University of Phoenix Stadium

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University of Phoenix Stadium
Location	Glendale, Arizona
Opened	August 1, 2006
Owner	Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority
Operator	Global Spectrum
Surface	Tifway 419 Hybrid Bermuda Grass
Construction cost	$455 million
Architect	Peter Eisenman
Former names
Cardinals Stadium (August - September 2006)
Tenants
Arizona Cardinals (NFL) Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (BCS)
Capacity
63,400 permanent seats (can be expanded to 73,000)

University of Phoenix Stadium is a multipurpose stadium located in Glendale, Arizona. Its primary tenants are the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The new stadium is located across the street from the Jobing.com Arena, home to the NHL Phoenix Coyotes. The University of Phoenix, a for-profit university specializing in adult education, acquired the naming rights in September 2006, shortly after the stadium had opened under the name Cardinals Stadium.

The 63,400-seat stadium (expandable to 73,000) opened on Aug. 1, 2006 after three years of construction. It is considered an architectural icon for the region and was named by Business Week as one of the 10 “the most impressive” sports facilities on the globe due to the combination of its retractable roof and roll-in natural grass field. It is the only North American facility on the list.

The ceremonial groundbreaking for the new stadium was held on April 12, 2003. The cost of the project is $455 million. That total includes:

1. $395.4 million for the stadium;
2. $41.7 million for site improvements;
3. $17.8 million for the land.

Contributors to the stadium are:

1. The Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority = $302.3 million;
2. The Arizona Cardinals = $143.2 million;
3. The City of Glendale = $9.5 million.

The first preseason football game was played Aug. 12, 2006 when the Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 21-13. The first regular season game was played September 10 against the San Francisco 49ers (the Cardinals won 34-27). The stadium's air-conditioning made it possible for the Cardinals to play at home on the opening weekend of the NFL season since moving to Arizona in 1988.

The multipurpose nature of the facility has allowed it to host 91 events representing 110 event days between the dates of Aug. 4, 2006 through the BCS National Championship Jan. 8, 2007. These events included Arizona Cardinals games; public grand opening tours held Aug. 19 & 20, 2006 (attended by 120,000 people); various shows, expositions, tradeshows and motor sport events; the Rolling Stones concert Nov. 8, 2006; the AIA 4A and 5A state championship games for football (the first high school to win a football championship at the stadium was Cactus Shadows High School on Dec. 2, 20060); an international soccer exhibition match; the Fiesta Bowl National Band Championship High School Marching Band competition (the first marching band to ever play on the field was Foothill High School, from Pleasanton, California on December 29, 2006); the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1, 2007 featuring the Boise State Broncos vs. the University of Oklahoma Sooners (Boise State 43-42); and the BCS National Championship Jan. 8, 2007 between the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes and the No. 2 University of Florida Gators (Florida 41-14).

The stadium hosted the highest attended soccer match in Arizona with the Feb. 7 game featuring the U.S. Men's Team vs. the Mexico National Team.

Upcoming events include Super Bowl XLII in 2008 and the It will also be the site for the West Regional Finals of the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.

Contents 1 Unique features 1.1 Retractable roof 1.2 Roll in Field 1.3 Other features 2 Facility information 3 Naming rights 4 External links 5 Notes and references

[edit] Unique features

[edit] Retractable roof

The stadium's retractable roof is a state-of-the-art, computer controlled feature which allows the building's owner to provide either an arena-like atmosphere or a more traditional open-air stadium feel for events. Having an enclosed, air-conditioned environment is important for fan comfort during games and events during the summer and early fall months in the Arizona desert.

The roof is 206 feet (63 m) above grade with a cable drive system designed by Uni-Systems that moves two 258 foot x 185 foot roof panels along an arced path. There are other examples of retractable roofs that operate on a single, flat plane, but this is the first roof which retracts along an arc. The roof uses more than 100,000 square feet of Teflon coated translucent fabric (provided by Birdair), which allows light to pass through. This reduces the need for interior lighting for daily operations and many non-sports activities in the facility. Rails set in the two arced Brunel trusses (designed by Walter P Moore) at the top of the east and west sides of the stadium provide the travel path for the roof panels. The panels meet directly over the 50-yard line when in the closed position, and roll downhill to reside over each end-zone when in the open position. The roof operates at a maximum speed of 25 feet per minute (1/4 m.p.h.) and runs at two different speeds. From the “Open” to “Half-Open” positions, the roof operates at a speed of 16 feet per minute. From the “Half-Open" to “Closed” positions the roof operates at a speed of 25 feet per minute. These speeds take the curve of the roof track into consideration (The slope of the two rails varies from 0 degrees at the “Closed” position to 14 degrees over the “Open” position.) The time to fully open or close the roof is approximately 12 minutes.

