The World Series gets underway later this week, but unlike last year, it will not include the Diamondbacks. That does not mean, however, that there is not still drama involving the team this postseason.
The dispute between the Diamondbacks and Maricopa County over the present and possible future of Chase Field continues. Sasha Hupka, county watchdog reporter at the Arizona Republic, has been writing about it and joined The Show to talk about where things stand.
Full conversation
SASHA HUPKA: Good morning, thanks for having me.
MARK BRODIE: Thanks for being here. So, it seems like maybe there's a difference of opinion in terms of where things are between the team and the county. Is that a fair statement?
SASHA HUPKA: I think that's, that's probably fair to say. This is a really interesting behind-the-scenes disagreement between these two entities. Essentially, what happened is that the county sent the Diamondbacks a letter with a counter offer to an initial proposal that, money wise, was very far from what the team had in that initial document and they had indicated that they were frustrated by recent public remarks by the team on ongoing negotiations, which were things just to the effect of negotiations going well.
Team leaders were not happy with that counter offer, and they also said that they were frustrated that the ongoing negotiations had become public, that the county had sent this letter, that it was a public record, and that I obtained and everything kind of went downhill from there.
BRODIE: Right. Well, and it sounds as though since then, as you say, it's gone downhill, like how far downhill has it gone? Like, where do we stand right now?
HUPKA: Well, I think a good kind of example that encapsulates this is that the county's letter, and then its subsequent publication, prompted phone calls to county supervisors from a real estate developer who has been involved in negotiations. His name is Andrew Cohen.
He and the supervisors described these calls differently, but it's really clear is that these were not happy conversations. Cohen resigned from his position on the Maricopa County IDA (Industrial Development Authority), which is not really related to Chase Field, but it's a board that helps private borrowers obtain financing for projects that benefit the public, things like affordable housing, but it was a very public move and a very public break.
BRODIE: So, where does that leave things now? I mean, obviously, you know, the team has talked about the need for a lot of repairs at Chase Field. The county has said we're not looking to do that. The team is kind of in charge of that sort of thing, is the team looking to make those improvements? Are they still potentially looking to leave Chase Field?
HUPKA: Well, I think that for the team, they've told me previously that they don't see a point in putting a whole lot of money into a facility that they don't have a guarantee that they're going to stay in past 2027, which is when their lease ends. From the county side, they say that there's some progress being made in talks. The Diamondbacks say that there's been no conversations at all, since this very public break, or at least not with top team leaders.
Obviously, those are two very different statements. But I think what is abundantly clear from the team's side at this point is that they're not really interested in seriously having talks with the county's current board of Supervisors. It's worth noting that all of the seats on that board are up for election in the next few weeks, and three of the five people are definitely going to be new faces to the county. But, it's unclear if a new board will be more favorable to the team somehow than the current one is.
BRODIE: Right. It kind of sounds like maybe the team is trying to hedge its bets a little bit and, and maybe wait out the current board and hope that the new members, whoever they are, might be more likely to strike a deal. Or at least, you know, in the team's mind anyway, you know, maybe negotiate in better faith.
HUPKA: I think that probably sums up where they're at internally, from everything that I'm gathering. I will say that the other thing that's kind of unclear at the moment is where the city of Phoenix and the state might lie in all of this.
We know that the city was involved in some early conversations with the county, but those kind of seem to have died out, but either the city or the state potentially could have roles to play in terms of getting the team the funding mechanisms that they will need to renovate and redevelop the ballpark.
However, Chase Field itself is key to all of this. So, at some point, the team is going to have to hash out a solution with the county. It's just unclear when that will be and there's this time crunch happening. You know, 2027 sounds really far away maybe to you or I, but in terms of stadium ballpark agreements, that's actually very close.
BRODIE: Yeah, just ask the Oakland A's about that. So, like, so I guess where, what are you looking for, maybe after the November election, we'll know who the new members of the board are. Are there particular sort of tea leaves that you're going to be looking to read to see, “OK, this group is more amenable to working with the D-backs or no, this group is basically in the same place as the current board and maybe the city or state has to get involved, or maybe the team has to start looking for a new home?”
HUPKA: I think that one of the first steps is certainly going to be asking, the new supervisors, once they're actually elected, you know, what is their stance on this entire situation? Where are they at with it? And I suspect I might get some back, some sort of statement to the effect of, "Oh, yes, we're gonna talk with the team," you know, and kind of not say much of substance because they'll be so new in these conversations with them will be so preliminary.
But I think just trying to kind of get a feel for that tone and also continue to talk to the team and understanding from their perspective where are the conversations at. One other thing I'll be really interested to see is, you know, are there any other third parties that are getting brought into the room. The county and the team seem to have some disagreement about Andrew Cohen and what his role was in these negotiations. We know that he has a long history of involvement in talks between the two entities, dating back to 2018.
But, what everyone does agree on, is that Cohen was involved at least peripherally in this round of talks. And so I'll be interested to see, you know, does he come back into the room and do we see potentially other third parties coming into the room who are able to represent both of these interests, but maybe take some of the tension out of the conversation a little bit.
