$5.5bn NFL team relocating from 36-year home and officially break ground on ‘architectural gem’
The Arizona Cardinals are on their way out of Tempe.
The NFL franchise, estimated to be worth $5.5 billion according to Forbes, broke ground on their new training facility on Thursday.
They will be relocating to a 217-acre site in North Phoenix.
In their new home, the team’s football facilities and business offices will sit on 30 acres.
The remaining will be used to house an entertainment district, and a goal to make everything walkable, even in the heat of the Arizona summer.
Cardinals break ground on HQ move
The Cardinals have been in their facility in Tempe since 1990, and were badly in need of an upgrade.
The football portion of the buildout will feature three grass practice fields, as well as a field house with a full-size turf field.
It will also include a new expanded locker room, and spaces for athletic training, strength and conditioning, and medical staff.
The new facility is expected to be ready by 2028.
“It is a multi-generational decision that we discerned,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said, via Darren Urban of the team website.
“I wanted to make sure it was player-first, performance-first and we leveraged the Cardinals headquarters to have the most greater good for the state of Arizona and the city of Phoenix as possible.”
Located west of Scottsdale Road, and north of the Loop 101 freeway, the area was purchased by Arizona at a state land auction for $136 million.
The spot was important to the Cardinals not just because it is double their current acreage in Tempe. Its location just off the 101 gives the team and the brand a visibility that Bidwill felt was important.
“There is so much to work with,” architect Matt Rossetti said. “This will be an absolute architectural gem.”
NFL insider reveals potential Cardinals draft strategy
While the franchise is making big plans off the field, the front office will soon need to turn their attention to the upcoming 2026 NFL draft.
After finishing with a 3-14 record in 2025, they have been rewarded with the third-overall selection in the draft set to take place in April.
Draft insider Daniel Jeremiah was asked during his pre-combine press conference, which was attended by talkSPORT, what he thinks the Cardinals strategy will be.
“The quarterback thing’s not going to be solved there, so [trying to] figure out what they’re doing, from that standpoint at that point in time, I don’t know that there’s a wrong answer between a tackle and an edge rusher,” Jeremiah said.
“I do these mock drafts off what I hear and what I think might happen, it’s not necessarily exactly how I would do it. I think the value for where they’re picking points to the edge rushers.” he added.
He would then highlight Ohio State’s Arvell Reese, Texas Tech’s David Bailey and Miami’s Ruben Bain Jr. as three possible selections.
“That would be the direction that I would go. And if you assume, as we all do, that Fernando Mendoza is off the board, man, you’ve got your pick of those three guys.
“I don’t know there’s a wrong answer with with the three of them.”
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