Proposed New City Manager Named and New Professional Baseball Team for the Great Park
Items of interest on the revised agenda for the Irvine City Council Meeting on Tuesday, July 28th at 4pm. Original agenda published on July 21, and revised on July 23. Irvine residents may provide public comments at both meetings by attending in person at City Hall or via Zoom. Residents may also submit ecomments. Instructions are here.
Consent Calendar
Consent calendar items are a grouping of items to which council votes on all items in a single group vote. Any council member may ask to have an Consent item pulled for discussion and separate vote.
3.5 Multi-Year Facility Use and Sponsorship Agreement with Innovation Baseball Partners, LLC.
City staff is seeking approval for a 5-year facility use contract with Innovation Baseball Partners, LLC. IBP owns, operates, and manages multiple California minor league teams. IBP seeks to bring a minor league professional baseball team to the Great Park. The proposal includes support for continued community access to the stadium, as well as community programming such as youth baseball clinics, camps and coaching education.
IBP will be granted naming rights to the stadium and the City will receive 50 percent of the net revenue. If approved the agreement is estimated to generate $368,000 in annual revenues for the Great Park (Fund 180).
Council Business
4.1 Agreement for Employment of Sean Joyce as City Manager of the City of Irvine
On May 18, 2026, City Manager Sean Crumby announced that he would resign from the City, effective August 14, 2026. Following that announcement, the City Council met in closed session and authorized the appointment of Sean Joyce as City Manager for a term of approximately 1 year. The resulting Agreement for Employment of City Manager is now before the City Council for review and approval.
The following items were removed from the originally published agenda:
4.2 Consideration of a Request by Mayor Agran to Discuss and Potentially Direct the City Attorney to Prepare One or More Measures for Placement on the November 2026, Irvine Municipal Ballot
Mayor Agran requested discussion of possible measures that have been mentioned in past meetings such as: Rank Choice Voting, City Participation in or Withdrawal from the OCPA, Charter Amendments, and other revenue-raising measures.
4.3 Review of Proposed Irvine Mobility Hub Lease Terms
Action:
1) Review the proposed lease terms for a mobility hub and provide Staff with policy direction.
2) Authorize the City Manager to complete and execute lease agreements with Drop Mobility for operation of a temporary pop up and permanent mobility hub at the Irvine Metrolink Station, based on Council input.
Great Park Board Meeting at 3:00pm
Prior to the Council meeting, the Great Park Board will hold its regular meeting at 2:00pm on Tuesday. The major item on the agenda is the initial discussion and Board action for the Innovation Baseball Partners, LLC 5-year agreement.
5 Comments
Irvine Observer
July 25, 2026 at 12:28 pmThanks for keeping us posted on important agenda items ahead of the City Council meeting!
Alan
July 25, 2026 at 3:08 pmAll you have to do is sign up on the city website and they will email you the agenda 1 week before the meeting. Good way to keep up with what is going on.
Alan
July 25, 2026 at 1:56 pmI know there is a soccer field but is there a baseball field with enough seating for a minor league team?
Judith Gass
July 25, 2026 at 2:11 pmYup! There is a nice baseball stadium that apparently can hold 1,400 spectators.
J. Slobodien
July 25, 2026 at 8:29 pmCan you believe Sean Joyce’s crazy high package??
– Sean Joyce left Irvine earning about $294,000 in base salary.
– Huntington Beach hired him as Interim City Manager for $122.68/hour with no benefits and no severance.
– Laguna Beach hired him for $143/hour, also without severance, while conducting a search.
– Irvine is now proposing $434,242/year (about $209/hour), plus executive benefits, an additional retiree payment, and severance protections. Joyce will also be paid his entire year contract if the city fires him.
– This isn’t about Sean Joyce—it’s about the City Council’s fiduciary duty to negotiate the best value for taxpayers.
– If two other cities negotiated a much better deal for the same person, why didn’t Irvine? We should all expect better stewardship of our tax dollars. This is another example of the city of irvine splurging on salaries during a budget crisis!
Lastly, I knew Mayor Agran would stop the ballot agenda item because he needs any excuse not to have Oak Creek on the ballot. So much for his open space legacy!
Thanks Judith nice article!