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Franchises

Diamondbacks bring experimentation to uniforms

Even though they’re one of MLB’s two youngest franchises, the Arizona Diamondbacks dramatically transformed themselves in a matter of days this month.

The club introduced a radical new set of uniforms that features eight distinct options and combines the current color mix of Sedona red and black with gray and the club’s original teal, used from 1998 to 2006. Also introduced in the new look is a “snakeskin” diamond pattern on the shoulders of the jerseys and calves of the uniform pants.

The uniform set, at once larger and more aggressive in design than anything else used in MLB, is aimed in large part to appeal to young people, who have increasingly become a focal point of league activity.

The club immediately followed that unveiling with a six-year, $206 million contract for free agent pitcher Zack Greinke, a deal that both surprised the entire industry and set a record for pitcher compensation with an average annual value of $34.3 million. But not to be content with their pitching rotation after that deal, the Diamondbacks last week acquired Shelby Miller from Atlanta in a five-player trade that sent this year’s No. 1 draft pick, shortstop Dansby Swanson, to the Braves.

HALL
Derrick Hall, the Diamondbacks’ president and chief executive, spoke with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Eric Fisher on the club’s furious run of recent activity.

How did the effort to redo the uniforms start?
Hall:
It all really started two years ago at league industry meetings, I think down in Florida. Graham Rossini, our VP of special projects and fan experience, came out of a session about appealing more to youth. This was before the commissioner transition. And he asked me if it was even a possibility to think about redoing the uniforms again. So we dug into it, and we quickly saw an opportunity to do something really innovative that could go out of the box in a big way. We’re not bound by tradition. Other franchises are, and I totally respect that. But we’re in different place. So from there, we brought players in right away, involved them through the whole process, focus groups of all ages, as well as key partners and licensees like New Era, Majestic and Nike. And this was all coordinated through our in-house creative services team, as opposed to an outside group.

The redesign was inspired in part by college football’s array of alternate unis.
Photo by: ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
What was the initial reaction from the league? Engaging youth is certainly a big priority of Commissioner Rob Manfred, but even within that context, this uniform set does veer in a whole new direction.
Hall:
We also brought MLB in right at the beginning of all this, and I also talked at length about it with Rob. We thought there might be some initial resistance, but it was totally the opposite. They understood what we wanted to do right away. We were in the original uniforms for nine years, and nine more in the second set. And it was time to turn the page and combine the two.

How did college football’s heavy push toward having a large array of alternate uniform sets influence what you did?
Hall:
It was a big inspiration. We’ve seen all the multiple combinations that a number of programs have introduced. When Oregon first rolled out all their various looks, I honestly hated it, but I’ve completely come around, and I can’t wait for what’s next from them now. But it goes further than that. We’ve seen all sorts of teams become more aggressive in seeking out new looks: the Seahawks with their neon green; a lot of innovation that is happening with NBA uniforms. There’s a lot of experimentation happening, and we saw ourselves as a way to bring some of that into baseball.

On Greinke, you were not on the initial list of supposed suitors for him. That was thought to be a battle between Los Angeles and San Francisco. How did you get into the mix?
Hall:
We all knew we were going to be active and aggressive this winter, particularly for starting pitching, but we just didn’t know it was going to be for the big one [Greinke]. But a couple of weeks ago, we started having conversations with [managing general partner] Ken [Kendrick], and bat this idea around. And by [Dec. 4], we had a decision.

This deal doesn’t happen without the new TV contract, correct? (The Diamondbacks this year signed a renewal with Fox Sports Arizona worth an estimated $1.5 billion and including equity in the regional sports network.)
Hall:
Without a doubt. Absent those new revenues, we cannot do this. This contract is still a huge commitment and a big risk, and we have to make sure we don’t make mistakes. But we haven’t really had a true ace since Randy Johnson, and the additional revenues from TV were crucial in making this possible.

Do you have the Greinke contract prorated in a way that he has to, in effect, pay for himself in incremental revenue?
Hall:
You can’t make a player move like this specifically banking on additional money. We’re obviously going to see an economic lift, and the phones are definitely ringing and are busy for new season-ticket purchases, but we don’t think about this deal in that way. It goes back to putting ourselves in the best position to win, and having that pure ace, which had been one glaring hole for us.

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