PHOENIX — The Arizona Cardinals celebrated the groundbreaking of their new headquarters and practice facility in north Phoenix on Thursday.
It will be part of a 217-acre mixed-use development that was purchased for $136 million at the Arizona State Land Department auction. The land located just west of Scottsdale Road and Loop 101 Pima Freeway will be home to other businesses that will be announced at a later date.
The Cardinals’ practice facility will sit on 30 acres and occupy more than 250,000 square feet. Those marks mean it will be on more than double the land of the current performance center in Tempe (14 acres) and provide the team nearly 100,000 more square feet to use (156,000 square feet).
Team owner Michael Bidwill said the NFL players deserve to work at the “most premiere location” and called the facility a “multigenerational decision.”
“I wanted to make sure it was player first, performance first and we leverage the Cardinals headquarters to have the most greater good for the state of Arizona and the city of Phoenix as possible,” Bidwill said.
The new facility will consist of three outdoor natural-grass fields and an indoor full-size field, athletic training and sports medicine spaces, a player lounge, a locker room, meeting rooms and more.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said at the ceremonial groundbreaking that the hope for the mixed-use land is to become a hub for “global and national partners in sports, innovation, medicine and more.”
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Gallego added the development will “fit” with the nearby Mayo Clinic and Desert Ridge Marketplace, which is located at Tatum Boulevard and Loop 101, that already offers a plethora of retailers.
Others in attendance were Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, and current Cardinals players Trey McBride, Budda Baker, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Elijah Higgins.
Watson echoed Gallego, saying the area will be a “magnet for innovation, talent and opportunity” as it advances the state’s economic growth.
“This world-class development will turbocharge those efforts, catalyzing additional high-profile corporate relocations and accelerating the state’s economic momentum,” Watson said. “That’s how we won the last decade, and that’s how we will win the next.”
Bidwill said the expectation is the NFL team will be able to move into the facility after training camp ends in August 2028.
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