Have You Seen This? Is Utah coming for all Arizona pro sports teams now?

Arizona Diamondbacks' Eugenio Suárez reacts after hitting a solo home run and fourth of the game against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning during a baseball game, Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Phoenix.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Eugenio Suárez reacts after hitting a solo home run and fourth of the game against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning during a baseball game, Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Phoenix. (Rick Scuteri, Associated Press)


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Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

WE'RE COMING FOR YOU — The sale of the Arizona Coyotes to Ryan and Ashley Smith has left some deep scars for NHL fans in the state of Arizona.

And with Utah on the hunt for a Major League Baseball team to join its growing list of professional sports in the state, the state of Arizona is figuratively trying to close off its borders to one of its fellow Four Corner states.

Recently, the president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Danny Seidon, went on radio to talk about possible renovation plans for Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks of MLB.

The Diamondbacks are looking for the approval of more than $500 million (with likely more needed) to renovate the stadium that was opened in 1998, which coincides with when Arizona welcomed the D-backs to Phoenix as an expansion team.

But Utah has been known to step in when funding hasn't been secured for a new facility.

And Seidon is making his case to avoid another selloff to Utah.

"Utah is being very aggressive, Oregon is being very aggressive. They're passing legislation — $800 to $600 million — to pay for a new baseball stadium. That's not anything the Diamondbacks are looking for. They're looking for some recapture of income generated that they can bond off of. The team will put way more — hundreds of million dollars more — than any public dollars that will go to keep that asset here.

"I mean, if we're not careful, we're going to see the Arizona Diamondbacks become the Utah Pika, or whatever awful animal they'll change it to. They took our Coyotes and turned it into the mastodon, the elephant — it's something terrible. It hurts my heart. We can't let that happen to the D-backs."

For the record, it's the Utah Mammoth ... and clearly we'd come up with something better than a pika, Danny!

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Josh is the sports director at KSL.com and beat writer covering University of Utah athletics — primarily football, men’s and women's basketball and gymnastics. He is also an Associated Press Top 25 voter for college football.

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