Before You Go. Check AZcentral.com, the website for Phoenix's largest newspaper, the Arizona Republic, for the weather. Because of the legendary Arizona "dry heat," the Cardinals usually got few home games in September, leading to some slow starts that led to them missing the Playoffs. But the new stadium has a retractable roof, so that won't be an issue.
Still, usually, if the Giants or Jets are playing there in November or December (or, if the Giants make the Playoffs, in January), once you get on the plane, you'll want to ditch your winter coat. For next weekend, it's forecast to be in the low 60s by day and the low 40s by night. In other words, what Arizona calls "Winter."
UPDATE: According to a January 30, 2019 article in Thrillist:
Occasionally, retired Kroger business executives from Ohio and their Pilates-instructor second wives will accidentally move to Flagstaff and get very sad and angry when they realize the average winter temperature is somewhere in the 20s. But most of Arizona offers up that dry desert day heat that is good for arthritis and any lingering guilt about leaving their first wives to deal with their delinquent teenage kids back in Indian Hill.
Arizona's infamous Daylight Savings Time issue has been settled: The State is on Mountain Time when New York is on Daylight Savings Time, and on Pacific Time when we're on Standard Time. This isn't the DST time of year. So you'll be on Mountain Time, 2 hours behind New Jersey and New York City. Adjust your timepieces accordingly.
If you're thinking of making a side trip into Mexico, you should know that Phoenix to the border is a 4-hour drive at the least. No public transportation. You'll need a passport, and you'll also need Mexican driving insurance, which you might be able to get at the Mexican consulate in Phoenix. In other words, it's not really worth the trip.
Tickets. The Cardinals are averaging 64,289 fans per home game this season, a sellout. That's what happens when your stadium can beat the weather. That's also what happens when your stadium gives you advantage: That breeds winning, which breeds more fan participation. So getting tickets could be hard.
Seats in the Main Level, the 100 sections, are $181 on the sidelines and $126 in the end zone. In the Terrace Level, the 400 sections, they're $108 on the sidelines and $70 in the end zones.
Getting There. It's 2,458 miles from Times Square downtown Phoenix, and 2,453 miles from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford to the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. In other words, if you're going, you're flying.
You think I'm kidding? Even if you get someone to go with you, and you take turns, one drives while the other one sleeps, and you pack 2 days' worth of food, and you use the side of the Interstate as a toilet, and you don't get pulled over for speeding, you'll still need nearly 2 full days to get there. One way.
But, if you really, really want to... You'll need to get on the New Jersey Turnpike. Take it to Exit 14, to Interstate 78. Follow I-78 west all the way through New Jersey, to Phillipsburg, and across the Delaware River into Easton, Pennsylvania. Continue west on I-78 until reaching Harrisburg. There, you will merge onto I-81. Take Exit 52 to U.S. Route 11, which will soon take you onto I-76. This is the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the nation's first superhighway, opening in 1940.
The Turnpike will eventually be a joint run between I-76 and Interstate 70. Once that happens, you'll stay on I-70, all the way past Pittsburgh, across the little northern panhandle of West Virginia, and then across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, into Missouri.
At St. Louis, take Exit 40C onto Interstate 44 West, which will take you southwest across Missouri into Oklahoma. Upon reaching Oklahoma City, take Interstate 40 West, through the rest of the State, across the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico, into Arizona. At Flagstaff, take Interstate 17 South, which will take you into Phoenix. Take Interstate 10 West to Exit 133B, which will lead you to State Route 101. Take Exit 6 to the arena/stadium complex
If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and 15 minutes in New Jersey, 5 hours and 30 minutes in Pennsylvania, 15 minutes in West Virginia, 3 hours and 45 minutes in Ohio, 2 hours and 45 minutes in Indiana, another 2 hours and 45 minutes in Illinois, 5 hours in Missouri, 6 hours in Oklahoma, 3 hours in Texas, 6 hours and 15 minutes in New Mexico, and 5 hours and 30 minutes in Arizona. That's about 42 hours. Counting rest stops, you're probably talking about 55 hours.
