After a three-month selection process, the Tourism and Sports Authority voted 7 to 2 this morning to build the voter-supported football stadium on a 60-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Loop 202 and Priest Drive, just north of the Tempe Town Lake. The TSA rejected a site proposed by the West Valley, the other finalist for the 73,000-seat stadium. Earlier in the process, the TSA eliminated potential sites in downtown Phoenix, on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and along the Tempe/Mesa border.

Construction of the stadium is on a fast track to ready it for the NFL season beginning in August 2004. Construction engineers will begin surveying the parcel on Thursday in preparation for an August 2001 groundbreaking. Much of the stadium has already been designed, but engineers will need to adapt the plan to the Tempe site.

The stadium will feature a natural grass field and retractable roof that slides open for sunlight to accommodate non-football-related, open air events. The Cardinals are sure to pull in far above their 33,000 fans per game average with the covered stadium. Sun Devil Stadium, where the team now plays, is intolerably hot during the early part of the NFL season.

TSA board members favored the Tempe site because it offers the most amenities--lots of hotel, restaurants, bars, and shops are already in the vicinity--which will help to bring non-football related events there. The light-rail system that's under way that will run adjacent to the stadium, bringing fans from all parts of the Valley, points out Jim Grogan, chairman of the TSA board. Lack of nearby parking had been a big drawback to the Tempe site, but, Grogan, who voted for Tempe, notes that putting a light-rail stop at the stadium solved the issue.

Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano said it was the Cardinals vow of political and financial support that propelled the Tempe site past the West Valley's. The Cardinals, along with the National Football League, were slated to invest $85 million into the stadium, but the team offered to kick in another $18 million if the stadium is built in Tempe.

The Tempe site also won the all-important endorsement of the Fiesta Bowl, the other major tenant in the new stadium, and hotel industry, which will indirectly pay for the stadium with a 1% bed tax. The bed tax, along with a 3.25% tax on rental cars, is expected to generate as much as $800 million over the next 30 years. The taxes go into effect March 1.

Although the West Valley won praise from board members and two TSA votes, it couldn't overcome its inherent weakness: a remote location. The site and much of the surrounding land is nothing but empty cotton fields. The board was worried that the site was too far removed from the city to attract enough commercial development to support the stadium. The TSA felt the density of amenities is needed to attract conventions and other non-football events, which are needed to operate the stadium at a profit.

Tempe's winning the bitter contest for the stadium is sure to set off a wave of development in and around the stadium site and along the waterfront of the Tempe Town Lake. The two-mile long lake was filled almost two year ago and just lately began attracting development.

Instant Insights /

Tempe Emerges Victor in Hard-fought Battle for $335-mil Cardinals Stadium

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