Arizona Cardinals show signs of improvement in loss to Buffalo Bills
The Cardinals return to Arizona with forward momentum in spite of late mistakes against the Bills.
The Arizona Cardinals sought to create an experience found in an upscale bar in Phoenix or Scottsdale — but with football.
The Cardinals upgraded the game-day experience ahead of the team’s Sunday home opener with several new luxury seating options, including the Morgan Athletic Club, a high-end club at the north end of the field level.
Following in the footsteps of the Dallas Cowboys, experiences around NFL stadiums have become much more elevated. The Cardinals are using State Farm Stadium’s indoor setting as an advantage and offer pieces of Arizona that outdoor stadiums in frigid temperatures can’t offer.
To keep up with the various opulent experiences offered around the league, Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill walked around the stadium with Chief Operating Officer Jeremy Walls to see what could be added. Walls came from the Miami Dolphins in 2023 and oversaw the addition of field-level suites with access to an exclusive club at Hard Rock Stadium.
“We got together with an idea and we all started riffing on that idea and thinking about how we could make something different,” Walls said. “That was a priority for us. The Casitas Garden Club, no one has ever had luxury homes in their end zone. The Morgan Athletic Club, it’s different because it’s a supper club with live music and it feels like a lounge you would go and enjoy somewhere else in Phoenix.”
The five-month project added custom-built removable “casitas” in the south end zone, where there had been 1,200 temporary seats, and along the sidelines where suites, boxes and seats will be in place on the field all the way to the north end zone.
Bidwill revealed that the casitas will host several big names for Sunday’s home opener against the Los Angeles Rams, including Olympians Michael Phelps and Noah Lyles.
While the casitas represent more of a beach club, the Morgan Athletic Club is like a jazz club. During Thursday’s soft opening, the servers were dressed in suits and red ties or red A-line dresses with bows on the back and frilly crew socks with black-heeled loafers.
Steps away from the playing field, the club was created by hospitality and restaurant innovator Sam Fox and his team. Fox oversaw all aspects of the club from the all-inclusive food and beverage program to the live music and lighting.
Arizona has been one of the more accessible teams in the NFL. The Cardinals had the lowest average ticket price in the league last season at $98, according to Team Marketing Report’s Fan Cost Index.
But not everyone is buying the cheapest options.
In fact, the field suites with access to the Morgan Athletic Club are sold out, while there are limited options on the field remaining for all nine home games.
Full-season casita and field suite deposits were listed at $10,000 when it opened in June. Field boxes start with a $1,000 deposit. Both end zone field seats and sideline field seats have $500 deposits.
“Jeremy and I have both been in every NFL stadium,” Bidwill said. “There’s no space that exceeds this level of luxury. This is a super exciting thing for us to roll out this year.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-13 07:31:00
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