Arizona Cardinals - Cake Donut
My buddy OT and I did a walk-through of the new Arizona Cardinals stadium this past weekend. The tour was free but required a ticket, so it was not too busy IMO. It was kewl, nice to tour it when things weren't so busy. The only bummer was that we could not go down onto the floor. Some Men's Toy Expo thingy was going on.
Driving up from the outside the stadium reminds me of a large silver cake donut. Not sure if I like it or not. But then again, I don't have much to compare it to.
Once inside the large silver cake donut the first thing I noticed was concrete. Lots of exposed concrete. No facades, ceiling tiles or paint. This baby is strictly hose and dry. It feels very open and airy. The retractable roof lets in a lot of light as do the huge end zone windows and the windows between each seating section. At first I didn't notice the significance of the gray and red seats. Evidently, the gray seats receive direct sunlight sometime during the day. There is no price difference. The mezzanine level was my favorite because it's more private and seating is more open. Tickets on the mezzanine start at $100/game.
There are three types of restrooms: Mens, Womens and "Family". Beers are $5.75 and $11 for a "bomber" (not pictured). A Cardinals cupcake is $4. The grass field rolls outside the stadium into the parking lot. What a great party trick to impress your friends! Hey ya'll, check out my retractable grass field...
I'm not sure what I was expecting but the new Cardinals stadium didn't impress me as much as America West Arena (I mean uh...US Airways Center. Sorry) and BOB (I refuse to call it "Chase Field".) AW and BOB look nicer inside and out, IMO. The silver cake donut on the other hand...well, inside it looks like a freeway underpass. Albeit a very clean freeway underpass. My other nit picky comment is about the signage. The signs look plastic and kind of like something you see in a kid's room.
Considering the large (and inebriated) crowds, these two design features have practical considerations. Hose it down and drip dry. Yep, "utilitarian" is the word I would use to describe the inside.
Anyhoo enough of my armchair babble. I snapped a few pics as we wandered around.
It is amazing how much the area around the stadium has changed since I was a kid. Even though mass construction is quickly evolving the landscape, I could still see traces of ruralness. (Is that a word?) There are still farm fields and barns nearby. To give you an idea of just how much land Phoenix has paved over, the Stadium sits just a few miles west of the river bed. That used to be "outside of town". It was the boonies. We spent many a Saturday night rompin' through those dry washes or drinking beer under the stars (uh ya, my friends drank the beer--I just watched because I wasn't old enough). One generation's good times being replaced with another's.
* I do like regular cake donuts.