THE Arizona Diamonbacks have secured a funding measure worth up to $500MILLION to help renovate Chase Field.
The Diamondbacks had been pushing for public-sector help to upgrade the stadium, which is almost 30 years old.
The ballpark, which opened in 1998, is publicly owned and the new funding will recapture sales taxes from the stadium and other adjacent buildings over the next 30 years and reinvest them into Chase Field.
The Diamonbacks have also vowed to contribute a further $250MILLION of their own cash to help fund renovations of the ballpark.
Team president and CEO Derrick Hall has claimed that there are multiple upgrades that need to be made to the stadium using the funding, notably changes to the air conditioning in order to battle summer heat in Arizona.
In a statement, Hall said: “We are ecstatic over the legislative approval of HB2704.
“This will be a monumental victory for baseball and Diamondbacks fans when signed by Governor Katie Hobbs.
“We could then shift our focus to a proper lease extension negotiation with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in hopes of modernizing and renovating this public asset to a level those fans deserve.”
The Diamondbacks’ current lease with the county expires in 2027 and Hall will now try and extend that to allow for developments way into the future.
There has been no plans released as of yet for what the updates could look like, but it’s likely that the renovation will change the stadium in a dramatic way as Arizona try and keep up with their MLB rivals.
As well as air conditioning changes, necessary improvements to the scoreboard and cement foundations are also being eyed.
The structure of the sales tax recapture is similar to a plan implemented by NFL franchise Arizona Cardinals for their stadium.
That deal allowed State Farm Stadium to update to a state-of-the-art arena that has since hosted the Super Bowl, the College Football Playoff and the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Four.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has also backed the bill, saying: “The Diamondbacks have spent literally hundreds of millions of dollars keeping the facility up.
“It’s at an age where there needs to be a private/public partnership to keep the facility in shape.
“This bill was really well-crafted to protect the interests of the public and to make sure everybody understood what the obligations were.”
GettyNFL franchise the Arizona Cardinals used a similar bill to improve State Farm Stadium, which has since hosted the Super Bowl[/caption] ReutersMLB commissioner Rob Manfred has backed the bill[/caption] Read More Details
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