Arizona governor approves up to $500M in taxpayer funds to upgrade home of Diamondbacks

Phoenix – Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs signed legislation on Friday that finances up to $ 500 million in renovations to hunt Field, Arizona Diamondbacks.

The bill, which has won biparisan support in the state -controlled chambers, will use the income tax from the stadium and nearby buildings for infrastructure improvements over the next 30 years, including improvements in air conditioning systems and the stadium retractable roof.

The team said it would also contribute $ 250 million for renovations to the stadium, which is located in downtown Phoenix and is surrounded by small businesses and restaurants that see an increase in activity during the baseball season.

The legislation is part of a handful of bipartite transactions that Hobbs, a democrat, has given priority to negotiations during the session. She says that funding is responsible use of taxpayers’ dollars, will provide well -paid jobs and ensure that diamondbacks do not leave Phoenix.

The attendance of matches has increased since the race in 2023 of the team in the World Series, where the Diamondbacks lost against the Texas Rangers. This season, they are on average 31,420 fans per game – the highest in two decades.

“I’m not going to let Arizona lose the diamondbacks,” said Hobbs on Friday on the social platform X.

Derrick Hall, president and chief executive officer of The Diamondbacks, praised the governor and said that the team would now pay his attention to the extent of his lease with the county of Maricopa.

The bill erased the legislator on June 23 after months of debate which understood the question of whether the Diamondbacks could potentially leave unless a public financing agreement is concluded.

Other MLB teams have threatened to leave host cities if they have not obtained public funding.

The Oakland, for example, complained for years of the Oakland Coliseum and an inability to obtain government assistance for a new stadium. Now the team is bound for Las Vegas, where a revolutionary ceremony took place this month for a stadium of $ 1.75 billion which should be completed in time for the 2028 season. Nevada and Clark county approved up to $ 380 million in public funds for the project.

And last year, Jackson County voters Missouri rejected an attempt to extend a sales tax that would have helped finance a stadium for the Royals of Kansas City and the stadium renovations for Kansas City chiefs. Kansas legislators are trying to attract teams with government subsidies, and Missouri tries to keep them with its own financial incentives.

The Diamondbacks spent nearly three decades in their downtown bulletin stadium, which belongs to the district of the county of Maricopa. In 2017, the team continued the district for funding for repairs and sought to remove a contractual clause preventing the team from consulting other stadium options.

A lasting problem was the park’s air conditioning system and its ability to keep it cool in the three -digit summer heat, Hall said. Fans of the Star of Country Morgan Wallen music deplored the heat during a concert last July, despite the closure of the retractable roof. The concession stands have lacked water and some people are simply parties.

Chase Field was one of the first MLB stadiums to have a retractable roof. Now, seven of the 30 teams play under one, including Brewers, Blue Jays, Rangers, Marlins, Astros and Mariners. Chase Field also has a small swimming pool in the right field, one of its most recognizable features.

The financing of the Legislative Assembly will not mean improvements to the swimming pool or the sequence of the stadium, the latter was a point of collision for the mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego. It went on board after updating the bill to prevent funds from being used for the consequences and a ceiling was placed on the amount that the city would contribute to a land agreement if the diamondbacks break from the stadium district, according to Gallego’s chief of staff, Seth Scott.

Hobbs presents himself for a re -election, and although he is too early to say if the financing of Diamondbacks will be part of his campaign messaging, it is another bipartite victory, said his communications director Michael Beyer.

The Senator of the Democratic State, Mitzi Epstein, who voted against funding, said that Hobbs’ support for the bill was bad and injuring for the Arizonians. She said she was disappointed that changes to create public advantages such as free game streaming failed.

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The sports writer of Associated Press, David Brandt, contributed to Phoenix.

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