The Arizona Diamondbacks seem to always be on the edge of possible relocation. This is because the owner of the Diamondbacks, Ken Kendrick, refuses to make any sizeable investment in the team with his own money. Every few years, Kendrick will issue a threat of leaving unless he gets more taxpayer money.
In 2016, Kendrick demanded over $250 million in taxpayer money for unnecessary upgrades. The county pointed out to the team in an email that all the so-called upgrades were not the responsibility of the county under the lease agreement. So Kendrick pulled the relocation card and mentioned how the Diamondbacks “might seek a way to leave the stadium before its current contract with the county ends.”
In 2017, the Arizona Diamondbacks sued Maricopa County, the county where their ballpark is located. In the lawsuit, the Diamondbacks claimed the county was not fulfilling its obligations under their lease agreement. According to the team, the county owed the team over $200 million for upgrades; however; they could not pay because the county was not properly funding the ballpark fund. The county noted its ability to verify $50 million in recent ballpark enhancements and the sufficient funding of the ballpark fund. The team asked the court to let them out of their lease agreement so that they could talk to third parties about financing for their ballpark repairs and upgrades.
Still, in 2018, the county settled the lawsuit instead of fighting it out for years. It was agreed by the county that the team could look for a new home right away upon dropping the lawsuit. Now, the team could “take control of stadium maintenance” and spend $35M on various ballpark fixes and upgrades…all the while getting $20M back as “reimbursement for repairs.” As the Defector wrote in an article about the Diamondbacks, once the team got control of the ballpark, they “did not do the repairs they claimed they needed.” Overall, the county was happy to be “released from any obligation to pay for further repairs.”
Let’s just forget that almost all the ballpark costs were the team’s responsibility, as clearly laid out in the lease agreement. Let’s not forget that the team consistently brings in several hundred million dollars every year in revenue. This isn’t a surprise when you factor in that the Diamondbacks pay no rent and pay no property taxes. To nobody’s surprise, almost all past and current ballpark discussions have been “behind closed doors” so that the public knows as little as possible until the very last second. Kendrick loves to proclaim how he “wants the public to have access to everything” yet seems to give the public almost zero access to any part of his business.
The county was happy at this point. The team now has “agreed to pay for and manage all future repairs.” Not quite. In 2021, the Diamondbacks again cried poverty. This time, the county agreed to define the ballpark as a special tax district. This allowed the team to “charge an extra nine percent tax on anything sold (at the ballpark).”
Three years later, in 2024, Arizona lawmakers approved a bill that allows for collected sales taxes to be used for ballpark renovations. House Bill 2704 specifically allowed for sales and income taxes that were generated at Chase Field to be taken out of the county’s general fund and put into a pot that would help finance an upgrade to the team’s ballpark. As the Arizona Mirror noted, it took not even several years for the Diamondbacks to return “to the state Capitol with both hands out, asking for even more taxpayer money.” This bill capped the local government from contributing more than $500M from this funding source.
The Diamondbacks owner loves to tell everyone how much he puts into the team, but notice how we get no actual confirmation or proof that these contributions exist? Kendrick has claimed that passing House Bill 2704 would allow the team to spend $250M of their own money on ballpark upgrades. Then why does the bill contain “no enforceable requirement…that the Diamondbacks even pay a dime for the stadium’s improvements”? In fact, the Diamondbacks claimed the ballpark was costing them a minimum of $20M per year in repairs. Yet, they could never find the time to actually show anyone this engineering report that they claimed existed.
“The proposed law says the Diamondbacks ‘will contribute at least $250,000,000 of the professional baseball franchise organization’s own monies‘ to upgrade the 27-year-old stadium. But that big, shiny number is one the public can take only on faith. The legislature cannot compel the team to spend its own money, but only put in writing that the team has promised to do so” —Phoenix New Times, 05/08/25
Why did the state agree to this deal last year? To keep the team. Articles repeatedly stressed this point before they actually approved the bill.
Maricopa County Board Chairman Thomas Galvin stated in an interview that he wanted this bill to pass so the county could “keep the Diamondbacks in place.” Diamondbacks Team President Derrick Hall told local officials that this bill would allow the team to “stay downtown and play downtown.” Hall also emailed season ticket holders asking them to “Help Us Keep the D-backs in Arizona.” This email also included a website that had things on it that stated, “Is it really possible that the Diamondbacks could leave Arizona? After the approval of this bill, media outlets like AZFamily.com wrote, “Arizona Diamondbacks secure home at Chase Field for next 30 years.”
Then we finally arrive at today. Recently, several team officials have been issuing public statements that seem to suggest that the team wants even more taxpayer money. Since the lease agreement between the team and county expires after the 2028 season, the team is apparently using this as a reason for more taxpayer money to be given to them.
This week, the team opened up to being shocked at how much it costs to repair and upgrade equipment at their ballpark. The team admitted that the cost of recent repairs to things, like a new air conditioner, was “much higher than we thought.” That isn’t it either, as the team also says that there need to be infrastructure fixes that will cost “hundreds of millions of dollars.” Thankfully, the team has “pledged to invest hundreds of millions of dollars” for repairs and other things.
The team also can use some of the $500M given to the team last year. But maybe the $500M isn’t enough to cover all the ballpark expenses. Oh no! At a recent meeting with the media, the Diamondbacks owner admitted he hoped that the $500M plan “will generate the proceeds to support the needed investment.” Well, if it doesn’t, the team can just pay for it themselves…right? Not quite. An article by Sports Illustrated highlighted that the owner left unsaid whether the team’s pledged portion of the repair and renovation costs would also be used in this situation.
