Tempe and the West Valley have become the unofficial semi-finalists after the Tourism and Sports Authority board reviewed the responses the cities offered to questions posed by the board.

"It's fair to say, based on what we heard and saw in there today, that those two sites are emerging as the preferred sites," says board chairman Jim Grogan. "Phoenix is also a very preferred site, but they have a Herculean task ahead of them."

The board, which will own and operate the stadium, seemed most satisfied with the updated proposals offered by Tempe and by a coalition of cities in the West Valley.

Tempe has offered a site at the northeast corner of Loop 202 and Priest Drive, just north of the Tempe Town Lake. The board had questioned the parking issue at the site, but Tempe allayed that fear by offering to shuttle game spectators from other ample parking areas nearby. The city also pointed out that the light rail line would run directly into the stadium.

The West Valley has a site at the northwest corner of Loop 101 and Thomas Road, in the city of Avondale. The TSA was concerned about the lack of amenities near the stadium site, but backers presented commitments from restaurants and hotel developers that they would be certain to build near the stadium once it goes up.

Once the odds-on favorite to land the 73,000-seat stadium, downtown Phoenix proponents would now need the equivalent of a Hail Mary to win the selection process. The TSA wondered whether the downtown site could be secured, cleared and infrastructure put in place by the August construction deadline.

The site most at risk of permanently riding the bench is the one on the Tempe/Mesa border, at the southeast corner of Loop 101 and Loop 202. The financing plan for the infrastructure submitted by the combined forces of those two cities would require the TSA to investment as much as $160 million over 30 years, a risk the authority has said it will not take. The only way to reduce the TSA's risk is to issue bonds on the project, a burden to the residents that Mesa leaders have said they won't do.

The site on the Fort McDowell Indian is also falling behind the others. The TSA board believes the site, more than 20 miles northeast of downtown Phoenix and 11 miles from the nearest freeway, is simply too remote to attract convention business, trade shows and other non-football related revenue producing events.

The TSA will winnow the list to two official semifinalist by next Thursday and choose a winning site by Feb. 13.