PHOENIX — For years, the Arizona Diamondbacks have been saying their nearly 30-year-old home needs major renovations and they've been fighting with Maricopa County over how the upgrades to Chase Field will be paid for.
If they can't get things settled... the team has said they might need to move.
Back in February, owner Ken Kendricks gave an ominous threat about potentially moving the D-backs.
"There are opportunities available. There are other cities that would covet having Major League Baseball," said Kendricks.
Three months later, our state is in the wake of losing a professional sports team, with the Coyotes relocating to Salt Lake City.
D-backs CEO Derrick Hall is sharing a more optimistic message with ABC15.
"If you're not here, can you share where you might be looking? Are you looking?" we asked.
"No. We're currently not looking. We were looking before and I was kicking the tires just around Maricopa County to see, you know, if there was a location for a new build. We just kept coming back to Chase Field," Hall replied.
The ballpark is owned by Maricopa County. The team's current lease with the county runs out in 2027. Hall says the focus is making their partnership work for everyone.
"I think it makes sense for us to be here, and we're working on it. You know, we're talking to the county now about extending the lease. We're trying to talk to the city and state about what makes sense to try and help this building," Hall added.
The D-backs have said renovations could cost $400-500 million. They've also said they are willing to cover over three-quarters of the renovation costs, but they want some help.
"It's not our building, but we're gonna continue to put money into it, but what sort of partnership could we have with everybody else? I think a great way to do it is look at the taxes that we're already generating, recapture those and put them back into the ballpark. Not to us, don't go to the tea. Don't go to operations, but let's put it in this ballpark so that we can continue to modernize it, you know, make it appealing to every single fan, every single concertgoer," said Hall.
The priority for the D-backs is fixing the roof. Right now, it cannot be opened or closed when fans are inside.
"I don't think it's much of an issue. But just to be safe, we don't open it when fans are in here," Hall explained, "Where you really want to have control thought is on a Friday night in the summertime. If you want to do postgame fireworks, but you want it closed, you want it cool during the game and then you can open it up. We don't have that ability right now. So, the sooner we can fix it, and we wanted to make sure we were going to be here, but the plans are this offseason doing a fix to it and then we'll be fine."
Hall tells us the future of the ballpark is as bright as their young team and they're looking forward to making the experience for fans the best in Major League Baseball.
"There's a lot we can do to this building. If you compare this building to brand new ballparks, we're way behind. We really are. But we've done things like this year, putting in the new lights, which has totally changed the experience. So, you get the red and the teal. It's great. The new sound system. So, we're gonna get a new scoreboard soon. We're gonna have to get new premium areas. We're gonna get more kids areas, more cost-effective areas, where its more standing room only. We have to change the ballpark. We're ready to. We're excited to, but again, when we have so many events already planned in the offseason, that's when we're gonna have to do the renovation. So, we're gonna have to get really careful and creative in how we bring in cranes, how we're fixing the roof, how we're fixing the HVAC, you know and changing the season. But in doing so, how do we still have all of our events that we have planned because we don't want this momentum to stop," said Hall.
There is another funding option for the team. HB 2835 would let the Diamondbacks put a tax of up to 9% on anything sold at Chase Field. Hall has said before that it would be a last-ditch effort.
"That's not for us. That's not who we're about. We're not going to tax our fans if we can avoid it," said Hall.
