D-backs CEO Derrick Hall pushes back on reasons for dissenting Senate votes on Chase Field bill
While Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall sees the clouds parting for the D-backs to find a long-term solution for their home, he believes some of the 11 dissenting voters in the Senate continue to misunderstand how the funding will be used.
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The Arizona Senate passed House Bill 2704 aiming to fund Chase Field renovations late Thursday night. While Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall sees the clouds parting for the D-backs to find a long-term solution for their home, he believes some of the 11 dissenting voters in the Senate continue to misunderstand how the funding will be used.
“(The money’s) not going to us. It’s going into a building that is a public asset,” Hall told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Friday. “So I feel good about where we’re at.”
The bill would reinvest sales taxes collected at the ballpark back into renovations, so Hall pushed back on the idea that taxpayers uninterested in the MLB team would be forced to pay for Chase Field’s upkeep.
Chase Field is owned by the Maricopa County Stadium District, and the Diamondbacks’ lease runs out in 2027.
The state Senate voted to approve the bill, 19-11.
If the legislation next passes a vote in the House, which previously approved it before the Senate’s amendments, and then gets the OK from Gov. Katie Hobbs, the MLB club would then have to take the next steps of coming to a new lease agreement with Maricopa County,
Hall said the term “fancy shmancy” was used Thursday to describe renovations the team had planned once acquiring the funding.
“Well of course we would,” the CEO said, noting fan experience is a top priority before pointing out most of the planned renovations are in areas fans wouldn’t notice.
“It’s not fan-facing. It’s infrastructure. It’s fixing the HVAC, it’s fixing the plumbing, it’s putting up new scoreboards and sound systems,” Hall said. “So those things are going to happen, but if we can improve it so we can generate more revenue and we can compete more on the field, of course we need to do that.”
The fight for it to fully pass isn’t over yet.
What’s next in Chase Field bill process?
The amended legislation will head back to the Arizona House of Representatives before it can land on Hobbs’ desk to sign into law or veto. The House has adjourned until Monday.
The House passed the bill 35-25 on Feb. 26, before the legislation was amended during its extended stay in the Senate.
Amendments approved by the Senate include the removal of income taxes for employees at the stadium that would have been used to fund the stadium projects. The changes also capped what the local government would contribute — $500 million that will be adjusted yearly for inflation. The total funding will be boosted by the D-backs’ $250 million in contributions.
Another change increased the county’s tax investment into the stadium to match the city’s.
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Comments
4 Comments
How about televising the games to the public without having to pay to watch, like the Suns and the Cardinals do?
Hall is a fool. His assertion that disinterested fans are unwilling to fund the D-backs' maintenance is ridiculous at best, teetering on the edge of stupidity.
That's like saying that because I don't contact the police, I shouldn't have to pay taxes for their services. I don't use the 202, so why should my tax money support it? Hall doesn't grasp how taxes function and is solely focused on a private business being financed with public funds.
While I don't care about the dbacks, others do, let the private business and consumer work it out. To claim they are an asset is laughable in my book as they are a drain on money that should go to schools, homeless, public safety and other MEANINGFUL expenditures.
I would be happy to be able to listen to the games on the app. But because we live in rural AZ we have satellite internet. the app blocks us from listening to games.