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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/football/nfl/san_francisco_49ers/15457359.htm
Cardinals offer blueprint for 49ers' stadium funding
By Daniel Brown
Mercury News
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Standing on the floor of the Arizona Cardinals' glimmering new stadium, Michael Bidwill starts pointing. Up there is the retractable roof, which can open or close within 10 minutes. That natural-grass field stays outside in the sun all week, then gets wheeled in for games -- all 18.9 million pounds of it.
Look up at the translucent fabric in the roof that lets sunlight through, giving the dome an open, airy feel. Check out the red-and-gray seating patterns in the lower bowl: It depicts the mandala, a symbol of peace and harmony to American Indians.
Then Bidwill, the Cardinals' executive vice president, points out something else: He believes the 49ers will build a new home, too.
``You have to be committed, and I've spent enough time with Dr. York over the years to know that he has the commitment to get it done,'' Bidwill said, referring to 49ers owner John York. ``Hurdles? We had a host of them. But you get up every morning and you keep chopping wood and eventually it will happen.''
For now, Arizona has something that the 49ers are still dreaming of: a state-of-the-art facility that Business Week deemed one of the 10 most impressive sports venues in the world. Not NFL, but world. Cardinals Stadium earned that honor even before a game has been played; it makes its regular-season debut Sunday at 1 p.m. when the 49ers and Cardinals kick off their NFL seasons.
It is a game that Candlestick season-ticket holders might watch with more than a tinge of jealousy. The Cardinals, heretofore known as the inept Cardinals, built a $455 million park about 15 miles west of downtown Phoenix.
Tourism pays
After several stalled attempts, the Cardinals found a way to build a new home thanks to a 2000 ballot measure that called for a 1 percent surcharge on hotel rooms and 3 percent surcharge on rental cars. Voters (52 percent of them) approved because it meant that tourists, not local residents, would foot much of the bill for the new stadium.
Bidwill, the son of owner Bill Bidwill, hired noted New York City architect Peter Eisenman to create an unorthodox design. He later paired Eisenman with HOK Sport's Dennis Wellner, who has 14 NFL buildings on his résumé, to map out the building's practical issues.
The result is a marvel that will host the Super Bowl in 2008. It also gives the Cardinals, and their fans, a new phrase: home-field advantage. Over the previous 18 seasons at Sun Devil Stadium, the facility they shared with Arizona State, the Cardinals had just 16 sellouts (seven of those against the Dallas Cowboys).
This year, the Cardinals announced on May 4 that they had sold out their season-ticket packages for 2006. Now there is -- get this -- a waiting list for Arizona Cardinals season tickets.
They are such a hot item that other Arizona sports figures, such as Wayne Gretzky, Amare Stoudemire and Luis Gonzalez, each bought a season's worth of luxury lofts.
``Before, there were so many fans of the other teams at our stadium that it was almost like we were playing at a neutral site,'' receiver Larry Fitzgerald said. ``At our new stadium, it's mostly Cardinals fans and that's great.''
Roster bonuses
Along with the new stadium, and perhaps because of it, the Cardinals added high-priced free-agent running back Edgerrin James to boost the league's worst running game. They also re-signed two-time MVP Kurt Warner at quarterback and, to back him up, they drafted 2004 Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart from USC.
``This is probably the best sports facility in the entire country, and we're going to show our appreciation by being a championship-caliber club,'' Coach Dennis Green said. ``We think we have all the pieces in place.''
The Cardinals shared their previous residence, in Tempe, Ariz., with the local college team. And it was hot, brutally hot, since many of the patrons sat on aluminum bleachers that intensified the heat. It didn't help that the team was bad, brutally bad, which is why the season-ticket base shrank to approximately 34,000 -- ``approximately'' because the Cardinals stopped announcing official figures.
The sweltering heat is no longer an issue at the new place. An epic tankard just outside the stadium pumps 8,000 tons of cooling fluid through the venue on game days. ``It's the key to everything,'' said Mark Dalton, the Cardinals' director of media relations.
Home opener
With the stadium thermostat set at 75 degrees, the NFL has granted the Cardinals their first opener at home in 18 years. In previous seasons, the league always pushed back Arizona's home opener to avoid the summer heat. In those 18 seasons, the Cardinals have played their first two games on the road seven times and their first three on the road three times.
``It's going to be great,'' said receiver Troy Walters, a former Stanford star who spent the previous four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. ``Coming from Indy, I know how much the dome can mean. Teams have to come in and deal with the crowd noise as well as with us.''
