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The State of Arizona has been the host to the Fiesta
Bowl for over four decades, starting in 1971 when
Arizona State beat Florida State. The Fiesta Bowl
became part of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998
matching some of the best teams in college football
against each other. It was played at Sun Devil
Stadium until 2006 and shifted to Glendale, AZ when
the University of Phoenix Stadium opened. Today, the
Fiesta Bowl is part of the College Football Playoff
and will host a semifinal game every three years.
This year the stadium not only hosts the Fiesta Bowl
on January 1, 2016 but the College Football National
Championship Game on January 11, 2016.
University of Phoenix Stadium has been the home of
the NFL's Arizona Cardinals since 2006. They
previously shared Sun Devil Stadium with the Arizona
State Sun Devils.
For the first time in their history, dating back to 1898, the
Cardinals have a stadium to call home. From their formation
as a football club in Chicago in 1898 to their move to St. Louis
in 1960 and move to Arizona after the 1987 season, the team has
never had a stadium of their own. Through the late 1990s the
Cardinals began seeking a new stadium. After several years of
debate, in August 2002, the Arizona State Tourism and Sports
Authority voted to build a new retractable roof stadium in
Glendale, AZ for the Arizona Cardinals. At a cost of $455 million,
the stadium not only features a retractable roof, but features a
retractable side and field that moves in and out of the structure.
The stadium is built on 28 acres that is owned
by the sports authority. The
Cardinals paid for 25% of the stadium, $109 million, including
cost overruns and the state Tourism and Sports Authority paid for
75% of the stadium. The Cardinals also bought the land for the
stadium at a cost of $18.5 million.
The retractable roof at the University of
Phoenix Stadium is comprised of two 180-feet long by 240-feet wide
retractable panels close to allow for air
conditioning during the hot summer months and open during the
cooler months to take advantage of the Valley's abundant sunshine.
The fabric roof allows light to fill the stadium and provides
an open, airy feel
even when the roof panels are closed. The roof system is designed
to close in approximately 12 minutes.
 University of Phoenix
Stadium features a unique rollout natural-grass playing field,
contained in a single tray measuring 234 feet wide by 403 feet
long and weighing a hefty 18.9 million pounds. It is first
completely retractable field in North America. It is
positioned inside the stadium on game days to offer the preferred
natural-grass playing surface for football and outside the stadium
the remaining 350+ days of the year to receive the needed sunlight
and water to grow. A total of 462 steel wheels, riding on 13
parallel steel rails are used to slide the field tray in and out
of the facility.
Construction of
University of Phoenix Stadium
began in
July 2003. Originally expected to be completed in time for the
2005 NFL
season,
the stadium opened on August 12, 2006, when the Cardinals played the
Pittsburgh Steelers in a preseason game. The Cardinals played
their inaugural first game at the stadium when they
hosted the San Francisco 49ers on September 10, 2006. During the
first month of its opening, the facility was known as Cardinals
Stadium. In September 2006, the
University of Phoenix purchased the naming
rights for 20 years. The new stadium
has a very modern, futuristic look and seats 63,000 fans for
football. The capacity can be expanded to 72,800 for
other events at the stadium including the Super Bowl. Not only is the stadium
the home
of the Arizona Cardinals, but hosts the annual Fiesta
Bowl, hosted Super Bowl XLII in 2008 and NCAA Final Four Championships.
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