Plan for New Stadium Gains Ground as City and State Consider Joint Funding Package

PHOENIX-City officials here have offered to chip in millions of dollars toward the cost of building a new stadium for football’s Arizona Cardinals in exchange for state funding of expansion of the Downtown Phoenix convention center.

A $500 million expansion of Phoenix Civic Plaza would bring in enough new business that the proceeds—as much as $5 million annually–could be spent to help pay off the cost of building a new football stadium, says Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza.

A number of Valley cities are exploring the possibility of having the new stadium in their boundaries, but few have the funding to cover the estimated $125 million in infrastructure costs that would go with it.