the Dodgers, which partly explains the name change from Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Whether people want to believe it or not, the Angels are (and always has been) the American League representative franchise for Los Angeles, and they've been airing on the airwaves of Los Angeles-based radio and television stations since its 1961 beginning.
The city of Anaheim and the Angels have just completed a lawsuit a few weeks ago, in which the city sued the team over the name change. When the lease was drawn up about ten years ago between Disney (then-owners of the Angels) and the city of Anaheim to renovate Angel Stadium, Anaheim stipulated that the city's name was to be included in the team's name. However, in Moreno's reasoning (and technically, a valid one), the lease writing never said anything about where "Anaheim" was supposed to go in the team name, just long as "Anaheim" was somewhere in the team name.
Now, unless he can payout the remaining 15 years left on his lease with Angel Stadium, he can't really move the team to Los Angeles proper, or anywhere else, for that matter until then. There is some room in certain areas in Los Angeles where he can build a stadium, without really infringing on the Dodgers space.
Also, another thing to look at is home attendance, where in 2005, the Angels drew an average of 42,033 (4th in MLB), while the Dodgers drew an average of 44,489 (2nd in MLB). However, the Dodgers played one more home game (80 home games, 1 rainout) than the Angels (79 home games, 2 rainouts). Also, one another thing to look at is seating capacity....Dodger Stadium seats 56,000, while Angel Stadium seats 45,050. On average, the Angels filled up 93% of seats, while the Dodgers filled up 79% of theirs.
This information, by the way, came from ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/attendance
Sorry for the long-winded response.