Who owns the Arizona Diamondbacks? Ken Kendrick, explained

Ken Kendrick runs the Arizona Diamondbacks as managing general partner of Arizona Baseball, Inc., a role he has held since 2004. The club plays in the National League West at Chase Field in Phoenix. Under Kendrick’s 22-year tenure, the Diamondbacks eliminated over $350 million in debt and reached the World Series in 2023—a remarkable turnaround from a franchise that won it all in just its fourth season of existence.

🏟️ Ownership at a glance

Principal owner	Earl Gwinn ‘Ken’ Kendrick Jr.
Controlling group	Arizona Baseball, Inc
Current group since	2004
Purchase price	$238M
Latest valuation	$1.96B
Owner’s net worth	$1.2B
Value multiple	8.2× the purchase price

Who is Ken Kendrick

Kendrick’s wealth comes from software and banking, not baseball. Born September 2, 1943, in Princeton, West Virginia, he earned a business degree from West Virginia University in 1965 and started his career at IBM. Three years later he founded Datatel, a software company that managed university and foundation operations and became the global leader in its niche. In 2011, Datatel purchased SunGard Higher Education for $1.75 billion, rebranded itself as Ellucian, and sold to TPG Capital in 2015 for $3.5 billion. Kendrick has been the principal investor in Woodforest National Bank since 1989, a $9 billion institution with 5,000 employees.

He joined the Diamondbacks as a limited partner when the franchise launched in 1995 under Jerry Colangelo. In August 2004, the other general partners removed Colangelo—the man who brought baseball to Phoenix and won the 2001 World Series—and handed control to Kendrick for $238 million. The move was an internal coup that reshaped the franchise’s future.

How they bought the team

Kendrick acquired the Diamondbacks in 2004 for $238 million when the four other general partners voted to oust Colangelo and elevate him to managing general partner. The franchise itself had been born in 1995 as an expansion team under Colangelo’s Arizona Baseball, Inc. Kendrick’s purchase price ranked 16th among the 27 most expensive team acquisitions in MLB history (nominal dollars, unadjusted for inflation).

Today, Forbes values the Diamondbacks at $1.96 billion as of March 2026, making them the 19th most valuable franchise in baseball. The team is now worth 8.2 times what Kendrick’s group paid for it—a gain that reflects both the growth of baseball revenues and the franchise’s competitive resurgence.

Year	Buyer	Amount
1995	Jerry Colangelo and Arizona Baseball, Inc. (expansion franchise)	—
2004	Ken Kendrick (takes control as managing general partner)	$238M

What else they own

Beyond the Diamondbacks, Kendrick controls Woodforest National Bank and maintains a stake in Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), the baseball card certification company, which he joined in 2021 alongside Larry Fitzgerald, Kevin Durant, and Andy Roddick. He is also the owner of the T206 Honus Wagner, the most famous baseball card in history, which previously belonged to Wayne Gretzky. His personal collection of 35 cards, known as the D-backs Collection, has been displayed at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

These holdings reflect Kendrick’s view of baseball as both business and history. The Honus Wagner card—a relic of the sport’s earliest era—sits in the hands of a man who now steers one of its modern franchises.

Where the games air

The Diamondbacks broadcast all 162 games on their own streaming service, DBACKS.TV, for $54.99 per season with no local blackouts and live audio in English. On cable and satellite, games air on Cox (Phoenix 34, Tucson 26), DirecTV, DirecTV Stream (686), Comcast/Xfinity Tucson (1261), Charter/Spectrum, and Fubo. Play-by-play announcers Steve Berthiaume and Bob Brenly call the action. In radio, Arizona Sports 98.7 FM carries the English-language flagship signal, while KNAI 101.9 FM and 860 AM broadcast all games in Spanish. This setup reflects MLB’s shift away from regional sports networks after Diamond Sports abandoned Bally Sports Arizona in 2023.

Facts worth knowing

Kendrick owns the T206 Honus Wagner, the most expensive and mythologized baseball card in history, which was previously owned by Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall. A team owner who collects his predecessors.
He came to power through an internal coup: in August 2004 the other four general partners removed Jerry Colangelo, the man who had brought baseball to Phoenix and won the 2001 World Series, and handed the keys to Kendrick.
On September 3, 2025 Governor Katie Hobbs signed law HB 2704 in the dugout of Chase Field: up to $500,000,000 in public money over 30 years, adjusted for inflation, redirecting 82% of the state income tax from the club itself. The D-backs put up $250,000,000 of their own and commit to staying in Phoenix 30 more years.
To get that law Kendrick and the club did not publicly rule out relocating: ‘our time in Phoenix could run out’, they even said. The law prohibits using public money for suites, boxes and the famous right field pool.
Chase Field had already been financed with taxes: it was built with a 0.25% sales tax and Maricopa County’s contribution was capped at $238,000,000, coincidentally the same figure Forbes registers as the purchase price of Kendrick’s group.
The D-backs won the World Series in 2001, in just their fourth season of existence, the fastest rise of an expansion team in MLB history.

Where they stand among the 30 owners

List	Rank
By franchise value	#19 de 30
By purchase price	#16 de 27
By owner’s net worth	#20 de 21
By years in charge	#14 de 30

Amounts are nominal and not adjusted for inflation: comparing a decades-old purchase price with today’s valuation overstates the real gain.

Kendrick ranks 14th among the 30 owners in tenure at the helm of his club. His $1.2 billion personal fortune places him solidly in the middle tier of baseball ownership—wealthy enough to weather downturns and fund stadium negotiations, but not among the sport’s richest. His signature move has been financial discipline: paying down debt, securing a $500 million public funding commitment from Arizona in 2025 (with the team investing $250 million of its own), and building a competitive roster that reached the World Series. He is a collector of baseball history who now shapes its present.