Ken Kendrick and Derrick Hall Address Media at Spring Training

The Diamondbacks television contract, stadium issues, expectations of the team and much more covered in a wide ranging interview session

Diamondbacks principal owner and Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick, along with President and CEO Derrick Hall spoke to the media today for nearly 40 minutes, taking in all questions. Here are some of the highlights. You can also listen to the entire interview at the link below

Feelings on the off season and expectations for the team

Kendrick feels the front office made additions in areas of need to an exciting young team and is very excited about the team. He expects the team to be competitive

Looming  Sinclair/Diamond Sports/Bally Bankruptcy

The situation is unpredictable, nobody can give a straight answer exactly how it will play out. He reiterated Commissioner Rob Manfred's commitment that no matter the outcome, fans will be able to see the games. If Diamond/Bally defaults on the contract MLB Network will produce all of the games. He agreed with Manfred's comments reported earlier that there may be some short term loss for the team, but believes they may come out ahead in the long term. The team increased payroll this year over 20% (Kendrick said 30%) and despite the looming short term losses they are in this for the long term.

Attendance

The organization expects attendance to rebound in the post Covid-19 era in 2023, and especially group sales should improve. 

Stadium Issues, (addressed by Derrick Hall)

 While they have not repaired the roof yet, Hall claimed they've been able to "repair what they need to".  The roof can still be open and closed when fans are not in the stadium. 

The timing for a decision on whether to relocate and rebuild a new stadium or refurbish Chase Field is becoming more critical as they get closer to lease expiration. They are still exploring new stadium options and Hall emphasized those explorations are within Maricopa county.  Hall said they hope to have a "directional decision" by this summer, and Kendrick joke that being older he hopes it happens within his lifetime. 

Should they stay in Chase Field they need to increase premium options, club suites, etc. In addition they will need to work with the city on how to build up infrastructure around the ballpark. Having a mixed use facility is still a priority.  Hall emphasized that Kendrick is the largest investor in CityScape (Phoenix's downtown entertainment hub). A refurbishment of Chase Field would take 3-5, or even 7 years project.

Kendrick reminded everyone of the complexity of the issues surrounding the stadium and also brought up the fact that the stadium is the 4th oldest in the league. He said "we're not looking for a handout" and touted  original ownership investment in the stadium of $150 million in 1995, and pledged to put "a lot of owner dollars" in any solution. 

Other teams spending, (i.e. Mets/Padres, etc)

As long as they play within the rules that's their right, but he does not believe those teams are operating at a profit and are utilizing deficit financing. He emphasized the need to have a sustainable business model. Large payroll disparity is an unhealthy business model as it decreases competitiveness. Kendrick alluded to internal discussions among the owners to create a "more fair business model".  

Phillies owner John Middleton made the comment below essentially saying nobody remembers if the 1927 Yankees turned a profit. 

This quote elicited a rather impassioned response from Kendrick.

"Well, we were one of those [world series winners] and we weren't profitable. And I can tell you for sure I probably wouldn't be standing here if our team had been able to pay it's bills. Why am I here ?  Because we won a world series and we couldn't pay our bills. Somebody had to come in and provide some stability and unfortunately I drew that short straw."

Ken's message to the team today

Kendrick talked about how blessed everyone should feel about being in the game and gave a very heartfelt anecdote from his own childhood and the experience of a player giving him a ball and signing for him at his first major league game. He encouraged each player to embrace the opportunity to make a child's day and bring joy. 

Future Payroll Increases

If the team is doing well they can and will add payroll at the trade deadline. But they do not expect to change their model during the off season to be big spenders in free agency. They will continue to focus on draft and develop to build the team. He was proud of the fact that the D-backs have four of the top 15 prospects in the game.  With an unknown future revenue number he was unwilling to commit to a specific number for future increases. He repeated the claim that he has never taken a paycheck or taken any money out of the team. He discussed the investments in other areas, such as analytics and technology such as the new hitting and pitching  lab created to measure player performance. 

Rule Changes

Kendrick was involved and voted on the rule changes and believe they will offer fans a more exciting game. He touted the decrease in game times, more balls in play, and more base stealing that has come about in the minor leagues with the recent rule updates. He believe the competitive balance will be improved with the new balanced schedule as well.