It took a while, but it got there. Let’s review how we got here!
Possibly this week, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs will sign HB 2704, which provides a source of funding for maintenance on Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It hopefully draws to a close a lengthy, and occasionally nasty, saga as the team sought to secure money for repairs and updates to the infrastructure of the ballpark. With the current agreement expiring in 2027, time was beginning to run out for a settlement. The final deal basically uses sales taxes from Chase Field and other buildings in the area, as well as state income taxes from certain employees of the team, for the next 30 years. A cap of $500 million is included, which will be adjusted for inflation going forward.
It has been an epic tale, going back over a decade. Initially, negotiations between the team and their landlords, the Maricopa County Stadium District were private. But after four years without resolution, the lid came off in March 2016. The main point of contention was responsibility for $187m in maintenance. The D-backs said it was up to the MCSD: because they hadn’t made the repairs, the team could seek alternatives. In a letter, president Derrick Hall wrote, “In order to protect the Diamondbacks’ franchise value and ability to contribute to the community, the team must now pursue other stadium options and work expeditiously towards concluding its relationship with the district in an orderly manner.”
Little progress was made initially on coming to an agreement. Indeed, things got considerably more ugly and personal later in the year. Maricopa County had rejected most of the team’s requested list of fixes, stating things like renovated suites, painting and a new scoreboard, were cosmetic and the team’s responsibility. County Supervisor Andy Kunasek sent a letter to Hall describing the team as “evolving into a parasitic enterprise.” When he delivered the letter to the team, he allegedly “directed a profanity-laced storm at Hall, calling on owner Ken Kendrick to “take your stupid baseball team and get out” and go back to “f___ing West Virginia.””
The county then tried to bring in private investors to tear down and rebuild Chase Field. That proposal fell apart later in the year, the investors citing conflict with the D-backs as their reason for withdrawal. According to the Arizona Republic, “The team had asked investors to provide information about their identities, funding sources and business plan before sitting down,” a request the investors called “unreasonable and rather dubious.” The team sued Maricopa County in January 2017, seeking to break the lease, in order to bring in new finance either for repairs or for a new park. Efforts to have the situation dealt with in arbitration stumbled because the parties couldn’t agree on the arbitration panel.
“Major League Baseball … they’re very, very concerned. If Major League Baseball decides they want to create issues for us, there might not be baseball at all in Arizona.”
— D-backs attorney, Leo Beus – August 2017
The above quote came in the wake of incidents at Chase, including a burst pipe and an air-conditioning failure, which resulted in flooding of suites, restaurants, an office and a gym. The team even sent a delegation to Vancouver, to look into the possibility of holding games there, if the problems at Chase forced a move. However, negotiations eventually resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding in May 2018. This agreement dropped the lawsuit, with the MCSD no longer being responsible for the repairs. The D-backs gained the ability to book outside events like concerts at Chase Field, and put the revenue from those towards repairs. It also gave the team the ability to look elsewhere.
Both sides expressed optimism it would lead to a better relationship going forward, with the aim of securing the team’s future in Arizona for the long term. Despite this, rumblings about the team leaving Chase Field continued. In May 2019, we found designs for a new ballpark on an architect’s website. A couple of months later, news broke about discussions between the team and the town of Henderson in Nevada. The team downplayed both incidents, and stated on several occasions they were committed to remaining in the downtown area of Phoenix. At 2020’s Fan Fest. Hall said, “We’re going to stay here. My focus is on Arizona. And we’re going to do everything we can to stay at Chase Field.”
There, for a while, matters rested, the world being busy with things like global pandemics. Although in April 2021, House Bill 2835 was signed by then Governor Doug Ducey. An article described its purpose as follows: “A theme park district created by Maricopa County and the City of Phoenix would be authorized to issue bonds to pay for sports, entertainment and other recreational amenities. The bonds would be backed and paid off with revenue generated from a new 9% tax on sales of tickets, merchandise, food and beverage at the ballpark.” I’m not certain what happened in regard to this proposal, or why further action was apparently never carried out.
