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University of Phoenix Stadium

University of Phoenix Stadium, opened August 1, 2006, is a multipurpose football stadium located 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, and replaced Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium as the Valley of the Sun's main outdoor stadium. The stadium is adjacent to the Gila River Arena and it features the first fully retractable natural grass playing surface built in the United States on top of an AirField Systems drainage system. An opening on one side of the stadium allows the playing field to move to the exterior of the building, allowing the entire natural turf playing surface to be exposed to daylight and also allowing the floor of the stadium to be used for any other purpose (such as seating for concerts) without damaging the turf.

The stadium has hosted the Fiesta Bowl, the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, Super Bowl XLII, WrestleMania XXVI, and the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, a game that it hosted every four years, which set the venue's entertainment attendance record of 78,603 on January 11, 2011. It will host the Pro Bowl, Super Bowl XLIX and CONCACAF Gold Cup matches in 2015, and the NCAA Final Four in 2017.

The University of Phoenix acquired the naming rights in September 2006, shortly after the stadium had opened under the name Cardinals Stadium. The "University of Phoenix" name is applied as a corporate sponsor, and not as the home stadium of the University, which has no intercollegiate athletics program.

The stadium design came out of a collaboration with stadium design experts Populous and architect Peter Eisenman.

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Super Bowl XLIX

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