Arizona’s big party got a little bigger Wednesday morning.
Not only will Glendale be hosting the 2015 Super Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium on February 1 but now the Pro Bowl on January 25 will be added to a jam-packed week which includes the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament in Scottsdale, as well.
“We’re excited that the game is here,” Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill told the assembled media Wednesday afternoon at Cards headquarters in Tempe. “We’re looking forward to working with business leaders…we’re going to have the opportunity to put our best foot forward.”
The most watched all star game, which was viewed by 11.4 million in 2014, will likely return to Aloha Stadium in Hawaii in 2016 but those plans have not been finalized.
The added responsibility and manpower of hosting the Pro Bowl doesn’t seem to bother the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee.
“I think there’s a little more coordination effort,” Committee Chairman David Rousseau explained. “The positive outweighs it…more cameras, more attention, more players. It’s certainly a positive from that perspective.”
Bidwill says bringing the game to Arizona has been a work in progress for quite some time.
“I went to New York to speak to the commissioner [Roger Goodell] about playing the game [here],” he said. “The conversation started a little more than a year ago.”
Next year’s Pro Bowl will mark the third one played in the same city as the Super Bowl. The LA Coliseum hosted the first Super Bowl in 1967 and the Pro Bowl one week later. South Florida hosted the Pro Bowl in 2010, a week before the Super Bowl.
Tickets locally will first be made available to Cardinal season ticket holders.
Eric Sorenson