Each roof panel is supported by eight transporters/carriers (four on each side) that ride along steel rails to move the panels between the open and closed positions. Half of the transporters/carriers are equipped with cable drums that spool and unspool the cables, which are anchored to the Brunel truss above the fifty yard line. Each cable drum is powered by electric induction motors with fail-safe DC electric brakes that automatically engage when roof movement stops. This non-traditional arrangement, in which the cable drums travel with the roof panels, puts the drive system in close proximity to the encoders that monitor roof movement, and dramatically simplifies the control system. This arrangement also allows the large cable drums to be positioned along the roof panels, eliminating the need to make space for all sixteen drums at the center of the fixed roof structure. The design is also attractive because the cable drums lay the cables down and pick them up as they spool and unspool, rather dragging the cables across the roof steel.

The roof panels travel on two 700-foot steel rails running parallel to the field sidelines. The 257 ½-foot center-to-center distance between the rails varies with time due to lateral movement of the Brunel trusses under a variety of loading conditions. To accommodate this movement, linear bearings provide the connection between the west side of each roof panel and the roof transporters/carriers. This sliding connection expands and contracts, allowing up to 36” of relative movement between the roof panels and the transporters/carriers, while keeping the roof panel wheels aligned and engaged with the fixed building’s rails.

A personal computer provides the interface between the operator and the retractable roof control system. The PC allows the operator to monitor and control roof movement and also to perform maintenance and troubleshooting procedures. The control system interface provides the operator with on-board camera views of the travel path, along with feedback on all relevant roof parameters (motor torque, roof speed and position, cable payout, wind conditions, etc.) The control system interface also provides the operator with fault diagnostic screens for real time troubleshooting.

The fully redundant control system ensures the retractable roof remains completely under control throughout start-up and operation, an important consideration due to the weight of each roof panel. The system utilizes variable frequency drive (VFD) newly developed by ABB that provides 100% torque at start-up, when motor speed is at 0 Hz. The entire roof load is fully shifted from the brakes to the motors prior to roof movement, while the brakes are still engaged. The control system self-tests at every start-up, meaning the brakes will never be released in the unlikely event of a catastrophic drive motor failure. The control system is also designed to ensure that, once moving, the retractable roof remains completely under control. Should the roof ever move above the maximum allowed speeds, a redundant overspeed sensing system operating independently of the control system would take over. In 180 milliseconds, the overspeed system can sense that the roof is traveling too fast and fully engage the brakes.

The retractable roof utilizes state-of-the-art VFD/PLC technology for the control system, which continuously synchronizes all cable drums, ensures the drums equally share the roof loads, and keeps the roof panels square on the track. Using a parallel fiber optic network, one VFD in each roof quadrant operates as a master, and controls the remaining VFDs which operate as followers, keeping all movement fully synchronized. As a result, operation staff at University of Phoenix Stadium will never be faced with the tasks of retensioning cables or resquaring the roof on the track.

The retractable roof can be operated with up to 4 of the 16 motors in each quadrant off line, and can be stopped with up to 7 of the 16 brakes in each quadrant off-line. Every time roof movement is initiated, each of the 64 brakes is automatically tested by the control system. In the unlikely event of catastrophic motor or brake failure, roof movement will not take place. This built-in testing and redundancy ensures that the roof will operate safely and reliably.

Schuff Steel developed a unique steel erection strategy that optimized safety and efficiency during stadium construction, but also required a high degree of team coordination and collaboration. The Brunel trusses and the retractable roof components were assembled on the ground, and then lifted as a single unit into place at the top of the stadium. The entire construction team worked closely together throughout the 3-day roof lift, which took place in February 2005.

[edit] Roll in Field

One of the original design considerations for the stadium was to provide for a natural grass playing field, something preferred by players in the NFL and World Cup Soccer. However, there are numerous operational and maintenance issues with natural grass fields housed inside of stadiums, even those with fully-retractable roofs.

The answer was to provide a mechanism which could move the playing surface outside the stadium, where it could reside and receive full sunshine. This solution has worked in the newest stadiums like the Sapporo Dome in Japan, the Gelredome in the The Netherlands and the Veltins Arena (formerly known as Arena AufSchalke) in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority estimates the roll-in field saved approximately $50 million in design, steel and construction costs in that it is more expensive to build a fully-retractable roof than it is to build a field tray which rolls on steel railroad wheels.

