Diamondbacks’ lease ends in three seasons.
The stadium game is playing out in Phoenix where state representatives are trying to put together a financial package that would go into the renovation of the Phoenix home stadium of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks franchise. The city of Phoenix and Maricopa County lawmakers are not yet on board with state legislators. But the stadium game is a messy procedure generally and it takes time to get a funding package together. Here is some background. The Arizona Diamondbacks ownership’s lease with the municipally owned Phoenix stadium ends after the 2027 season. For years, there have been fights between Diamondbacks owners and local officials about the maintenance of the facility. The Arizona governor is sitting on the sidelines but Katie Hobbs wants to see the team stay in Phoenix. In 2024, Arizona lost a major league team as the Tempe-based National Hockey League franchise was sold to Utah investor Ryan Smith who moved the business to Salt Lake City. The hockey franchise was unable to secure an arena in the Phoenix arena.
“The governor wants the Diamondbacks to stay in Phoenix. As with any bill, the governor’s office is engaging with stakeholders and legislators, but it’s too early in the process to comment on any legislation,” said Christian Slater, Hobbs’ spokesman. In 2019, Arizona Diamondbacks’ ownership listened to a Henderson, Nevada pitch to build a ballpark for the Major League Baseball franchise. Diamondbacks ownership was looking for a new or renovated Phoenix stadium and needed to interject some urgency among Phoenix area politicians to help fund a renovation of its existing stadium or build a new baseball park. Henderson is part of the Las Vegas market. Nothing came of the talks and no other area in the Phoenix region seems interested in building a stadium. The Diamondbacks stadium saga continues.
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