The Diamondbacks have sought a public financing agreement to modernize Chase Field. With no agreement at the start of spring training, owner Ken Kendrick and team president Derrick Hall expressed their frustration this afternoon.
“We're at the point where we're just trying to find the best possible public-private partnership that would keep us at Chase Field,” Hall told reporters (including Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports and Nick Piecoro). Arizona Republic). “That was our preference, to stay with Chase and invest in Chase. … I'm a little frustrated because we thought we were at a point where we could announce exactly what was happening.”
Kendrick addressed speculation that the lack of progress has led the D-backs to begin talks with cities outside of Arizona. The owner acknowledged that there are many communities that would welcome an MLB team, but explained that the Diamondbacks are “not in dialogue with those communities” and that “we don't spend any time or energy there.” However, he added that the team “may be running out of time in Phoenix.” We hope that won't happen. … We continue to hold meetings, we have increased dialogue in every way possible.”
In a follow-up interview, Kendrick denied that the comment was intended to threaten the state with relocations. “I don’t think threats are the right way to do business in the world we live in. We are community people. I raised my family here; Derrick raised his family here. We are part of the fabric,” he said. “Our franchise is part of the fabric of Arizona, and we want it to stay there forever. … That’s our hope right now, that we can have that and announce it, and we’re still very much interested in that happening.”
Chase Field opened in 1998 when the D-Backs entered the league as an expansion franchise. The team's lease runs through the 2027 season. The organizational preference is to renovate the park rather than build a new stadium, which Kendrick deemed too expensive.
The club's renovation plans have an estimated price tag of between $400 million and $500 million, the organization said. It's unclear how much of this bill the D-Backs plan to publicly fund. Kendrick said his ownership group is willing to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars of our money.”
According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Diamondbacks opened the last three seasons with a player salary list in the bottom third of MLB. They're up to 16 in projected spending for the upcoming campaign. After their surprise NL pennant, they increased their spending to a franchise record near $143 million.