The facility's fully-retractable, natural-grass playing surface is the first to be built in the United States and was designed by Uni-Systems. The field (sized to accommodate World Cup Soccer as well as American football)is 234 feet wide by 403 feet-4 inches long, has a 2.2 acre playing surface and is contained in a moveable field tray that is like a gigantic cookie sheet. The tray includes all components required for a healthy playing field including irrigation, drainage and an optimized growing surface. The total weight of the field tray and field is 18.9 million pounds. While the tray is carried on 542 steel wheels, only 76 of those wheels actually power the tray along the 13-rails embedded into the floor which support its massive weight. Each of those 76 wheels, located along the outboard portion of the tray, are powered by one-horsepower electric motors.

The uniform depth soil/sod system within the field tray which was designed by CMX Sports Engineers, maintains a NFL-quality playing surface with a irrigation and drainage system fully-contained inside of the field tray. For proper water drainage, the playing field is crowned such that the centerline (perpendicular to the 50-yard line) is 2” higher than the sidelines, which are approximately 40 3/8 inches above the finished floor. An 18-inch wide synthetic edge strip runs the perimeter of the playing field, and allows maintenance staff to safely work on the natural grass without having to place themselves or their equipment directly on the edge. The soil/sod system is supported by a 5”-thick composite decking system and an 18-inch W-beam structural framing grid. The massive support structure provides the playing field with considerable stiffness and superior vibration characteristics.

The retractable field normally resides outdoors, on the south side of the facility, where conditions for maintaining its natural grass playing surface are optimal. The stadium itself is aligned along a northwest by southeast axis to prevent it from casting any shadow on the grass. The field tray travels at 11.5 feet per minute (1/8 m.p.h.) into the stadium through doors (nicknamed flipper doors) on the south side of the facility. It takes about 1 hour for the field to travel one-way along its 741-foot path. To provide lateral guidance and maintain alignment for the field structure as it moves, 360 small guide wheels ride horizontally along each side of the center rail. All 13 rail lines are identical with the exception of the center rail that has a cutout in each side of the adjacent concrete to provide the clearance for the guide wheels.

Workers inspect and maintain the field tray components from underneath. A 3-foot wide and 8-foot deep trench allows workers to view the entire width of the field. Operators simply roll the field over the trench to access the length of the tray. Grates cover the top of the trench when not in use. One personnel access hatch and ladder is located at each end of the trench.

During operation, two 250-foot cords are connected to the field and provide power from receptacles located inside the stadium. A portable operator control station (OCS) is plugged into a pendant receptacle at the leading edge of the retractable field and is used to monitor and control field operation. Throughout movement, 4 light and horn beacons on the leading and trailing edges of the field provide visual and audio warnings.

[edit] Other features

The stadium also features oversized 30-foot (9.1 m) tall gate identifiers outside of each parking lot. This was done to differentiate the stadium from others that use multiple small signs within each parking lot.

Award-winning architect Peter Eisenman, in collaboration with HOK Sport, designed the facility, which is supposed to resemble a barrel cactus with a coiled rattlesnake around it.^[1] Eisenman's Southwestern design cues are found on top of, around and throughout the building. Looking down on the stadium, there is a Native-American design, or "mandala", on the roof which is repeated on the seats inside. The rays of the design radiate out the 21 different vertical glass slots of the stadium into the surrounding parking lot as walkways. The glass slots represent the unique "slot canyons" found in northern Arizona and southern Utah.

The metal skin of the stadium is designed to reflect the changing quality of light in the Arizona skies. The stadium starts out each morning with a light golden color, takes on more of a silver-blue tone during the day and finishes up with pinks, oranges and purples during sunset.

Structural engineering and structural design was provided by Walter P Moore Engineers and Consultants. Design- Builder of the facility was the nations #1 sports facility builder, Hunt Construction Group, Inc. (Part of the construction was featured on The Discovery Channel's show Extreme Engineering.)

A plaza surrounding the stadium is named the Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza in memory of the former Cardinals defensive back who was killed in action by friendly fire while serving with the United States Army Rangers in Afghanistan. There is a life-sized bronze of Tillman as an Arizona Cardinal situated across from a reflecting pond in the northwest corner of the plaza.

On September 8, 2006, Alltel Wireless announced the activation of the only cell site located directly within the stadium. The cell site, located on the Service Level of the stadium, provides service to all levels of the facility through an antenna built into the structure.

[edit] Facility information

The stadium has 88 luxury suites — called luxury lofts — with space for 16 future suites as the stadium matures.

