After a three-month selection process, the Tourism and Sports Authority voted 7 to 2 this morning to build the voter-supported football stadium on a 60-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Loop 202 and Priest Drive, just north of the Tempe Town Lake. The TSA rejected a site proposed by the West Valley, the other finalist for the 73,000-seat stadium. Earlier in the process, the TSA eliminated potential sites in downtown Phoenix, on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and along the Tempe/Mesa border.

Construction of the stadium is on a fast track to ready it for the NFL season beginning in August 2004. Construction engineers will begin surveying the parcel on Thursday in preparation for an August 2001 groundbreaking. Much of the stadium has already been designed, but engineers will need to adapt the plan to the Tempe site.

The stadium will feature a natural grass field and retractable roof that slides open for sunlight to accommodate non-football-related, open air events. The Cardinals are sure to pull in far above their 33,000 fans per game average with the covered stadium. Sun Devil Stadium, where the team now plays, is intolerably hot during the early part of the NFL season.

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