IRVINE, Calif. — The ongoing saga between Orange County Soccer Club and the city of Irvine has been paused as the City Council agreed to extend the team’s current deal until Nov. 2023.
But council members and City Manager Oliver Chi expressed dismay over the rhetoric from fans.
Ultimately, the resolution, brought by Vice Mayor Anthony Kuo, was passed and stipulated that the city would spend the year negotiating plans with the team.
“I’ve personally had at least three or four conversations within the last month with the soccer club, so to suggest there is not dialogue is not true,” Kuo said.
Executives at OC Soccer Club have worried that the City Council would choose not to renew or renegotiate the existing contract in order to hand a lease to the LA Galaxy. The team has said there has not been a negotiation, and Mayor Farrah Khan indicated the city manager and the club had yet to meet.
But Kuo pushed forth a resolution anyway, giving the team more time to come up with alternate plans should the city decide to move on. But the key, Kuo said, was to give the team time so that the decision, whatever it may be, won’t be a surprise or delivered to them on short notice.
Khan wanted more time.
“I don’t know what we would be voting on because we don’t have a potential agreement of plan or an agreement to move forward,” Khan said. “My recommendation is that city management and OC soccer meet, discuss their plan for the next season and comeback to us with their plan to vote on.”
Khan then added that she would support the motion, but felt the soccer cub had too many dates for the city-owned stadium and felt there should be more available days for community use.
Tammy Kim seconded the motion, but had her own message for fans.
“I’ve received so many nasty emails from the fans. I feel I’ve been supportive. I haven’t done any back room deals. I’m not corrupt and neither are any of my colleagues,” she said. “You don’t win favors when you accuse us of being corrupt.”
Larry Agran also agreed the motion was reasonable, but only after Chi said he was comfortable with a 1-year renewal and only after Kahn asked that more days be available for community use.
With passage of the motion, the city manager’s office will now begin the renewal process and negotiations for what happens after the agreement ends in 2023.