That's still faster than Greyhound, averaging around 68 hours, including a 1:45 bus-change in Richmond, a 1:15 stopover in Charlotte, an hour's bus-change in Atlanta, an hour's stopover in Birmingham, a 45-minute stopover in Jackson, Mississippi, an hour's stopover in Shreveport, a 1:30 bus-change in Dallas (that's right, changing buses 3 times each way), and a 1:15 stopover in El Paso. It's $614 round-trip ($502 with advanced purchase).
The station is at 2115 East Buckeye Road, adjacent to Sky Harbor International Airport. Number 13 bus to downtown. (Although, do you really want to spend Christmas Day on a bus? Especially in the Southwest, the least Christmassy part of the country?)
To take Amtrak, you'd have to board the Crescent at 2:15 PM on Wednesday afternoon, arrive in New Orleans at 7:32 PM on Thursday night, stay overnight in New Orleans (not a bad idea -- if you can afford it), leave on the Los Angeles-bound Sunset Limited at 9:00 AM on Friday morning, and arrive at Maricopa at 8:52 PM on Saturday night -- nearly 19 hours before kickoff.
And you'd still have to get from Maricopa station, at 19427 N. John Wayne Pkwy., to downtown Phoenix, 35 miles to the north, as Amtrak closed Union Station in Phoenix a few years back. And if you can't rent a car, then you'll have to take a cab, because there's no train or bus from Maricopa to Phoenix. And, to get back, you'd have to get to Maricopa in time to catch the 5:40 AM Sunset Limited back to New Orleans on Monday morning. Total fare: $737 -- not counting the taxis.
Flights, usually changing in Charlotte, Chicago or Dallas, can be had for under $1,100.
Once In the City. While the Cardinals (as do MLB's Diamondbacks and the NHL's Coyotes, but not the NBA's Suns) have the State name as their geographic identifier -- apparently from a Native American word meaning "small spring" -- they play in Arizona's State capital, Phoenix.
Jack Swilling, a Confederate veteran who founded the place in 1867, accepted the suggestion of a fellow settler, an Englishman named Lord Duppa: Since it was on the site of a previous Indian civilization, it should be named Phoenix, for the mythical bird that rose from its own ashes. The city was incorporated in 1881, making it the youngest city in American major league sports.
The State House in Phoenix
Home to just 100,000 people in 1950, Phoenix saw huge growth in the 2nd half of the 20th Century: 440,000 by 1960, 580,000 by 1970, 800,000 by 1980, and it surpassed the 1 million mark in the early 1990s. It's 1.6 million now, with about 4.6 million people in the metropolitan area.
All this made it an expansion target. The NBA's expansion Suns arrived in 1968. The NFL's St. Louis Cardinals in 1988, changing their name from the Phoenix Cardinals to the Arizona Cardinals in 1993. The USFL's Arizona Wranglers played there in 1984, and became the Arizona Outlaws the following year. This was around the time that the Philadelphia Eagles nearly moved there due to owner Leonard Tose's fractured finances.
The MLB team that became the Diamondbacks was awarded in 1995, to begin play in 1998. And the NHL's 1st Winnipeg Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1997, changing their name to the Arizona Coyotes in 2013. This was after the World Hockey Association had the Phoenix Roadrunners in the 1970s -- and, yes, I'm well aware of the cartoon connection: Roadrunners replaced by Coyotes. The WNBA's Phoenix Mercury also began play in 1997. Today, the Suns are the only Phoenix-area team to keep the city's name as their identifier, rather than the State's name.
The sales tax in Arizona is 5.6 percent, but it's 8.3 percent within the City of Phoenix. ZIP Codes for Arizona start with the digits 85 and 86, and the Area Codes are 602 (for Phoenix), 480 and 623 (for the suburbs). Arizona Public Service provides electricity and water. The Phoenix metropolitan area has a population that is about 58 percent white, 31 percent Hispanic, 5 percent black, 3 percent Asian, and 3 percent Native American.
Although Phoenix has had a gang problem, its bigger problem has been the racism of the white people to the Mexican-American community, symbolized by Joe Arpaio, Sheriff of Maricopa County from 1993 to 2017, who had people arrested without cause and tortured in his jails. After losing his last bid for re-election, he was convicted for contempt of court. He then became the 1st criminal pardoned by Donald Trump, and ran for his old office again in 2020, and lost.
