Arizona Cardinals announce location for new training facility

PHOENIX - The Arizona Cardinals are moving! After spending the last three decades in Tempe, the team says it will move its training facility and headquarters to north Phoenix.

What they're saying:

The Cardinals say their new training facility will be located at Paradise Ridge, west of Scottsdale Road and north of the Loop 101, after purchasing the 217-acre property this summer at an Arizona State Land Department auction for $136 million.

The team's current training facility is located on the corner of Hardy Drive and Warner Road.

"Our goal has always been to provide our players and coaches with the best possible environment to prepare and perform at the highest level," Cardinals Owner and President Michael Bidwill said in a statement. "As we evaluated our options, it became clear that we needed more space than what was available at our current location or elsewhere in Tempe. We are deeply grateful to the City of Tempe for its incredible support over the past three decades and for its continued partnership. And we are just as excited to welcome this new chapter in our team’s history."

"The Arizona Cardinals’ new headquarters and state-of-the-art practice facility is an exciting, welcome addition to our city’s Headquarters Alley," Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said. "I’m grateful for this game-changing investment and the energy this project will bring to our community."

Dig deeper:

The team's new training facility and headquarters will include natural-grass outdoor practice fields, an indoor fieldhouse, an expanded locker room, state-of-the-art training, medicine and strength and conditioning spaces, updated dining areas, meeting rooms and a player lounge.

Its targeted opening date is scheduled for 2028.

Site was originally planned for Coyotes

The other side:

If the location of the new Cardinals training facility seems familiar, that's because it's the same plot of land that was once proposed to be used to build a new arena for the Arizona Coyotes.

Ex-Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo hoped to buy the land, but the auction was canceled. The Coyotes relocated from the Valley to Salt Lake City. Meruelo has since walked away from Coyotes' ownership.

The good news for hockey fans is efforts to bring an NHL team back to the Valley have gained momentum after Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin announced that Andrea Doan, the wife of Coyotes legend Shane Doan, will lead a committee aimed at getting a new team and arena.

Map of location of new Cardinals training facility