The Arizona Diamondbacks can now leave the Chase Field and relocate to a new home by the year 2022; the Maricopa County
leaders decided this on Wednesday. The County Board of Supervisors gave the permit to the Diamondbacks to look for a new location for up to five years after passing an agreement 4-1 on Wednesday and ending the lawsuit where the Diamondbacks demanded $187 million in upgrades.
As per the agreement, if the Diamondbacks find a new location in Maricopa County, then it can leave Chase Field without paying any penalty in 2022, which is five years earlier than the Diamondbacks’ current contract. According to the agreement, a new stadium can be built on tribal land, an idea that has been rumored would have to charge the same taxes as currently charged at Chase Field.
If the team leaves Arizona after the year 2022, then it would have to pay penalties of between $5 million and $25 million. Presuming that the Diamondbacks would find a new location which lies within the county guidelines, this would end the feud happening between the two. Tensions rose in the year 2017 when Chase Field was flooded. This further led to the MLB threatening intervention. The Diamondbacks have been playing at the Chase Field since 20 years when the franchise had initially joined MLB as an expansion team.
The team sued Maricopa County in the year 2017, looking to break the team’s 30-year-old lease to look out for other home and contending that the ballpark required major upgrades and repairs as well. The county said that it had money to repair the structural damage but would not be paying for cosmetic upgrades such as renovations, which it argued were team’s responsibility.
For months, the lawsuit did not go anywhere until a judge ordered both the sides into private mediation, which produced the preliminary agreement.