Meanwhile, the clock on the original ballpark lease continued to tick. In August 2023, the county wrote to the city inquiring if they would be interested in partnering on Chase Field. The flames were stirred again by owner Ken Kendrick’s comments during spring training 2024. While these were fairly innocuous in nature, some outlets went a bit click-baity in their reporting. They edited a 30-minute session down to a couple of vaguely apocalyptic sentences: “We may run out of time in Phoenix. We hope that won’t happen.” However, what Kendrick’s comments did do, was get the wheels in motion once more regarding a lease extension.
Hall told the Republic progress was being made, and said, “I think it makes sense to have (the lease) in place first so that we know, OK, we can be here and then work on a bigger picture way to fund this stadium that the county owns.” He expressed a preference for a long-term lease, and raised the idea of using taxes generated by the park and team as a source for that funding. However, when the MCSD suggested a 50-year lease in September, the team rejected the idea. “To ask us to sign a 50-year lease renewal on a stadium we do not own when we are the only party bringing real dollars to the table is simply not a serious or logical proposal.”
In the end though, the funding arrived before the lease. In January this year, Arizona State Representative Jeff Weninger introduced HB 2704, along the lines suggested by Hall. It would take 5% of the 5.6% of sales taxes generated at Chase, plus income taxes from players. It was estimated this would generate between $15 million and $20 million per year for renovations and maintenance. Added Hall, “As a team we are likely to put in $200 to $300 million into this ballpark, as well, so it will be a true public-private partnership that we’ve been seeking.” Not everyone was quite as enthusiastic. Ask Phoenix mayor, Kate Gallego, for her opinion:
Today, the State House will consider H.B. 2704, which subsidizes renovations to Chase Field with hundreds of millions hard-earned tax dollars. It takes $200 million from the City of Phoenix alone, which will have a real impact on our ability to pay for police and fire services.
— Mayor Kate Gallego (@MayorGallego) February 25, 2025
Still, a slightly amended version of the bill, including penalties for the D-backs if they left the state before 2035, made it through the House on a 35-25 vote at the end of February. Further alterations were added before it went to a vote of the Arizona Senate Finance Committee in March, including a requirement for Maricopa County to match City of Phoenix funding. Other changes include a cap on the length of the tax recapture would be in place, and removal of the fraction of the tax used for police, fire, emergency services, education and prison. This amended version squeaked past the Finance Committee by the odd vote in seven.
Trouble followed in the Senate. It was initially pulled from the agenda, after indications it wouldn’t have enough support in its original form. More amendments were required in order for it to pass, which it eventually did on June 19, by a margin of 19-11. Due to the changes, it needed re-ratification by the House, a 35-20 vote there the final stage before it went to the desk of Hobbs. She has been a stalwart support of the bill from the beginning, so her signature is a given, despite more opposition from Gallego, who wrote to Hobbs, “massive public subsidies for sports teams are a raw deal for taxpayers, and specific provisions in H.B. 2704 leave the door open for it 10 be a major league boondoggle.” But after a cap was added on Phoenix’s contributions, even the city was on board.
Though she wasn’t alone. E.J. Montini wrote a scathing editorial in the Republic: “Sooner or later, we all knew that a big fat bunch of the cash needed to spruce up the stadium would come from … us. It’s the same bitter pill that taxpayers have been made to swallow from the moment the franchise came into existence in the 1990s.” To be honest, I can see his point. I’m not a fan of using taxes to fund private businesses, especially ones are profitable as professional sports teams. But in this case, the taxes in question come from those who are actively using the facility, not the population at large. That’s money which arguably would be lost if the D-backs followed the Coyotes out of Arizona.
However, the counterpoint is people might just spend their D-backs money elsewhere, on other entertainment options within the state. It’s all rather murky and uncertain: I also am a bit dubious that (as with the original funding) the decision is not something in which the voters will get to have their direct say at the ballot-box. But I can’t deny that I’m pleased this bill has likely guaranteed the D-backs’ long-term future in Arizona. Albeit in a stadium which now, remarkably, ranks as the fourth-oldest in the NL, behind Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium and Coors. Though I do possess T-shirts which date from before Chase Field…