Derrick Hall: D-backs ‘need a partner to truly be a partner’ to remain at Chase Field
Feb 21, 2017, 4:09 PM | Updated: 6:41 pm
Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall affirmed that the franchise wants to stay at Chase Field despite the ongoing feud with Maricopa County regarding the team’s home in downtown Phoenix.
Arizona just needs a partner committed to doing so, he said.
Most recently, the county filed a motion to dismiss the D-backs’ lawsuit alleging Maricopa County has not kept up its role regarding the upkeep of Chase Field.
“Love Chase Field, hope to be there for a long time,” Hall said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM’s Bickley and Marotta show Tuesday. “We just see we’re coming to the cliff that they brought to our attention about four or five years ago. For five years we tried to find a solution behind closed doors.
“It’s ironic now that after we filed our lawsuit … they didn’t have a counter-claim, obviously, they tried to rule to dismiss, get a ruling to dismiss it, and now they want to have arbitration behind closed doors, private, which is what we tried to do forever to no avail,” Hall added. “We just need a partner that can truly be a partner and can be there a long time and address the capital needs of that stadium.”
On Tuesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred offered support of the D-backs during a spring training media session in Phoenix. He said that Chase Field, in order “to be a major league-quality stadium, needs work.”
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on the Dbacks' stadium situation. pic.twitter.com/Wa0Cd6dhft
— Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro) February 21, 2017
The D-backs’ contract with Maricopa County runs through the 2027 season and despite the ensuing legal battle, the MLB team will continue operating as usual.
“I don’t think it affects anything,” Hall said. “We’re going to continue to maintain the stadium as we do by contract. We’re going to continue to make our annual license fee payments as we do and that’s the money that you see in the joint fund, the reserve fund was supposed to have been added to and supplied to by the county and their booking of the stadium, and that’s where we’re a little worried, obviously. That’s why we did what we did (by filing a lawsuit) because we want to make sure that the money is still there that we need for the stadium.”
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