Central Avenue is the source street for east-west house numbers; oddly, the north-south streets are numbered Streets to the east, and numbered Avenues to the west. Washington Street divides addresses into north and south. State Route 101 forms a partial "outer beltway," while Interstates 10 (north and east) and 17 (south and west) form an "inner beltway." A single ride on Phoenix buses and Valley Metro Rail is $2.00, with an All-Day Pass a bargain at $4.00.
A Valley Metro Rail train
Going In. The Glendale Sports & Entertainment District, in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, consists of The University of Phoenix Stadium, home to the Arizona Cardinals since 2006; and the Gila River Arena, home to the Coyotes since 2003. (There is an actual University of Phoenix, on the ground, not just on the Internet. But that's not here.) (UPDATE: In 2018, it was renamed State Farm Stadium.)
The complex is about 17 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix. The official address of the stadium is 1 Cardinals Drive, and that of the arena is 9400 W. Maryland Avenue. Number 8 bus from downtown to 7th & Glendale Avenues, then transfer to Number 70 bus, to Glendale and 95th Avenue, then walk down 95th. If you drive in, parking starts at $10.
The stadium is known as the Nest, due to the bird references; and the Big Toaster, for its appearance and the Arizona heat. The field has always been real grass, is laid out not quite north-to-south, and can be rolled out of the stadium, to get some sun while the roof is closed. The Cardinals have not played a game on artificial turf since their St. Louis farewell in 1987.
University of Phoenix Stadium, with the field rolled out.
Note the end zone markings: This was Super Bowl Week 2008.
The Gila River Arena, home of the Coyotes, is in the background.
New York Tri-State Area sports fans know the stadium as the site of Super Bowl XLII, where the Giants derailed the New England Patriots' bid for the NFL's 1st 19-0 season. The Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles there in January 2009 to advance to Super Bowl XLIII. The Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers there in Super Bowl XLIX.
The stadium is also home to the Fiesta Bowl, and to 3 NCAA Football Championship Games: 2006-07, Florida over Ohio State; 2010-11, Auburn over Oregon; and 2015-16, Alabama over Clemson. This past March, it became the 1st building in Arizona to host a Final Four, with North Carolina defeating Gonzaga in the Final. It's hosted 3 matches of the U.S. soccer team, most recently a 1-0 loss to Colombia in the 2016 Copa America. It's hosted 2 games of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2009, again in 2015, and again in 2017.
(UPDATE: On January 27, 2019, it hosted a 3-0 USMNT win over Panama, and another CONCACAF Gold Cup match. In 2021, it hosted 2 Quarterfinals of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. It will host the Final Four again in 2024.)
UPDATE: In 2022, the Gila River Arena was renamed the Desert Diamond Arena, and the Coyotes moved to the new Mullett Arena, as tenants of Arizona State. It seats just 5,000 people. The Coyotes still have difficulty selling it out.
Food. As a Southwestern city, you might expect Phoenix to have Mexican, Spanish, Western and Southwestern food themes. Which is the case. Grande Rojo and Touchdown Tortilla stands are both on the east side of the Main Level concourse.
They also have stands for Club Burger (customizable hamburgers), Tacho (nachos with tater tots), Indian Fry Bread Tacos (this being Arizona, I'm presuming that, in this case, "Indian" means "Native American" rather than "South Asian"), Fry Bread Dessert (a Southwest take on that great Middle Atlantic States standard, funnel cake), Pig Wings (right, the Cards will win the Super Bowl when pigs fly... actually, it's pork shanks mixed with tater tots), Fajita Sausage (trying to mix the franchise's Midwestern heritage with their Southwestern residence, maybe?) and Not-Your-Average Sundae (ice cream in a cone made of cinnamon crisp, making it look like a giant nacho).
Team History Displays. The Arizona Cardinals have not won the NFL Championship since December 28, 1947. That's 70 years and 2 cities ago: Chicago (1920 to 1959) and St. Louis (1960 to 1987). Indeed, this is the longest title drought of any team that has actually won one.
(Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Minnesota have won NFL Championships, but not a Super Bowl. Buffalo, San Diego/Los Angeles and Houston/Tennessee won titles in the AFL. That leaves, in ascending order of age with no league title at all: Houston, Jacksonville, Carolina, Cincinnati and Atlanta. The latter 2 have been to 2 Super Bowls, losing both.)
They reached the NFL Championship Game again the next year, but lost the 1948 title to the team they beat for the 1947 title: The Philadelphia Eagles. They also won the NFL Championship, very controversially, in 1925.
