Yesterday was the first Cardinals football game at the brand new, $500 million, Cardinals stadium in Glendale. The Cardinals were playing my Pittsburgh Steelers so I had to go. There are pictures below, but here’s the story of how the day went…
I leave my house at 11am with a friend (another Steelers fan, of course) and head over to Glendale. If any of you have traveled from the I-10 to the Loop 101 you know that there are two lanes that exit the 10 onto the 101 north. Yeah, traffic was stopped 1/4 mile from that exit. We slowly made our way up the 101 to the Glendale Ave exit. If it wasn’t for some shady driving by my friend, we may have never made kick off. Even with the mad driving skills, it took us almost 35 mins to go from the I-10 to the Glendale Ave exit. A few other smart moves once we got on Glendale Ave got us into the parking area very quickly.
We parked on the far west side of the WestGate shopping center (the northwest parking area around Glendale Arena) and proceeded to walk to the stadium. The line to get through security was moving very quickly and the stadium gate had practically no line at all. We proceeded up the two large escalators up to the upper deck. Once you arrive at the top of the escalators there is this sort of entry way where there are doors that are closed. One of the best things about the game yesterday was the point at which we opened those doors. We were greeted by a nice blast of cool air and the sound of a roaring crowd. I finally realized what the Cardinals have been saying all the time that the stadium was being built. They now have a place they can call home. And what a home it is.
Even if you despise NFL football, you NEED to see this stadium. It has been named one of the top 10 sports arenas in the world by BusinessWeek.
National Anthem
Kickoff!
The Steelers!
Tags: sports