The Diamondbacks have a new lease on life, metaphorically speaking, after the Arizona House of Representatives approved a funding measure worth up to $500 million to renovate the aging Chase Field.
The approval of the bill, which will recapture and reinvest sales taxes from the publicly owned ballpark and nearby buildings over the next 30 years, followed a prior assent by the state Senate.
Together, the legislative moves mark a major step forward after the Diamondbacks spent several years pushing for public-sector help to upgrade the 27-year-old Chase Field, particularly the ballpark’s air conditioning system, which is vital to withstand the oppressive Arizona summers. At one point, Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall publicly lamented the wave of taxpayer assistance for stadium projects in several other MLB markets, but not Phoenix, and said, “If you look at some of the other situations very similar to ours … they’re getting strong investments from the public, and we just aren’t.”
Last year’s loss of the NHL’s Coyotes, now the Utah Mammoth, played a role among some bill supporters in the move to secure the long-term future of the Diamondbacks in Arizona, as some representatives feared a gutting of the downtown Phoenix area surrounding Chase Field.
“If they were to go away, you make the Valley, downtown, equivalent to a Death Valley,” state Sen. Vince Leach said last week during a debate on the renovation funding.
All that’s left for the bill is the signature of Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who’s already signaled her strong support for the measure.
“I appreciate the bipartisan elected officials and the business and labor leaders who came to the table and worked with my office to make this moment possible,” Hobbs said in a social media post.
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Hall said he will now get to work on a new lease term that will incorporate the renovation funds, also targeted for other infrastructure. The club plans to supplement that with an additional $250 million as it looks well beyond 2027, when the current term at Chase Field expires.
“This will be a monumental victory for baseball and Diamondbacks fans when signed,” Hall said in a statement. “We could then shift our focus to a proper lease extension negotiation with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in hopes of modernizing and renovating this public asset to a level those fans deserve.”
The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, will also look to keep up, at least as much as possible, in a National League West division that is arguably the best in baseball competitively, and is certainly the highest concentration of spending in the game.
Arizona’s luxury-tax payroll of $225 million ranks 10th in the league, but division rivals Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco rank 1st, 6th, and 12th, respectively, and the Giants just burnished themselves with a trade for Rafael Devers. The Diamondbacks currently rank 4th in the division, but are just two and a half games out of a wild-card slot.