The Cardinals' home turf, a grass known as ``Tifway419,'' is a Bermuda hybrid and the same surface on which the Cardinals played at Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium. The turf sits outdoors all week in a 234-by-403-foot tray.
On the day before a game, the field is rolled 740 feet into the stadium, cruising along on 542 steel wheels. The process takes about 65 minutes and begins at dawn, before the field has had time to absorb the day's heat. ``Otherwise it's like putting a pie in the refrigerator,'' Dalton said.
Last Thursday, despite temperatures that reached 115 degrees, fans arrived hours early for the exhibition finale against the Denver Broncos. They frolicked on the 8 acres of grass known as the Great Lawn, a tree-lined expanse that the Cardinals created as a tailgate headquarters. The area features live music and vendors.
Tillman remembered
All fans entering the stadium come through the surrounding concourse known as the Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza. The area is named after the San Jose native, and former Cardinal, who died as a soldier in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. A memorial will be unveiled on the northwest side of the plaza Nov. 12, a date close to Veterans Day and to Tillman's birthday (Nov. 6). ``It will be a thorough and lasting tribute to him,'' Dalton said.
Cardinals Stadium is part of a wave of improved facilities that has thus far eluded the 49ers. Since 1992, 24 new or substantially renovated NFL stadiums have been built or are scheduled to be built. Three more stadiums are in the construction process: Indianapolis (to open in 2008), Dallas (2009) and Kansas City (2009).
That total does not include the 49ers, who are wrapping up plans for a 68,000-seat stadium at Candlestick Point.
In the Cardinals' case, as with the 49ers, there were questions about whether ownership had the muscle to get a stadium deal done. Bill Bidwill had long been cast as a penny-pinching bumbler.
But the new stadium, the team's unprecedented spending on free agents and improving drafts have changed perception: There are Mr. B's Bow-Tie Barbecue concession stands, with a friendly cartoon of Bidwill's smiling face.
It's a whole new era. And it starts Sunday.
``More than the home-field advantage, it's the home,'' said defensive end Chike Okeafor, a former 49er. ``We have our own space now instead of renting a place in a college stadium. That's something basic that should go with being a professional football team.''
Cardinals Stadium is part of a wave of improved facilities that has thus far eluded the 49ers. Since 1992, 24 new or substantially renovated NFL stadiums have been built or are scheduled to be built.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Daniel Brown at [email protected]
Cardinals offer blueprint for 49ers' stadium funding
By Daniel Brown
Mercury News
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Standing on the floor of the Arizona Cardinals' glimmering new stadium, Michael Bidwill starts pointing. Up there is the retractable roof, which can open or close within 10 minutes. That natural-grass field stays outside in the sun all week, then gets wheeled in for games -- all 18.9 million pounds of it.
Look up at the translucent fabric in the roof that lets sunlight through, giving the dome an open, airy feel. Check out the red-and-gray seating patterns in the lower bowl: It depicts the mandala, a symbol of peace and harmony to American Indians.
Then Bidwill, the Cardinals' executive vice president, points out something else: He believes the 49ers will build a new home, too.
``You have to be committed, and I've spent enough time with Dr. York over the years to know that he has the commitment to get it done,'' Bidwill said, referring to 49ers owner John York. ``Hurdles? We had a host of them. But you get up every morning and you keep chopping wood and eventually it will happen.''
For now, Arizona has something that the 49ers are still dreaming of: a state-of-the-art facility that Business Week deemed one of the 10 most impressive sports venues in the world. Not NFL, but world. Cardinals Stadium earned that honor even before a game has been played; it makes its regular-season debut Sunday at 1 p.m. when the 49ers and Cardinals kick off their NFL seasons.
It is a game that Candlestick season-ticket holders might watch with more than a tinge of jealousy. The Cardinals, heretofore known as the inept Cardinals, built a $455 million park about 15 miles west of downtown Phoenix.
Tourism pays
After several stalled attempts, the Cardinals found a way to build a new home thanks to a 2000 ballot measure that called for a 1 percent surcharge on hotel rooms and 3 percent surcharge on rental cars. Voters (52 percent of them) approved because it meant that tourists, not local residents, would foot much of the bill for the new stadium.
Bidwill, the son of owner Bill Bidwill, hired noted New York City architect Peter Eisenman to create an unorthodox design. He later paired Eisenman with HOK Sport's Dennis Wellner, who has 14 NFL buildings on his résumé, to map out the building's practical issues.
The result is a marvel that will host the Super Bowl in 2008. It also gives the Cardinals, and their fans, a new phrase: home-field advantage. Over the previous 18 seasons at Sun Devil Stadium, the facility they shared with Arizona State, the Cardinals had just 16 sellouts (seven of those against the Dallas Cowboys).
