Arizona Diamondbacks execs have been putting a full-court press on state legislators to secure their desired $500 million stadium renovation subsidy, as the legislative session enters its final weeks. And shit? It be getting weird:
Notes taken by one participant and obtained by The Arizona Republic … said one of the team’s representatives “insinuated (threatened)” that the MLB would pull spring training from Arizona if a deal were not reached…
Andrew Cohn, who made the statements, said it was “a fiction” to characterize his words as a threat. He said his comments came after a discussion about what would happen if there was no funding agreement. He confirmed he had spoken to the former commissioner [Bud Selig], who he considers a friend, about the Diamondbacks’ situation. He said he did not speak with current Commissioner [Rob] Manfred.
“The comment was that it’s a terrible look to have such a commitment to the Cactus League, and spring training in Arizona, and not have a hometown team here,” he told The Republic.
That is 100% a threat that the Diamondbacks could leave without a new stadium, obviously. Whether it’s really a threat that MLB would pull spring training entirely is slightly fuzzier — if it’s not a warning of the “it’d be a shame for something to happen to those paratroopers” type, then what is it, exactly? A sad reflection on how MLB could never show its face among the other sports leagues again? An acknowledgment that MLB wouldn’t allow the Diamondbacks to move in the first place, because it needs them as the face of Arizona spring training? Arizona spring training, mind you, that started 69 years before the Diamondbacks came into existence? Maybe “insinuation” is a better term after all, since he was certainly saying something bad in an indirect way.
As for Cohn himself, he doesn’t actually work for the Diamondbacks, but is a real estate developer who has previously been an intermediary between the team and the county, even after one interaction ended with him yelling at the chair of the county board of supervisors. (His wife is also on the board of the team’s charitable foundation.) Cohn says Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego invited him to last week’s meeting; a spokesperson for Gallego says she did nothing of the sort.
The actual terms of the proposed stadium deal are still shifting, and it’s not entirely clear as of yet whether the proposal will be rolled into the state budget or get a separate vote. The idea that MLB would shift half of its spring training sites in a fit of pique (and regardless of any ongoing leases for spring training stadiums) is way too vague and implausible to be taken seriously; and yet, here we are talking about it. Sometimes having a guy in the room to say the quiet stuff loud can work out okay, if you want people to focus more on vaporthreats and less on reality.
It’s honestly so funny that Rob Manfred and co are openly clamoring for expansion when some of the existing MLB franchises with no real ballpark issues are doing stuff like this. There’s no reason for the Royals and the Dbacks of the league to pull these kinds of stunts other than inflation of their net worths through massive subsidies.
MLB won’t add two more teams within whatever remains of Manfred’s lifetime, never mind his tenure as commish
My guess is there would be a lot of work for people with high LSAT scores if baseball attempted to do that and disrupt 14 other teams’ operations and the municipalities where they play.
The idea that the D-Backs are valuable as a “home town team” to the Cactus League is hilarious.
Especially since no one is traveling here to see them like they come from Wisconsin and Chicago.
The real implication of that threat is that spring training is more valuable to the Arizona economy than the Diamondbacks. That is probably true, but it’s not a good reflection on the D-Backs, is it?
“My uncle who works in the commissioner’s office is very unhappy with you all!”
Arizona should not pay for a new stadium.
How about the franchise which doesn’t empress me and can’t budget their funds to keep solid ball players for 10 to 14 years.
Maybe the franchise should cut players salaries. Cut cost of seat prices. So more people would go watch a less than 500 ball club.
Lots of places meet the following requirements.
1. Endless sunny and 80⁰ weather in March
2. 10 up to date spring training facilities within a 20 mile radius
3. Hundreds of golf courses and dozens of 4 and 5 star resorts
4. One of the 10 busiest airports in the country with nonstops to every major league city
5. Hundreds of thousands of transplants from Chicago, LA and the Bay Area.
I dare MLB to pull spring training from Arizona.
Agreed, but let’s tease this out for fun:
Southern California has many of those attributes, but there are not enough facilities even if you eminent domain all the minor league stadiums (which you would then have to upgrade). And they will definitely not be as close to each other as they are in Arizona.
Florida could absorb a few teams at facilities that (I think) still exist but are vacant and maybe someone could ground-share with a current team.
But you could not get 15 teams out of Arizona en masse. (They all have leases, right? And the facilities have all been built or upgraded in the last 10-15 years except for maybe Scottsdale and HoHoKam.)
Someone in an elected position should literally tell the threatening (but totally not threatening, you guys!) consultant guy to GTFO.
MLB sucks! Extortion! Tell them to play in hell! Not too many would care.