Angels’ vice president of marketing and ticket sales resigns

Robert Alvarado, the Angels’ vice president of marketing and ticket sales, resigned Wednesday.

The move came two weeks after he was quoted by The Times and Orange County Register in articles exploring the Angels’ decline in attendance this season.

“He made a personal decision to resign from the organization,” said Tim Mead, Angels’ vice president of communications. “We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

Owner Arte Moreno was known to be displeased by particular comments Alvarado made in the articles. In the Times story, Alvarado was quoted discussing the ticketing strategies of the Dodgers, which angered the Dodgers.

Alvarado explained in both stories how the Angels could avoid losing revenue even as they lost attendance by focusing on selling higher-priced tickets. The Angels could push discount tickets too, he said, but fans buying lower-priced tickets tended not to spend very much on concessions and merchandise, lowering the so-called “per-cap” figure that accounts for a fan’s total spending at the ballpark.

“We may not be reaching as many of the people on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder,” Alvarado told the Register, “but those people, they may enjoy the game, but they pay less, and we’re not seeing the conversion on the per-caps.”

The OC Weekly highlighted that quote when it followed with a story entitled “Anaheim Angels: We Don’t Need Poor Fans, and We Don’t Want Them.”

Alvarado had worked for the Angels for 15 years, starting as director of marketing for the Angels and NHL’s Mighty Ducks when the Walt Disney Co. owned both teams.