The Diamondbacks are seeking a public financing agreement to upgrade Chase Field. With no deal agreed upon by the start of spring training, owner Ken Kendrick and team president Derek Hall expressed their frustration this afternoon.
“We're at the point where we're trying to figure out the best possible partnership, public-private, that will keep us at Chase Field.Hall told reporters (incl Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports And Nick Pecoro of The Arizona Republic). “That was our preference, which was to stay at Chase and invest in Chase. … There's a little bit of frustration on my part because we thought we would now be in a position where we can announce exactly what's going on.“
Kendrick addressed speculation that the lack of progress has prompted the D-Backs to open talks with cities outside of Arizona. The owner acknowledged the number of municipalities that would welcome an MLB team but stated that the Diamondbacks'And not in dialogue with those communities“and this is”Not where we spend time or energyBut he added that the teamTime may be running out in Phoenix. WI hope that won't happen. …We are continuing to hold meetings, and we have intensified the dialogue in every way we know how“.
In a follow-up, Kendrick denied that the comment was intended to threaten the state with a move. “I don't think, in the world we live in, that threats are the right way to do business. We are the people of society. I raised my family here; Derek raised his family here. We are part of Fabric said. “Our franchise is part of the fabric of Arizona, and that's where we want it to stay forever. … That's our hope right now, that we'll get that and be able to announce that, and we're still very interested in making that happen.“
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 described as too expensive.
The organization said that plans to renovate the club come at an estimated cost of between 400-500 million dollars. It's unclear how much of this bill the D-Backs wants to publicly fund. Kendrick stated that his ownership group was prepared.”To invest hundreds of millions of dollars of our money“.
according to Cradle Baseball Contracts, the Diamondbacks have opened the last three seasons with player payrolls in the bottom third of MLB. They are up to 16th in expected spending for the upcoming campaign. In the wake of the surprise NL pennant, they pushed spending to a franchise-record mark of nearly $143 million.
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”