This year, the Cardinals announced on May 4 that they had sold out their season-ticket packages for 2006. Now there is -- get this -- a waiting list for Arizona Cardinals season tickets.
They are such a hot item that other Arizona sports figures, such as Wayne Gretzky, Amare Stoudemire and Luis Gonzalez, each bought a season's worth of luxury lofts.
``Before, there were so many fans of the other teams at our stadium that it was almost like we were playing at a neutral site,'' receiver Larry Fitzgerald said. ``At our new stadium, it's mostly Cardinals fans and that's great.''
Roster bonuses
Along with the new stadium, and perhaps because of it, the Cardinals added high-priced free-agent running back Edgerrin James to boost the league's worst running game. They also re-signed two-time MVP Kurt Warner at quarterback and, to back him up, they drafted 2004 Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart from USC.
``This is probably the best sports facility in the entire country, and we're going to show our appreciation by being a championship-caliber club,'' Coach Dennis Green said. ``We think we have all the pieces in place.''
The Cardinals shared their previous residence, in Tempe, Ariz., with the local college team. And it was hot, brutally hot, since many of the patrons sat on aluminum bleachers that intensified the heat. It didn't help that the team was bad, brutally bad, which is why the season-ticket base shrank to approximately 34,000 -- ``approximately'' because the Cardinals stopped announcing official figures.
The sweltering heat is no longer an issue at the new place. An epic tankard just outside the stadium pumps 8,000 tons of cooling fluid through the venue on game days. ``It's the key to everything,'' said Mark Dalton, the Cardinals' director of media relations.
Home opener
With the stadium thermostat set at 75 degrees, the NFL has granted the Cardinals their first opener at home in 18 years. In previous seasons, the league always pushed back Arizona's home opener to avoid the summer heat. In those 18 seasons, the Cardinals have played their first two games on the road seven times and their first three on the road three times.
``It's going to be great,'' said receiver Troy Walters, a former Stanford star who spent the previous four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. ``Coming from Indy, I know how much the dome can mean. Teams have to come in and deal with the crowd noise as well as with us.''
The Cardinals' home turf, a grass known as ``Tifway419,'' is a Bermuda hybrid and the same surface on which the Cardinals played at Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium. The turf sits outdoors all week in a 234-by-403-foot tray.
On the day before a game, the field is rolled 740 feet into the stadium, cruising along on 542 steel wheels. The process takes about 65 minutes and begins at dawn, before the field has had time to absorb the day's heat. ``Otherwise it's like putting a pie in the refrigerator,'' Dalton said.
Last Thursday, despite temperatures that reached 115 degrees, fans arrived hours early for the exhibition finale against the Denver Broncos. They frolicked on the 8 acres of grass known as the Great Lawn, a tree-lined expanse that the Cardinals created as a tailgate headquarters. The area features live music and vendors.
Tillman remembered
All fans entering the stadium come through the surrounding concourse known as the Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza. The area is named after the San Jose native, and former Cardinal, who died as a soldier in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. A memorial will be unveiled on the northwest side of the plaza Nov. 12, a date close to Veterans Day and to Tillman's birthday (Nov. 6). ``It will be a thorough and lasting tribute to him,'' Dalton said.
Cardinals Stadium is part of a wave of improved facilities that has thus far eluded the 49ers. Since 1992, 24 new or substantially renovated NFL stadiums have been built or are scheduled to be built. Three more stadiums are in the construction process: Indianapolis (to open in 2008), Dallas (2009) and Kansas City (2009).
That total does not include the 49ers, who are wrapping up plans for a 68,000-seat stadium at Candlestick Point.
In the Cardinals' case, as with the 49ers, there were questions about whether ownership had the muscle to get a stadium deal done. Bill Bidwill had long been cast as a penny-pinching bumbler.
But the new stadium, the team's unprecedented spending on free agents and improving drafts have changed perception: There are Mr. B's Bow-Tie Barbecue concession stands, with a friendly cartoon of Bidwill's smiling face.
It's a whole new era. And it starts Sunday.
``More than the home-field advantage, it's the home,'' said defensive end Chike Okeafor, a former 49er. ``We have our own space now instead of renting a place in a college stadium. That's something basic that should go with being a professional football team.''
Cardinals Stadium is part of a wave of improved facilities that has thus far eluded the 49ers. Since 1992, 24 new or substantially renovated NFL stadiums have been built or are scheduled to be built.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Daniel Brown at [email protected]
