The governor of Arizona, Katie Hobbs, was on the chase Field on Wednesday morning to lead a ceremonial signing of HB 2704. This is the Finance Act, which was passed by the legislator of the US state of Arizona and offers a tax return mechanism to finance Chase fields and repairs.
Related content: Chase Field Funding Bill HB2704 gives coordination to sign Governor Hobbs
Hobbs said some of the history of the diamondback over the years and emphasized various stars for the team, including the current superstar Corbin Carroll des D-Back.
Then she quoted the fact that Chase Field has never undergone major renovation work. After pointing out problems with the 27-year HLK system and the leaky roof of the stadium, she expressed the reasons for her support for the invoice.
“Arizonans earn it better than these. Fans have routinely appeared for this city and this state, and it is time for us to appear for them,” said Hobbs.
However, the representative of the Bill sponsor Jeff Weninger (R) was by the hand to tell the many hurdles and obstacles that were overcome when the law was adopted, emphasized the cross -party nature of efforts.
Siad Weninger: “We have many legislators who played a very important role on both sides of the Ganges. If I was sure, to get calls from people who wanted to play politics with it not to support it. But they supported it and we did it with a few pressure and through some false stories.
“People do not understand that people who fill this stadium today are those who have this stadium. They are those who help to improve it through this plan.”
The tax mechanism is not a new tax. Rather, part of the tax revenue that is achieved in connection with the stadium in connection with the stadium, which shoulder a percentage of costs for the renovation costs.
Although it is not a new tax, this means less money to get in the country's coffers, in the counties, and there followed the controversy.
The mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, was initially one of the most pronounced critics of the bill. With several rounds of negotiations and compromises with the club, however, all parties met and enabled Hobbs to sign the invoice.
The President of the Diamondback team, CEO and general partner Derrick Hall spoke to the media after signing and was asked some top questions about the team's own financing obligation and the next steps.
Team investment:
In particular, the team has expressed commitment to invest up to 250 million US dollars of their own money in the renovation work. The state must invest over 500 million US dollars in the invoice. However, the invoice does not contain any language in which the team specifically invests this amount.
Hall said: “My understanding was that they could not add it to the bill because it would be unconstitutional, but we had committed ourselves to negotiating a long time ago. When we started negotiating, they asked if it was something we would do, and of course we said we will do it.
Planning phases
Hall stated that the renovation process will take place over “many years”. He probably said later within five years.
With the full baseball season 162 games and in a few years in the post-season there are at least six to seven months a year in which little or no work can be done. Then there are also events and concerts outside the season that must also be managed.
But the process begins tomorrow, said Hall.
“Tomorrow is our first big meeting with our stadium consultant from Atlanta, JLL. We will have a full afternoon, and then we will bring in architects and come up with details.”
“We had different architectural renderings [over the years]. We will take some of them, but we'll probably start over because it was a while ago. “
“[The stadium] Requires a lot of work and we will also bring in a lot of fans and new fan experience. But first we have a lot of things that most people would not even see, such as the HLK system, cement, cracks, whistles and a lot of work that we have to do infrastructure, “said Hall.
A new ribbon board and a video optical are other upgrades that you can do without without disruption of events. There are no plans to reduce the sitting capacity.
New rental period
The language of the invoice calls for a new 30-year rental agreement. That hasn't happened yet. Hall explained the problem with this timing.
Instead of signing a rental agreement with the supervisory authorities in Maricopa County, a new Stadion District Board is formed after the legislative template has entered into force to manage this financing mechanism, and this includes a rental agreement.
“There is a new board that is formed. There will be ten members, nine votes, and then we are a former office. And we will have the supervision of the planning, and then we will go to you and you will have the approval, but you can also approved an rental extension,” said Hall.
The exact time for the constitution of this board is not known as this letter, but the rental extension is clearly only carried out when it comes to walking.