Art of the Deal. A Chase Field Discussion

With the regular season starting to wind down, and teams across baseball preparing for their postseason (or offseason if they are out of contention), this seems to be the time of year when off-field news such as new uniforms, front office/managerial changes and even TV/Radio personnel change. This is something that not even the Diamondbacks can avoid, as their ongoing “drama” around Chase Field and their lease with Maricopa County that is set to end in 2027.

This topic isn’t something that is surprising to Snakes fans, as news of the Diamondbacks relocating to Nevada surfaced back in 2019 (that was put to rest very quickly thanks to John Fisher being the worst owner in all of MLB) and even Ken Kendrick’s comments back at the beginning of Spring Training 2024 about the DBack’s potential to “…run out of time in Phoenix.”. This seemed to be put on the backburner in the public’s mind (myself included) as the regular season progressed, but some comments made by Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall last week on what he calls an “extremely offensive” offer from Maricopa County in regards to their new lease negotiations has stoked the embers of this issue and has brought it back to the forefront of the Diamondbacks news cycle.

Other states are even chomping at the bit to get an MLB franchise to come to their state, as Utah legislatures agreed to $900 million in funding for a baseball team back in February of this year. At the end of the day, we just want Diamondbacks baseball to stay in Arizona no matter what and not only is it as big factor in bringing money into the local economy, it would be just a straight up kick in the family jewels to see the 2nd of the 4 Major sports franchises leave the Valley in less than a 5 years, especially to the same state (Sad Awooo). With this recent drama/news resurfacing in the final weeks of the Dbacks playoff push, the fellas and I thought it would be best to do a side episode on the topic alone, because this is definitely one that I imagine all Diamondbacks fans can go on a tangent about.

After opening up the episode with our man Gabe giving us a quick rundown of what exactly is going on with the Diamondbacks and Maricopa County, along with hearing Derrick Hall’s comments about the county’s offer, I started off by asking the fellas where they would prefer/pick a new stadium to be placed (barring any restrictions) and where they would realistically see the stadium go.

“I guess the best place would probably be somewhere in Glendale just because the Cardinal’s Stadium is already there as well um if not then maybe in the Salt River area but it’s just so much harder to build anything there because it it is a reservation it’s not a part of Maricopa County, so they have to get special permission there and it’s just a lot different in terms of taxes and everything…downtown is the perfect spot, they should never move [from] there but realistically it would be either Glendale or Salt River…” – Gabe

“I think it needs to remain downtown because it’s the most central location. There’s a reason the coyotes struggled for so long it’s because it’s out in Glendale. The Cardinals don’t have that issue because it’s the NFL it doesn’t matter where the stadium is, the Cardinals would have good attendance…if it’s on one side, the people that are on the other side of town are not going to go as much…if downtown is done, they just don’t want to deal with that anymore, go into Salt River, build a brand new state of the art stadium…there’s another county in the Valley, it’s not a good option I personally think but it is an option, Pinal County…that option for me would be a last resort…” – Brandon

After discussing the potential location changes when it comes to the topic of where the Diamondbacks will play once their lease expires in 2027, the fellas and I used our imaginations to try and come up with some thoughts, or even improvements that the team could make to Chase Field (outside of the AC and Roof). Whether that be adding a double decker pool with a slide (just think, Brewers HR Slide…but with Baxter in a speedo. Electric right?) or focusing on parts of the park that have more cultural roots, there were some interesting thoughts from the crew.

“I believe I’ve mentioned this before, like make use of La Terraza. Have a band playing there, having people dancing during the games, make it ‘Arizona’s Hottest Club is Chase FIeld’. I think for me I’d rather have it right in the middle of the top deck…I think Miami, Tampa they have that stuff so there’s no reason why Chase can’t do that…we have a huge Mexican community or Latino Community here. Just turn it into a dance floor, have people dancing and playing around. I think that could be really cool…[also] bring back Peter Piper Pizza playhouse, bring back Peter Piper in general, i’m tired of Streets of New York it’s kind of mid-a** pizza for what you get. Bring back Panda Express, bring back Dutch Bros., this is what they took away from us” – Gabe

“A lot of things I’m thinking of are just better fan experiences. Depending on what game you go to the stadium wifi can either be really good or you can’t do anything…obviously they have a wifi for the press box, they should have a specific wifi for season ticket holders, and then like different wifi’s depending on the section that you’re sitting…the ability to order food from any seat in the stadium…things like that and obviously fix the AC for God’s sake, please fix that AC…I shouldn’t have to question when i’m inside a stadium ‘Why am i sweating?’, that’s probably my #1 is to get the AC to properly work” – Brandon

Derrick Hall himself must have either listened to the show live (hahahaha sorry had to make that joke) or was on the same wavelength as us fans, because he recently made some comments on KTAR News and listed some notables that he would like to see when it comes to his ‘Dream Stadium’. Not only does Hall want to reduce the amount of seats, but he also mentioned that having “premium areas” or standing room areas seem to be the way that a lot of fans seem to enjoy ball games as time goes on.

With Derrick Hall’s comments on the reduced seating capacity, standing room areas and ballpark village, 365 days of entertainment type of arrangement coming just after we ended our show, I wanted to get Gabe and Brandon’s thoughts on Hall’s hypothetically proposed stadium.

“I agree with DH’s ideas for a dream stadium, they haven’t needed 48,000 seats for a long time as I had mentioned in our episode about the future of the Dbacks in Chase Field. The area around the stadium and in the stadium needs to be an attraction the same way it is in San Diego and Colorado. They need more casual fans coming into the stadium and creating an atmosphere” – Gabe

“I like Hall’s comment about the size of the stadium, do we really need 48k? Stadium rarely gets filled to capacity. Less seats also means hopefully more space in between rows. Also like the fact the major improvements Hall and the team want done are the same ones the fanbase wants fixed in HVAC and the roof.“ – Brandon

The team’s future beyond 2027 for a home ballpark might be in some form of doubt, but that is still roughly 3 years from now. It might be something to keep in the back of our mind and address more in the offseason and into 2025, but for now we’ll just get back to worrying about the Snakes and them trying to not lose all their steam here in the final 4 games. I cant handle another heartbreak like we got in 2018…