By: Christopher Matura
In Phoenix, the summer heat is cooling down, but the tension between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Maricopa County Stadium District Board is still heating up. But this issue isn’t on the diamond—it’s a dispute unfolding behind closed doors over the future of Chase Field.
Last summer, the Diamondbacks secured $500 million of taxpayer funds for Chase Field renovations through House Bill 2047.[1]To access these funds, the team must first finalize a lease extension with the Maricopa County Stadium District Board.[2] Currently, the Diamondbacks are operating without a lease, relying instead on a Memorandum of Understanding, a formal, broad agreement of shared goals, expiring at the end of the 2027 season.[3]
To understand the intensity of these negotiations and the desperate need for additional funding, we must look back in time to bankruptcy court. In July 2023, a federal judge granted Diamond Sports Group’s motion to reject their 20-year, $1.5 billion broadcasting contract with the Diamondbacks.[4] Diamond Sports determined the agreement with the team was not profitable and wanted out.[5] When Diamond Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Diamondbacks were one of its largest creditors, owed over $30 million.[6] Although the MLB stepped in to air the team’s broadcasts, the franchise’s long-term guaranteed media revenue essentially evaporated overnight, with the MLB promising the Diamondbacks payments of only “up to” 80% of the original broadcast deal, threatening significant losses for the team.[7] While the MLB champions this as a move toward long-term, centralized ownership of broadcasting rights, allowing franchises to “maximize revenue in an increasingly digital era” and televise entertainment to over 500% more fans without blackout restrictions, its optimistic outlook does little to soften the blow on the Diamondbacks’ current struggle for funding.[8]
This issue between sports teams and broadcasting companies is not new. The Diamondbacks’ divisional opponent, the San Diego Padres, were among the earliest franchises to fall victim to the Diamond Sports collapse.[9] In May 2023, the MLB took over San Diego’s local broadcasts after the network failed to make payments.[10] The legal fallout spread across the league, affecting the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers in the same Chapter 11 proceedings as Diamond Sports sought to shed contracts deemed unprofitable.[11]
While Katie Hobbs celebrated the bill’s funding, the Maricopa County Stadium District Board, conversely, is refusing to bend without taxpayer protections, prioritizing transparency and accountability over the speed of repairs.[12] State Senator Mitzi Epstein, a member of the Board, emphasized their utilization of this lease as leverage against the team: “We certainly don’t want them to come back to the taxpayers in another five or 10 years and say, ‘Oh boohoo, the stadium needs more repairs, we need more money from you’ . . . . So the lease is the way that we can enforce accountability.”[13] Epstein has been an outspoken critic of House Bill 2047, arguing taxpayer dollars should not be used to foot the bill for the franchise’s expenses.[14] “Sometimes I have felt like the team wants to maximize the money they have available for the team and . . . the board wants to optimize that facility’s usefulness,” she said.[15] This friction between the Board and the Diamondbacks is echoed online, with users voicing displeasure with the government and taxpayers “subsidiz[ing] the multi[-]billion dollar sports industry.”[16]
Diamondbacks’ President and CEO Derrick Hall described the lease talks as “non-productive to date,” noting the timeline threatens to entirely delay necessary off-season repairs, including critical work on the roof and HVAC system.[17] “We didn’t think it’d be as difficult as it has been,” Hall stated.[18] “I thought the funding would have been the most difficult part.”[19] While the team has already spent $20 million on upgrades, the estimated total costs have increased to $600 million.[20] At the current pace of lease negotiations, Hall indicated it’s unlikely repairs will be completed during the offseason.[21]
Economists note that in the US and Canada, taxpayers have funded $33 billion toward stadium construction, with median public contribution covering 73% of total costs from 1970 to 2020.[22] Despite these massive investments, research consistently shows that these venues fail to deliver promised economic growth.[23] As lease negotiations continue to stall, these persistent issues raise the question: should taxpayers continue to bear the burden of funding for these sports teams?
[1] Alex Weiner, Diamondbacks didn’t think Chase Field lease extension would be this difficult, Ariz. Sports (Sep. 3, 2026), https://arizonasports.com/ [https://perma.cc/9VCK-AZK8].
[2] Camryn Sanchez, Ongoing lease negotiations with Arizona Diamondbacks leave Chase Field repairs in limbo, KJZZ (Sep. 2, 2026), https://www.kjzz.org/ [https://perma.cc/7YHZ-W2GU].
[3] Id.; Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Ga. Tech Off. of Gen. Couns., https://generalcounsel.gatech.edu/ [https://perma.cc/2YB9-NXBS].
[4] Joe Reedy, Major League Baseball takes over Diamondbacks’ game broadcasts from Diamond Sports, Associated Press (Jul. 18, 2023), https://apnews.com/ [https://perma.cc/97LX-A4MH]; MLB to Take Over Diamondbacks Broadcasting After Bankruptcy Court Ruling, Tucson Bankr. Att’ys (Aug. 1, 2023), https://tucsonbankruptcyattorney.co/ [https://perma.cc/5M38-3EBR].
[5] Reedy, supra note 4.
[6] Matthew Keys, Major League Baseball prepared to broadcast Diamondback games, The Desk (Jul. 14, 2023), https://thedesk.net/ [https://perma.cc/K79H-E33D].
[7] Alden Gonzalez, MLB taking over broadcasts of Arizona Diamondbacks games, ESPN (Jul. 18, 2023), https://www.espn.com/ [https://perma.cc/499V-YF48].
[8] Id.; Reedy, supra note 4.
[9] Gonzalez, supra note 7.
[10] Id.
[11] Diamond Sports wants to get out of its broadcast agreement with the Diamondbacks, Associated Press (Jun. 23, 2023), https://apnews.com/ [https://perma.cc/LJ7K-ZX3G].
[12] Sanchez, supra note 2; Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs), X, (Jun. 23, 2025, at 14:29 MST), https://x.com/GovernorHobbs/ [https://perma.cc/9JSU-WURJ].
[13] Sanchez, supra note 2.
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
[16] Vance Murphy (@vancemurphy), X, (Jun. 23, 2025, at 14:40 MST), https://x.com/vancemurphy/ [https://perma.cc/R9QT-G9QP].
[17] Zach Buchanan, Exclusive: Diamondbacks say ongoing Chase Field lease talks are “non-productive”, Axios (Sep. 1, 2026), https://www.axios.com/ [https://perma.cc/6T3E-3YTU]; Weiner, supra note 1.
[18] Weiner, supra note 1.
[19] Id.
[20] Sanchez, supra note 2.
[21] Buchanan, supra note 17.
[22] Adam Hoffer, Joseph Johns & Craig Depken, Taxpayers Shoulder a Heavy Burden for Sports Stadium Subsidies, Tax Found. (Oct. 3, 2024), https://taxfoundation.org/ [https://perma.cc/BK7P-NJMJ].
[23] Id.