There is no representation in the stadium for these achievements. Nor is there for the NFC East Championships they won in St. Louis in 1974 and '75, nor for the Wild Card berth they reached in St. Louis in 1982. Nor for the Wild Card berths they've won in Arizona in 1998 and 2014. But they do have them, hanging in the stadium's south "Red Zone," for their 2008 NFC and NFC Western Division Championships, and their 2009 and 2015 NFC West titles.
From their St. Louis period, they retired 8 for Larry Wilson, one of the greatest safeties of all time; and 88 for J.V. Cain, a tight end who died of an undetected congenital heart defect -- on his 28th birthday, no less -- at the Cardinals' 1979 training camp.
From their Chicago period, they retired 77 for Stan Mauldin, a two-way tackle who suffered a heart attack and died during a 1948 game; and 99 for Marshall "Biggie" Goldberg, a two-way halfback who'd led the University of Pittsburgh to the 1937 National Championship. Both were members of the Cards' '47 NFL Champs.
The Cards have a Ring of Honor at University of Phoenix Stadium. It honors 17 men:
* From Chicago: Owner Charles Bidwill, coach Jimmy Conzelman, quarterback John "Paddy" Driscoll, two-way back Marshall Goldberg, two-way back Ernie Nevers, two-way back Charlie Trippi, running back Ollie Matson and cornerback Dick "Night Train" Lane. All but Goldberg are also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
* From St. Louis: Safety Larry Wilson, offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf, cornerback Roger Wehrli, quarterback Jim Hart and receiver Roy Green. Wilson, Dierdorf and Wehrli are in the Hall of Fame.
* From Arizona: Quarterback Kurt Warner, cornerback Aeneas Williams, and safeties Pat Tillman and Adrian Wilson. Warner and Williams are in the Hall of Fame.
There is an Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, but the only Cardinals figures yet elected are Bill Bidwill, Pat Tillman and Jake Plummer. Jake the Snake is mainly in for what he did as quarterback at Arizona State, and Tillman for his sacrifice.
The Cardinals have had 3 Heisman Trophy winners. The 1st, running back John David Crow, won it in 1957 at Texas A&M, and was with the Cardinals from 1958 to 1964, including the 1960 move from Chicago to St. Louis. Matt Leinart won it in 2004 with Southern California, and was with the Cardinals from 2006 to 2009. Carson Palmer, the 2002 winner, was Leinart's predecessor as quarterback at USC, but his successor with the Cardinals, 2013-17.
UPDATE: Sam Bradford (2008 Oklahoma) has been signed by the Cardinals.
Since the Cardinals were originally in Chicago, their original rivals were the Bears, a game often played on Thanksgiving Day. The Bears lead the rivalry 56-28-6, including 46-19-1 while it was, as they would say in English soccer, a Chicago derby.
But the Cards' real rivals are the Dallas Cowboys, due as much to geography as to the Cowboys' former success. They no longer play twice a season, with the 2002 NFL realignment moving the Cards out of the NFC East and into the NFC West. The Cowboys lead the rivalry 56-32-1, including 25-13 since the Cardinals moved to Arizona. But that includes the only Playoff game between them, the Cardinals' victory in the 1998-99 season, their 1st postseason victory since 1947.
(UPDATE: Through the 2018 season, the Cardinals trail the Bears 57-28-6. They did not play the Cowboys in 2018.)
Stuff. The AZone, the Arizona Cardinals Team Store, is located on the ground floor between Gate 2 and the box office. You can find the usual team-themed stuff there. Perhaps, due to Arizona's Western heritage, you can find cowboy hats with the team's logo on them.
In 2010, Sara Gilbert (not the Roseanne actress now on CBS' The Talk) wrote The Story of the Arizona Cardinals, and that's as close as you're going to get to a good history of the team. They haven't won a Super Bowl, so there's no commemorative DVD, however the NFL did put out a DVD for their 2008 NFC Championship season, their only appearance in an NFL championship game (under any name) since Dewey didn't actually defeat Truman.
