Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs Signs HB 2704 at Chase Field

Arizona State Representative Jeff Weninger Stresses Bipartisanship

Bill sponsor Representative Jeff Weninger (R) was on hand to recount the many hurdles and obstacles to overcome in getting the bill passed, but emphasized the bipartisan nature of the effort.

Siad Weninger: "We have a lot of legislators who played a very important role, on both sides of the aisle. Who I'm sure were getting calls from people wanting to play politics with this to not support it. But they did support it, and we got it done, through some pressure, and through some false narratives.

"People not understanding that the people who are filling this stadium today are the ones who own this stadium. They're the ones that going to be helping upgrade it through this plan."

The Tax Recapture mechanism is not a new tax. Rather, it diverts a portion of the tax revenues generated on sales related to the stadium into a fund that will shoulder a percentage of the cost of the renovations.

While not a new tax, it does mean less money going into State, County, and City coffers, and that is where the controversy ensued.

Initially, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego was one of the most outspoken critics of the bill. But through multiple rounds of negotiations and compromises with the club, all parties came to agreement, allowing Hobbs to sign off on the bill.

Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall Answers Questions

Diamondbacks Team President, CEO and General Partner Derrick Hall addressed the media after the signing and was asked some pointed questions about the team's own funding commitment and the next steps.

Team Investment:

Specifically, the team has voiced commitment to invest as much as $250 million of their own money into the renovations. The bill requires the state to invest upwards of $500 million. But the bill does not include language that specifically requires the team to invest that amount.

Said Hall: "My understanding was you can't put it in the bill because it would be unconstitutional, but we had committed to it long ago. When we started negotiating, they asked if it was something we'd be willing to do, and of course we said we will.

Planning Phases

Hall indicated that the renovation process will take place over "many years". He later said probably within five years.

With the full 162-game baseball season, and in some years the Postseason as well, there are at least six to seven months a year where little, if any, work can be done. Then there are offseason events and concerts that need to be managed around as well.

But the process starts tomorrow, said Hall.

"Tomorrow is our first big meeting with our stadium consultant out of Atlanta, JLL. We're going to have a full afternoon, and then we'll start bringing in architects and getting down to details."

"We've had different architectural renderings [over the years]. We're going to take some of them, but we'll probably start from scratch because it's been a while."

"[The stadium] needs a lot of work, and we'll bring in a lot of fan-facing and new fan-experience type renovations as well. But at first, we've got a lot of things that most people wouldn't even see, like the HVAC system, cement, cracks, pipes, a lot of work that we have to do infrastructure-wise," Hall said.

A new ribbon board and video board are other upgrades they can do without disrupting events. There are no plans to reduce seating capacity.

New Lease Timing

The language of the bill calls for a new 30-year lease to be signed. That hasn't happened yet. Hall explained the issue with that timing.

Instead of signing a lease with the Maricopa County Board of supervisors, a new board is being formed to administrate this funding mechanism, and that includes lease agreeent.

"There's a new board that's being formed. It's going to be ten members, nine voting, and then we're ex officio. And we'll have the oversight over the planning, and then we'll go to them, and they'll have the approval, but they can also approve a lease extension as well," Hall said.

The exact timing for when that board will be constituted is not known as of this writing, but clearly the lease extension will not occur until it that comes to pass.

Arizona Diamondbacks Latest News