Tempe Fights to Keep Stadium at Home Alone

PHOENIX-Tempe is putting up a fight to keep the Arizona Cardinals and the Fiesta Bowl in the city.

Even though it has partnered with the neighboring suburb of Mesa on a proposed site for the new $331-million domed football stadium, Tempe continues to look for other sites within its city limits that suits the stadium’s requirements.

“We’re going to do our very hardest not to lose the Cardinals, not to lose the Fiesta Bowl,” says Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano. “We can’t put all out eggs in one basket.”

Tempe and Mesa have offered up a 108-acre site at the southwest corner of Loop 202 and Loop 101 on the boarder between the two cities. Wherever the stadium is placed, it’s sure to attract hundreds of millions of dollars of additional development, including hotels, restaurants, shops and office space. The 72,000-seat stadium will be home to the Arizona Cardinals and will host the annual Fiesta Bowl.

Tempe has submitted another site to the Tourism and Sports Authority Board, which will decide by early next year where to build the stadium. Tempe has offered a parcel west of Loop 101 and south of the Tempe Town Lake, a two-mile long lake that runs adjacent to downtown Tempe and the Arizona State University Campus. The city is also looking at other sites within its boundaries, Giuliano says.

It’s estimated that the infrastructure costs of putting the stadium on the Mesa/Tempe site would run as high as $122 million, a cost that would be shared by both municipalities. If Tempe picks a site elsewhere, it would carry the financial burden alone.

Other sites in consideration include a 173-acre site at 99th Avenue and Thomas Road in the West Valley; and on a stretch of land along the Beeline High in the East Valley on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. There has also been talk of a site in downtown Phoenix, near Bank One Ballpark and America West Arena, but nothing has been formally presented to the Tourism and Sports Authority Board.