During the Game. A recent Thrillist article on "The Most Obnoxious Fans In the NFL" ranked Cardinal fans 28th, making them the 5th-least obnoxious, saying:
If you thought of 10 things in the world that would make you sit outside for four hours in 110-degree temperatures, none of them would be “watching Neil Lomax.” But kudos to Cards fans, you spent 18 years getting cooked on Sundays in Sun Devil Stadium as your team earned a whopping one playoff appearance. Sure, you're a city of transplants or locals (who grew up rooting for the Cowboys), but you've flocked to this perpetually mediocre franchise like it's an AMC 24 in August. Your new domed stadium is one of the loudest in football, probably because every single one of your fans is AT THE GAME. Seriously, has anybody outside Arizona ever met an actual Cardinals fan?
From
September 1 to 7, 2017, during the NFL National Anthem protest controversy,
FiveThirtyEight.com polled fans of the 32 NFL teams, to see where they leaned politically. Despite being in one of the most reliably Republican States, Cardinal fans were rated 0.7 percent more liberal than conservative.
FiveThirtyEight.com polled fans of the 32 NFL teams, to see where they leaned politically. Despite being in one of the most reliably Republican States, Cardinal fans were rated 0.7 percent more liberal than conservative.
For the most part, Arizona fans are okay, not making trouble for fans of teams playing the NFL Cardinals, NBA Suns or MLB's Diamondbacks, either. In fact, their biggest rivalry is intrastate: The University of Arizona vs. Arizona State University. It's a heated rivalry... but it's a dry heat.
The Cardinals hold auditions for National Anthem singers, instead of having a regular singer. Their fight song is "The Arizona Cardinals Are Charging" -- I wonder how the San Diego (for the moment) Chargers feel about that. Their mascot is Big Red the Cardinal, a name that goes back to their St. Louis days, when the team was known as the Big Red.
Well, he certainly looks tougher than Fredbird,
the neighbor he left behind in St. Louis.
The south end zone is known as the Red Zone, and it is there that they put their most vocal fans, simulating a college football student section or the "end" at an English soccer game.
After the Game. Phoenix does have crime issues, but you should be safe as long as you stay downtown. What's more, the arena is in the suburbs. It's incredibly unlikely that Cardinal fans will bother you, and the fact that the Giants and Jets aren't rivals to them helps.
If the game is a matinee, the Westgate Mall, to the north across Coyotes Blvd., will be open after the game if you want to do some postgame dining or shopping. A McFadden's is outside the arena at the northwest corner, and a Saddle Ranch Chophouse at the northeast corner.
As for anything New York-friendly, the closest I can come at this time is a place called Tim Finnegan's, the local Jets fan hangout, but that's 11 miles north of downtown, at 9201 North 29th Avenue. It appears that the local football Giants fan club meets at the Blue Moose, 7373 E. Scottsdale Mall, 11 miles northeast of downtown. Light Rail to Arizona State, then transfer to Bus 72. I've read that a Yankee Fan hangout is at LagerFields Sports Grill, at 12601 N. Paradise Village Pkwy. W., 14 miles northeast of downtown. Alas, I can find nothing Mets-specific in the area.
If you visit Phoenix during the European soccer season, as we are now in, the best "football pub" in Arizona is the George & Dragon Pub, which opens at 7:00 AM on matchdays. 4240 N. Central Avenue, about 3 miles north of downtown. Bus 13 to Buckeye Road & Central Avenue, then transfer to Bus ZERO to Farrington Lane. Unless you're a Liverpool fan, or you'd prefer to stay downtown, in which case you can go to the Rose and Crown, at 628 E. Adams Street, 2 blocks north of the ballpark.
Sidelights. Phoenix's sports history is relatively brief, and not very successful. And it's not a well-regarded sports city. On February 3, 2017, Thrillist made a list ranking the 30 NFL cities (New York and Los Angeles each having 2 teams), and Phoenix came in 24th, in the bottom 1/3rd:
Imagine the movie Cocoon, but a city. Actually less a city and more like several subdivisions connected by golf courses and upscale outdoor malls. But still imagine the movie Cocoon because it's a pretty good movie.
But there are some notable locations, some of them involving sports:
* Chase Field and Talking Stick Resort Arena. The capital of Arizona sports is 2 buildings separated by 2 blocks and the Jefferson Street Garage, which provides parking for both.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have played since their 1998 inception at Chase Field, a retractable-roof stadium, originally named Bank One Ballpark, and having that name during what remains the Diamondbacks' only World Series thus far, 2001. It looks like a big airplane hangar, without much atmosphere. True, there is that pool in the right-center-field corner... but what's a pool doing at a ballpark?
