Last Updated 6:30 am PDT Monday, September 11, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]GLENDALE, Ariz. -- In many ways, it didn't matter that the Arizona Cardinals defeated the 49ers by a touchdown. It didn't matter that the game was filled with penalties or that the Black Eyed Peas performed before the game. It didn't even matter that it took an incomplete Hail Mary pass on the final play before the game was decided.
More important to the Cardinals and their fans was winning a game of perseverance. They waited 18 years to play football at a comfortable stadium of their own and in conditions a little more normal for football.
The first regular-season game Sunday at Cardinals Stadium at Sportsman's Park, will go down as a huge victory for a team that had been patient despite more setbacks than any franchise should endure.
Why should that matter to fans of the Kings or 49ers? Because their teams want new homes -- and because there's a lesson for Northern California sports fans in what happened in the desert.
The Kings hope Propositions Q and R, referendums tied to new arena funding, pass in Sacramento County elections Nov. 7. The 49ers won a stadium referendum almost 10 years ago but now want to use private funds for a stadium.
It might seem like apples and oranges, but there's an entertainment complex being built on this property and a 17,779-seat hockey/basketball arena next door.
Sound familiar, Kings fans? A sports/entertainment complex? Isn't that what San Francisco wants, too, 49ers fans?
Sunday, the Cardinals' image changed from hapless to hopeful just because they play at a $455 million, state-of-the-art stadium that would make any NFL owner jealous. The Cardinals, who were responsible for $104 million plus any cost overruns, waited through one failed referendum before this stadium, which seats 63,000 for football and 73,000 for special events, was approved. Even then, many in the Phoenix area thought was it was a long shot to be built, as it went through six site changes.
"No. 1, it took perseverance," said Cardinals vice president Michael Bidwill, who spearheaded the project beginning in the late 1990s. "It took us staying focused and overcoming challenges that never seemed to end.
"We had to explain to the public sector and to the private sector why this was going to be good for the (Phoenix area) and good for football."
Sure, the Cardinals have been called one of the worst franchises in pro sports, but for all intents, the deck was stacked against them. They played at Sun Devil Stadium, a 73,000- seat, open-air college facility without any of the amenities used these days to attract fans and top players.
Cardinals fans often endured sitting in 100-degree weather on metal bleachers if they were on the stadium's sunny side. The lucky ones in shade still sat in 90-degree weather, even in October. As for the players, the locker room was tiny and in an attached brick building at the stadium's rear.
All this after owner Bill Bidwill was promised a stadium when he moved the team to Arizona from St. Louis in 1988. Funny, many political leaders forgot that promise.
"(The Bidwells) went through a lot of hurdles to get this one built," said 49ers owner John York, who toured the facility Saturday. "They worked hard, got over their hurdles, and that's what we'll do."
Just watching the opening of this stadium Sunday, it again became obvious Arco Arena and Monster Park don't work as sports facilities anymore. It's not the retractable roof and the portable grass field that make Cardinals Stadium special. It's the ability to host various events with little pain, such as the Bowl Championship Series title game, concerts and truck pulls.
Arco's outdated plumbing, kitchen facilities and dressing rooms make it the scourge of teams and promoters. Monster's configuration -- a baseball park disguised as a football stadium -- makes it little more than an eyesore most of the year.
A new Kings home might not get built on this year's referendum, and the 49ers' stadium could be delayed a little longer. But both franchises need look no further than a Phoenix suburb for keeping alive stadium hopes. At least for the Cardinals, the saying "good things come to those who wait" is an understatement.
"I would just tell (the Maloofs) it's about getting the message out to Sacramento that the stadium is good for the community, and it is good for the basketball team," Michael Bidwill said. "Others will make the argument that the money could be used to do other things. But it's not a zero-sum game. I believe a stadium can do both good -- help the community and team."
[/FONT]