The 25 acres surrounding the stadium is called Sportsman's Park. Included within the Park is an eight-acre landscaped tailgating area called the Great Lawn.

There are no obstructed view seats in the stadium. There are visible areas in the upper deck of the end zone where seats could have been put in but were not due to the giant super columns supporting the roof structure.

The stadium seating capacity can be expanded by 9,600 for "mega-events" such as college bowls and NFL Super Bowls by adding risers and ganged, portable "X-frame" folding seats. The endzone area on the side of the facility where the mobile turf moves in and out of the facility can be expanded to accommodate the additional ticketholders.

The roof is made out of translucent "Bird-Air" fabric and opens in twelve minutes. It is the first retractable roof ever built on an incline.

[edit] Naming rights

Pink Taco, a Mexican restaurant known for its controversial name, had indicated interest in buying the naming rights.^[2] However on August 21, 2006, Cardinals spokesman Mark Dalton stated "We're in serious discussions with companies about naming rights, and Pink Taco is not one of them".^[3]

On September 26, the University of Phoenix acquired the naming rights to the stadium totalling $154.5 million over 20 years.^[4] The University does not field any intercollegiate sports teams, because it is a non-traditional university, specializing in providing access to higher education for adults already in the workforce.

[edit] External links

• Super Bowl XLII website
• Arizona Cardinals' website for stadium
• Global Spectrum’s website for stadium
• Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ Rogers, Matthew. "Really Big Things" (television series) Discovery Channel, 2007-01-16.
2. ^ McClay, Bob. "Pink Taco Owners Want to Buy Naming Rights to Cardinals Stadium", KTAR, 2006-08-21. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
3. ^ Kress, Adam. "Cardinals sack 'Pink Taco Stadium' idea", The Business Journal of Phoenix, 2006-08-21. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
4. ^ Wong, Scott. "Stadium name deal: $154.5 mil over 20 years", Arizona Republic, 2006-09-26. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.

• 12 News Special: Stadium Kickoff. Aired 7:00pm. NBC. KPNX, Phoenix, 10 August 2006.

Preceded by Sun Devil Stadium, Frank Kush Field 1971–2005

Home of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl 2006–

Succeeded by Current

Preceded by Rose Bowl 2005

Home of the BCS National Championship Game 2006

Succeeded by Superdome 2007

Preceded by Sun Devil Stadium, Frank Kush Field 1988–2005

Home of the Arizona Cardinals 2006–

Succeeded by Current

Coordinates: 33°31′39.72″N, 112°15′45.39″W

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Current stadiums of the National Football League
American Football Conference		National Football Conference
Arrowhead Stadium | Cleveland Browns Stadium | Dolphin Stadium | Giants Stadium | Gillette Stadium | Heinz Field | INVESCO Field at Mile High | Jacksonville Municipal Stadium | LP Field | M&T Bank Stadium | McAfee Coliseum | Paul Brown Stadium | Qualcomm Stadium | Ralph Wilson Stadium | RCA Dome | Reliant Stadium		Bank of America Stadium | Edward Jones Dome | FedExField | Ford Field | Georgia Dome | Giants Stadium | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome | Lambeau Field | Lincoln Financial Field | Louisiana Superdome | Monster Park | Qwest Field | Raymond James Stadium | Soldier Field | Texas Stadium | University of Phoenix Stadium

Current NCAA Division I-A college football bowl game stadiums

Alamodome (Alamo) • Aloha Stadium (Hawaiʻi, Hula) • Amon G. Carter Stadium (Armed Forces) • AT&T Park (Emerald) • Bank of America Stadium (Meineke) • Bronco Stadium (MPC Computers) • Cotton Bowl (Cotton) • Dolphin Stadium (Orange) • Florida Citrus Bowl (Champs Sports, Capital One) • Ford Field (Motor City) • Galena Park ISD Stadium (North-South Classic) • Georgia Dome (Chick-fil-A) • Independence Stadium (Independence) • Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (Gator)• LP Field (Music City) • Ladd Peebles Stadium (GMAC, Senior) • Legion Field (Papajohns.com) • Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Liberty) • Louisiana Superdome (New Orleans, Sugar) • Qualcomm Stadium (Poinsettia, Holiday) • Raymond James Stadium (Outback) • Reliant Stadium (Texas, East-West Shrine) • Rogers Centre (International) • Rose Bowl (Rose) • Sam Boyd Stadium (Las Vegas, All-American) • Sun Bowl Stadium (Sun, Texas v. Nation) • Sun Devil Stadium (Insight) • University Stadium (New Mexico) • University of Phoenix Stadium (Fiesta, BCS Nat'l Champ.)