University of Phoenix Stadium -

Address: 1 Cardinals Drive
             Glendale, Arizona, 85305

Home of: Arizona Cardinals (NFL)

Date opened: August 1, 2006

Capacity: 63,400 permanent seats (can be expanded to 72,200)

Cost: $455 million

University of Phoenix Stadium, a multipurpose football stadium, located on 1 Cardinals Drive, Glendale, Arizona, 85305, is the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) and the annual Fiesta Bowl. The Stadium was built in August 1, 2006 and cost $455 million to build.

The stadium is located next door to the Jobing.com Arena, where the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes play, and it has the first fully retractable natural grass playing surface built in the United States on top of an AirField Systems synthetic drainage system. An opening on one side of the stadium allows the playing field to move to the exterior of the building, allowing the entire natural turf playing surface to be exposed to daylight when it is not in use and also allowing the floor to be used for other purposes without damaging the playing surface. University of Phoenix Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLII and the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, a game that it hosts every four years. The stadium will also play host to WrestleMania XXVI in March 2010.

The University of Phoenix, a for-profit university specializing in adult education, acquired the naming rights in September 2006, shortly after the stadium had opened under the name Cardinals Stadium. The "University of Phoenix" name is applied as a corporate sponsor, and not as the home stadium of the University (which has no intercollegiate athletics program).

The stadium seating capacity can be expanded by 9,600 for "mega-events" such as college bowls, NFL Super Bowls, and the 2008-09 NFC Championship Game[5] by adding risers and ganged, portable "X-frame" folding seats. The endzone area on the side of the facility where the mobile turf moves in and out of the facility can be expanded to accommodate the additional ticketholders.

The multipurpose nature of the facility has allowed it to host 91 events representing 110 event days between the dates of August 4, 2006 through the BCS National Championship January 8, 2007. These events included Arizona Cardinals games; public grand opening tours held August 19 & 20, 2006 (attended by 120,000 people); various shows, expositions, tradeshows and motor sport events; the Rolling Stones concert November 8 2006; the AIA 4A and 5A state championship games for football (the first high school to win a football championship at the stadium was Cactus Shadows High School of Cave Creek, AZ on December 2, 2006); an international soccer exhibition match; the Fiesta Bowl National Band Championship High School Marching Band competition (the first marching band to ever play on the field was Foothill High School, from Pleasanton, California on December 29, 2006); the Fiesta Bowl January 1, 2007 featuring the Boise State Broncos vs. the University of Oklahoma Sooners (Boise State won 43-42 in overtime); and the BCS National Championship January 8, 2007 between the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes and the No. 2 University of Florida Gators, which the Gators won 41-14. It also held the 2008 Fiesta Bowl between the Oklahoma Sooners and the West Virginia University Mountaineers, as well as the 2009 Fiesta Bowl between the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes. It has also held many high school graduations.