Senate votes to give Diamondbacks $500M in tax money for Chase Field improvements

The Arizona Senate voted late Thursday night to give half a billion dollars to the Arizona Diamondbacks for improvements to Chase Field in downtown Phoenix where the major league baseball team plays.  

The stadium is owned by a county stadium district, and the team has been fighting with the county for years over who should pay for necessary updates. House Bill 2704 allocates $500 million in sales taxes collected at the stadium over the next 30 years to pay for stadium improvements. 

The bill won approval in the state House of Representatives in late February, but soon stalled in the Senate. It was recently revived as part of the legislature’s budget negotiations, and a lengthy list of amendments got the City of Phoenix, which had opposed the original plan, on board. 

Those amendments included a limit of $3.5 million on Phoenix’s contribution to stadium upgrades, as well as a statement that it’s the legislature’s intent that the Diamondbacks contribute $250 million. Lawmakers don’t actually have a way to enforce that, but did add a provision requiring the team to pay any remaining debt for the stadium district if the legislature in the future repeals the stadium renovation law because the team failed to pay what it agreed to. 

The Senate approved the measure at around 10 p.m. Thursday by a bipartisan vote of 19-11 during a marathon day of work on the state budget. 

Proponents of the bill said that it was the only way to ensure that the Diamondbacks stay in Arizona, but those who voted against it said their constituents don’t want to subsidize the team’s billionaire owner with their tax dollars while they struggle to pay for basic needs. 

Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick has a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes. 

“Study after study has found that stadiums do not catalyze economic development,” said Sen. Lauren Kuby. “Instead, they simply reallocate spending. If people aren’t buying tickets and hot dogs at the stadium, they’re spending that money at local restaurants, movie theaters and other entertainment venues.”

Kuby, along with other Democrats, also doubted that the Diamondbacks would actually leave Arizona if the tax bill failed, especially since the Valley is the home to spring training for many teams. 

Phoenix Democrat Analise Ortiz said Thursday night that she’s received more constituent complaints about the stadium bill than any other piece of legislation since she took office in 2023. 

“They are tired of being asked for their tax dollars to be spent on private corporations,” she said. 

Many of those constituents can’t even afford to attend games because of high ticket and concession prices. 

“It is unjust and shortsighted to prioritize a professional sports facility over the basic needs of everyday Arizonans,” Ortiz said. 

The stadium bill elicited such passion from lawmakers from both sides of the aisle that Tempe Democrat Mitzi Epstein and Queen Creek Republican Jake Hoffman both recited Dr. Seuss-style poems about their distaste for the bill. 

Sen. Vince Leach, R-Saddlebrooke, argued that if the Diamondbacks left Phoenix, downtown restaurants would begin to close because there would be nothing drawing them to the area, especially during extreme summer heat. He added that the state would lose out on sales taxes generated in nearby businesses by game traffic, as well as charitable giving from the team. 

The bill must return to the House for a final vote on the Senate amendments before it is sent to Gov. Katie Hobbs.