The issue now is where to build the domed, 72,000-seat facility.The Tourism and Sports Authority, the appointed board that will ownand operate the stadium, began holding meetings this morning tocontinue their site selection process. The board has said that ithopes to choose a site by early next year, with constructionbeginning not long after. It's hoped that the stadium could be openby summer 2004.

To date, four sites have been proposed, but others are sure tobe posited, now that the measure has passed. The sites are: a108-acre site at the southeast corner of Loop 202 and Loop 101 onthe border between Tempe and Mesa; a site in Tempe near Sun DevilStadium at Arizona State University, where the Cardinals now play;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 Valleyon the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.

The Downtown Phoenix Partnership, a booster organization, hadproposed a 35-acre site in downtown on a parcel southeast of BankOne Ballpark, but that proposal never got past the conceptstage.Where ever the stadium is placed, it's expected to cost themunicipality as much as $122 million in infrastructureimprovements. According to state law, cities in Arizona can'tcontribute more than $3 million toward the stadium without voterapproval. Only the site on the Yavapai Nation is exempt from thatlaw.