Indeed, Major League Baseball is now concerned enough about developments at Chase Field that it might force the Diamondbacks to move.
Chase Field hosted college football's Cactus Bowl from 2000 to 2005, and since 2016 has hosted it again. (UPDATE: In 2020, it became the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.)
It was played at the Wildcats' Arizona Stadium from 1989 to 1999. It was moved to Chase Field in 2000, to Sun Devil Stadium in 2006, and back to Chase Field in 2016.
The Talking Stick Resort Arena, previously known as the US Airways Center and the AmericaWest Arena for a previous airline, it is 2 blocks west of Chase Field, at 2nd & Jefferson. The Suns have played here since 1992, and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury since 1997. The Coyotes played here from 1996 to 2003.
The arena's address is 201 E. Jefferson Street, and the ballpark's is 401 E. Jefferson Street. Both buildings can be reached on Metro Light Rail via the Jefferson Street & 3rd Street station.
(UPDATE: In 2021, the Suns' arena was renamed the Footprint Center. Footprint is an Arizona-based "material science" company.)
* Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Grand Canyon State's 1st home to big-league sports, opening in 1965, was home to the Suns from their 1968 arrival until 1992, and to the World Hockey Association's Phoenix Roadrunners from 1974 to 1977.
The Coliseum still stands, and is part of the State Fairgrounds. 1826 W. McDowell Road. Northwest of downtown. Number 15 bus to 15th & McDowell, then 3 blocks west.
* Phoenix Municipal Stadium. This ballpark was home to the Phoenix Giants/Firebirds from its opening in 1964 until 1991, and is the current spring training home of the Oakland Athletics, the Diamondbacks' Rookie League team, and Arizona's State high school baseball championship. 5999 E. Van Buren Street. East of downtown, take the Light Rail to Priest Drive/Washington station, then a short walk up Priest.
* Scottsdale Stadium. This stadium was home to the Firebirds in their last years, 1992 to 1997. Its seating capacity of 12,000, 4,000 more than Phoenix Municipal, was meant to showcase the Phoenix area as a potential major league market. It's the San Francisco Giants' spring training site, and replaced a previous stadium on the site that dated to 1956, used as a spring training home for the Giants, A's, Red Sox, Orioles and Cubs -- sometimes all at the same time.
Because it was the Cubs' spring training home, thus leading to Phoenix becoming "Chicago's Miami," where retirees from the city tend to go (paging Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post & ESPN's Pardon the Interruption & NBA coverage), it was where former Cub catcher Randy Hundley hosted the very first baseball fantasy camp. As Met fans, you might remember Randy's furious reaction to Tommie Agee scoring on a controversial umpiring call at home plate at Shea in September 1969. You might also remember Randy's son, former Met catcher Todd Hundley.
7408 E. Osborn Road, at Drinkwater Boulevard. Northeast of downtown. Light Rail to Veterans Way/College station, then transfer to Number 72 bus to Osborn, then walk 2 blocks east.
* Arizona State University. The University of Arizona is 114 miles away in Tuscon, but ASU is just a 24-minute Light Rail ride from downtown. The station is at 5th Street & Veterans Way, and is 2 blocks away from Sun Devil Stadium and the Wells Fargo Arena, home to their football and basketball teams, respectively.
Sun Devil Stadium was built in 1958, and ASU still plays there rather than move to the larger, more modern (but well off-campus) University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals played there from 1988 to 2005, and the Fiesta Bowl was held there from 1971 to 2006. This included what amounted to the National Championship game 5 times: 1986-87, Penn State over Miami; 1988-89, Notre Dame over West Virginia; 1995-96, Nebraska over Florida; 1998-99, Tennessee over Florida State; and 2002-03, Ohio State over Miami.
The Dallas Cowboys treated it as a second home field when they played the Cardinals (mainly because there always seemed to be more Cowboy fans there), and won Super Bowl XXX there, when the world learned A) it was possible for the Pittsburgh Steelers to lose a Super Bowl, and B) Terry Bradshaw was smart compared to Neil O'Donnell. It also hosted 2 U.S. soccer team matches in the 1990s, and college football's Cactus Bowl from 2006 to 2015.
* Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Grand Canyon State's 1st home to big-league sports, opening in 1965, was home to the Suns from their 1968 arrival until 1992, and to the World Hockey Association's Phoenix Roadrunners from 1974 to 1977.
Elvis Presley sang at the Coliseum on September 9, 1970, and again on April 22, 1973. Early in his career, on June 9, 1956, he sang at a grandstand at the adjoining Arizona State Fairgrounds. The next day, he sang at the Rodeo Grounds in Tucson. He also sang at the Tucson Community Center on November 9, 1972 and June 1, 1976. (While individual ex-Beatles have performed in Arizona, the band as a whole did not do so on any of their 3 North American tours.)
The Coliseum still stands, and is part of the State Fairgrounds. 1826 W. McDowell Road. Northwest of downtown. Number 15 bus to 15th & McDowell, then 3 blocks west.
* Phoenix Municipal Stadium. This ballpark was home to the Phoenix Giants/Firebirds from its opening in 1964 until 1991, and is the current spring training home of the Oakland Athletics, the Diamondbacks' Rookie League team, and Arizona's State high school baseball championship. 5999 E. Van Buren Street. East of downtown, take the Light Rail to Priest Drive/Washington station, then a short walk up Priest.
* Scottsdale Stadium. This stadium was home to the Firebirds in their last years, 1992 to 1997. Its seating capacity of 12,000, 4,000 more than Phoenix Municipal, was meant to showcase the Phoenix area as a potential major league market. It's the San Francisco Giants' spring training site, and replaced a previous stadium on the site that dated to 1956, used as a spring training home for the Giants, A's, Red Sox, Orioles and Cubs -- sometimes all at the same time.
Because it was the Cubs' spring training home, thus leading to Phoenix becoming "Chicago's Miami," where retirees from the city tend to go (paging Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post & ESPN's Pardon the Interruption & NBA coverage), it was where former Cub catcher Randy Hundley hosted the very first baseball fantasy camp. As Met fans, you might remember Randy's furious reaction to Tommie Agee scoring on a controversial umpiring call at home plate at Shea in September 1969. You might also remember Randy's son, former Met catcher Todd Hundley.
7408 E. Osborn Road, at Drinkwater Boulevard. Northeast of downtown. Light Rail to Veterans Way/College station, then transfer to Number 72 bus to Osborn, then walk 2 blocks east.
* Arizona State University. The University of Arizona is 114 miles away in Tuscon, but ASU is just a 24-minute Light Rail ride from downtown. The station is at 5th Street & Veterans Way, and is 2 blocks away from Sun Devil Stadium and the Wells Fargo Arena, home to their football and basketball teams, respectively.
Sun Devil Stadium was built in 1958, and ASU still plays there rather than move to the larger, more modern (but well off-campus) University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals played there from 1988 to 2005, and the Fiesta Bowl was held there from 1971 to 2006. This included what amounted to the National Championship game 5 times: 1986-87, Penn State over Miami; 1988-89, Notre Dame over West Virginia; 1995-96, Nebraska over Florida; 1998-99, Tennessee over Florida State; and 2002-03, Ohio State over Miami.
The Wells Fargo Arena was previously known as the ASU Activity Center. Elvis sang there on March 23, 1977.
Packard Stadium, opened in 1974, is home to the ASU baseball program, one of the most successful college baseball teams, east of the stadium and arena, at Rural Road and Rio Salado Parkway. The Sun Devils have won 5 National Championships, most recently in 1981. Their legends include Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, and current stars Dustin Pedroia and Andre Ethier. Notable ASU and Met alumni include Gary Gentry, Duffy Dyer, Lenny Randle, Craig Swan, Hubie Brooks, Paul Lo Duca and Ike Davis.
ASU's Gammage Auditorium, at the other end of the campus, hosted one of the 2004 Presidential Debates between George W. Bush and John Kerry. 1200 S. Forest Avenue.
The US Airways Center, Wells Fargo Arena, University of Phoenix Stadium, and the University of Arizona's McKale Center have all hosted NCAA basketball tournament games, but, in the State of Arizona, only the University of Phoenix Stadium has ever hosted a Final Four. UA has been in the Final Four in 1988, 1994, 1997 and 2001, winning it all in 1997; but ASU has never gotten any closer than the Sweet 16, in 1995.
