About State Farm Stadium
State Farm Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Glendale, Arizona, west of Phoenix. It is the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) and the annual Fiesta Bowl. Opened in 2006, the stadium is famous for its retractable natural grass playing surface.
The entire field is contained in a single 40-inch-deep tray that rolls in and out of the stadium on 546 steel wheels. This allows the grass to grow in the natural sunlight outside while the stadium is used for other events like concerts or conventions. The stadium also features a retractable roof to combat the desert heat.
The exterior design mimics a barrel cactus, while the interior features murals reflecting the canyons and deserts of Arizona. It has hosted three Super Bowls, including Super Bowl XLII (the Giants' upset of the undefeated Patriots) and Super Bowl LVII. It is considered one of the best examples of modern stadium engineering.
The venue is owned by the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, a state agency established by the Arizona Legislature in 2000 to finance the 455-million-dollar construction using a car-rental surcharge and a hotel-bed tax targeted at out-of-state visitors. The Bidwill family's Cardinals organisation, in continuous ownership since patriarch Charles Bidwill purchased the franchise for 50,000 dollars in October 1932, leases the facility through 2037. The State Farm Insurance naming-rights deal signed in September 2018 for 79 million dollars across 18 years replaced the previous University of Phoenix Stadium name. Michael Bidwill, president and majority owner since 2019 following his father Bill Bidwill's death that October, has led the organisation's post-2020 investment in youth football development programmes across Arizona and northern Mexico's Sonoran border region.