A jury ruled yesterday that the Angels did not breach a contract with the city of Anaheim when the baseball team changed its name.

Jurors rejected the city of Anaheim’s argument that the baseball team violated a stadium lease and cost the city where it plays at least $100 million in revenue by changing the name last year from Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The jury, which deliberated about five hours, also found the team didn’t violate a state law requiring good faith and fair dealing.

“I was trying to create something positive and more inclusive … which we believed was our legal right to do,” Angels owner Arte Moreno said. “Long term, we’re going to have a healthier franchise that can compete.”

Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle was disappointed, adding the case was about more than just a name change. It was “to make sure the identity of our community, both in Orange County and in the city of Anaheim, was preserved,” Pringle said.

The city sued the Angels for breach of contract in January last year, shortly after Moreno changed the name.

City officials said the change cost Anaheim at least $100 million in lost tourism, publicity and so-called “impressions” – buzz the city gets each time its name appears in the national media in conjunction with a major league baseball team.

City officials also claimed the Walt Disney Co., which sold the franchise to Moreno in 2003, agreed to call the team the Anaheim Angels and signed a 1996 stadium lease agreement committing to that. Although the lease language said only the name shall “include” the word Anaheim, the city said Disney promised to call the team the Anaheim Angels.