I found this piece of the past while looking for something else in my office’s archives today: a proposed domed stadium intended to lure an NFL team, circa 1986. This project, which would have been included the usual hotel/restaurant/other development stuff we always hear attached to stadium proposals today, would have been built in southwest downtown Phoenix. It never was, obviously, and I can’t find any information on when the whole thing went up in smoke. (As it happens, the St. Louis Cardinals moved here anyway and played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe for 18 seasons before University of Phoenix Stadium opened in Glendale in 2006.)

The design resembles what eventually became CenturyLink Field in Seattle (except for the complete roof – a necessity here). I don’t know if they hoped it would house JUST an NFL team or an NFL and, eventually, an MLB team (tough to tell the dimensions on that drawing and if there would have been enough space inside for a proper baseball field, and the chances of building two domes in downtown wouldn’t have been great).

I just found this piece of history that never came to pass was interesting.

Tags: Arizona, MLB, NFL, Phoenix, stadiums

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