The highest-ranking pro soccer team in Arizona is Phoenix Rising FC, in the United Soccer League, our 2nd division. They play at the rather unimaginatively-named Phoenix Rising FC Soccer Complex, which seats 6,200. 751 N. McClintock Drive, in Scottsdale, 10 miles east of downtown Phoenix. It takes 4 buses over 2 hours to get there, so if you don't have a car, forget it.
Presuming Major League Soccer's current expansion wave passes Phoenix by, the closest MLS teams are the 2 in Los Angeles, 375 (LAFC) and 376 (LA Galaxy) miles to the west, respectively. The San Jose Earthquakes and Real Salt Lake are considerably further away.
* Arizona Science Center. Phoenix is not a big museum center. And while there have been Native Americans living in Phoenix for thousands of years, and Spaniards/Mexicans for hundreds, its Anglo history is rather short.
No Arizonan has ever become President (although Senators Barry Goldwater and John McCain got nominated), so there's no Presidential Library or Museum. And it doesn't help history buffs that the city only goes back to 1867, and Statehood was gained only in 1912. But the Science Center is at 4th & Washington, just a block from the ballpark. And Arizona State has a renowned Art Museum.
The tallest building in Phoenix, and in all of Arizona, is the Chase Tower, bounded by Central Avenue and Van Buren, 1st and Monroe Streets. That it's only 483 feet, and that no taller building has been built in the city since it opened in 1972, says something about this city, but I'm not sure what. But the city seems to be intent on growing outward, not upward.
Television shows set in Phoenix, or anywhere in Arizona, are few and far between. The High Chaparral, another Western created by Bonanza creator David Dortort, ran on NBC from 1967 to 1971, and is fondly remembered by some. Medium was set in the Maricopa County District Attorney's office in Phoenix.
The best-remembered show is Alice, starring Linda Lavin as one of several waitresses at fictional Mel's Diner, running on CBS from 1976 to 1985. The show was taped in Hollywood (Burbank, actually), and its address was given on the show as 2128 Bush Highway. There is a Bush Highway in the area, but it starts in Mesa, well to the northeast of downtown.
But that once-famous "14-ounce coffee cup" sign is still used outside a real working diner in Phoenix. It was Lester's, until the owner agreed to change the name to "Mel's Diner" for the publicity. Today, it's Pat's Family Diner, at 1747 NW Grand Avenue, 2 miles northwest of downtown. Number 15 bus to 15th Avenue & Pierce Street, and then walk one block east to Grand, Pierce, and 12th. There are also still-in-business diners in Ohio and Florida that use the same sign design. "Pickup!"
Movies set in modern-day Arizona usually show the Grand Canyon or the Hoover Dam. Notable on this list is Thelma & Louise, in which Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon drive a 1966 Ford Thunderbird into the Canyon rather than be captured by the FBI, enacting a distaff version of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. National Lampoon's Vacation and Natural Born Killers also used Arizona as a backdrop.
The vast majority of movies set in Arizona have been Westerns, including the 1957 and 2007 versions of 3:10 to Yuma, the 1950 film Broken Arrow (not the later John Travolta film of the same title), Fort Apache (not the later Paul Newman film set in The Bronx), Paul Newman's Hombre, Johnny Guitar, A Million Ways to Die In the West, No Name On the Bullet, and all the films based on the 1881 Earps vs. Clantons gunfight, including My Darling Clementine in 1946, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1957, Tombstone in 1993 and Wyatt Earp in 1994. While not a Western, Revenge of the Nerds was filmed at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.
If you're a Western buff, and you want to see the site of the legendary gunfight, the official address is 326 East Allen Street, Tombstone, AZ 85638. Reenactments are held daily. Be advised, though, that it's 184 miles southeast of downtown Phoenix, a 3-hour drive, and ain't no Greyhound or Amtrak service, stranger. It's also just 50 miles from the Mexican border.
And the other 2 things in Arizona that everybody talks about? The Grand Canyon Skywalk is 262 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix, and Hoover Dam 269 miles. They're 96 road miles apart, but about half that as the crow flies.
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If you go to Phoenix to see the Giants or Jets play the Cardinals, you won't be subjected to Arizona's usual intense heat, and you can probably see an NFL game relatively cheap. Have fun!
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