The toughest competition is coming from the coalition of West Valley cities that are supporting a site in Avondale, unless downtown Phoenix proponents can overcome the difficult task of obtaining the property for their selected site.

"The west side, with their offer of free land, makes it very competitive, and you can never discount the dominant power structure of the region in downtown Phoenix," says Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano.

After listening to the presentations, Giuliano believes that the site Tempe has offered up, near its Tempe Town Lake, is the best choice.

"From a cost standpoint, we have the most deliverable site," he says. "It's ready now at no cost to the Authority. They could start literally next week."

As opposed to the West Valley site, Tempe has a great deal of amenities near the proposed site, including 70 hotels within a five-mile radius.

Mesa Mayor Keno Hawker said the West Valley site is not central enough in the Valley to make it attractive to the Tourism and Sports Authority.

"The West Valley would attract quite a few California Cardinals fans because it's close," he says.

The West Valley has proposed a site at Thomas Road and 99th Avenue, about 12 miles from downtown Phoenix and more than 30 from the East Valley, where much of the Cardinals' fan base resides.

Downtown presented little detail during the weekend presentations, and convinced few in the audience that they could quickly secure the rights to the parcel they proposed, a railroad yard owned by a Union Pacific company.

"The only competitor after Saturday is the west side," says Tempe Councilwomen Barb Carter. "Before that, I would have thought Phoenix would be a major competitor, but I think they have a long way to go with fulfilling the requirements. I just don't know whether they can deliver, other than smoke and mirrors at this point."

The sites under consideration are: West Valley-A 400-acre site at the northwest corner of Thomas Road and Loop 101, just north of Interstate 10; Downtown Phoenix-site is south of Jefferson Street and just east of 7th Street, adjacent to Bank One Ballpark; Tempe-site at the southeastern corner of Priest Drive and Washington Avenue, just north of the Tempe Town Lake; Tempe/Mesa- site at the southeast corner of Loop 101 and Loop 202; and Fort McDowell – Site on the Beeline Highway about four miles northeast of Fountain Hills.

The Tourism and Sports Authority has stated that it will narrow the list of potential sites to two by mid-January and chose a final winner by no later than mid-February.