Upcoming Arizona Cardinals dates
Dates and live ticket listings appear here as soon as they are on sale. The guide below covers what to know before you buy.
Your Cardinals seat decision
Arizona Cardinals home games are played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, on the west side of the Phoenix area, between September and early January. The view to aim for is a lower-bowl seat inside the 20-yard lines, around row 15 or above. For comfort, the 200-level club seats are the most predictable choice. For value, take the first rows of the 400-level sidelines.
- Best view: lower bowl (the 100 level, closest to the field), sideline, row 15 and up. At that height you look over everyone gathered on the sideline.
- Most comfortable: 200-level club seats, with wider chairs, indoor lounges and shorter lines.
- Best value: front rows of the upper deck (the 400 level) along the sidelines, where formations and routes are easy to read.
- For atmosphere: low end-zone rows, close to scoring plays and celebrations.
Want to be behind the Arizona bench? Check the game's seat map for bench sides first instead of guessing.
How State Farm Stadium changes the usual rules
Known as University of Phoenix Stadium from its 2006 opening until the 2018 rename, the building seats about 63,400 for an NFL game and can stretch to around 72,200 for marquee events. Two design features make it unlike any other NFL building:
- Retractable roof: translucent fabric panels open in about 12 minutes, which lets the bowl be closed and air-conditioned when the desert is hot.
- Roll-in grass field: the natural turf sits on a tray that rolls outside between events to get sunlight, then rolls back in for games.
At open-air stadiums, choosing the shaded sideline is often the biggest seat decision. Here, the roof usually settles that question, so position and height matter more than sun. Whether the roof opens is a game-day call, and the team announces it beforehand.
Four tiers make up the bowl: 100s at the bottom, the 200 club ring, a suite level, then the 400s on top.
Level by level: what each ticket buys you
100 level
Between the 20s and from about row 15 up, this is the strongest football view in the building. Rows near the field seem ideal on a chart, yet rows 1 through roughly 8 mainly show you helmets, coaches and the backs of players on the sideline.
200-level club
You pay for roomier chairs, air-conditioned lounges and faster food lines. Those perks pay off in September heat and whenever the roof is open. For a client outing or a family that wants no surprises, a 200-level sideline seat is the safe pick.
400 level
Most of the lower-priced seats are up here. The front rows on the sidelines give a clean, high angle on the whole field, and many fans prefer it to a pricier seat low behind an end zone.
End zones
Great for red-zone plays at your end and for the noise after a touchdown. Weak for judging plays at midfield or the far end. Choose them for price and energy, not to study the game.
Seats to think twice about
- Rows 1 to about 8 on the lower sideline: premium prices for a view partly blocked by people standing in front of the benches.
- Top rows of the 400-level corners and end zones: the worst value in the house: lots of stairs, a steep rake and a far end zone that looks squashed.
- Low end-zone seats, if you want to follow every play: the action at the other end of the field is hard to read.
- Bench-side seats you have not confirmed: check the map for your game before paying extra.
When the price gap is small, a front-row 400-level sideline seat usually beats a high corner seat in the lower bowl.
Which home games are hardest to get into
The schedule opens with August preseason games, then a 17-game regular season from September to early January (eight or nine of those games at home), and finally the January playoffs. Who is visiting, and when, moves Cardinals ticket demand more than wins and losses do.
- National brands with traveling fans: the Phoenix area is full of winter residents and transplants. Visits from Dallas, Green Bay, the Chicago Bears or Pittsburgh often produce a split crowd and higher resale demand.
- NFC West rivals: followers of the Rams, 49ers and Seahawks are a drive or a quick flight away, and these games carry playoff weight late in the year.
- Night games: a prime-time slot on Thursday, Sunday or Monday draws more than an ordinary Sunday afternoon game.
- November and December: winter visitors flood the Valley and the weather turns pleasant, so demand holds up regardless of the standings.
Preseason games and early matchups against smaller-market teams are usually the easiest to buy. Resale prices for low-demand games often soften in the last days before kickoff, while rivalry and national-brand games tend to climb as the date nears.
Gameday logistics in Glendale
You will find the stadium just off Loop 101, inside Glendale's sports and entertainment district and next to the Westgate dining and hotel area. Allow roughly half an hour from Sky Harbor Airport when traffic is light. Most fans drive. The stadium's guidance lists blue general lots accessed via Glendale Avenue or Cardinals Way, red preferred lots entered from the Maryland Avenue and 95th Avenue corner, and a rideshare zone in the Black Lot on the stadium's south side.
Tailgating happens only in the designated lots after they open. Under the 2025 season rules, a group is limited to the single space behind its car, tents must use above-ground weights rather than stakes, and saving spaces for late arrivals is not allowed. Gates open two hours before NFL kickoffs.
Bag rules, as of the 2025 season: a clear-bag policy is in force, so a bag must be see-through plastic, vinyl or PVC and fit within 12 x 6 x 12 inches. Anything opaque bigger than 4.5 x 6.5 inches stays outside. Bring a card or phone wallet; no cash is accepted, though kiosks inside convert cash to a prepaid card. Tickets are mobile only. These rules change between seasons, so read the stadium's bag policy page before you go.
One more detail for visitors: the state skips daylight saving time, so kickoffs move by an hour relative to other time zones between November and March. Confirm the local start time on your ticket. Every Reserved Seat order is backed by a 100% guarantee.
From Chicago to the desert: the franchise in brief
The roots go back to 1898 and a Chicago neighborhood team called the Morgan Athletic Club, which makes the Cardinals the longest continuously operating pro football franchise in the country. Of the clubs that founded the league in 1920, only two survive: this one and the Chicago Bears. A move to St. Louis followed in 1960; Arizona came next in 1988, first under the Phoenix Cardinals name, then as the Arizona Cardinals from 1994.
Home fields tell the story. In Chicago the team played at Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field; St. Louis meant sharing Busch Stadium with the baseball Cardinals; and its first Arizona home, from 1988 to 2005, was Arizona State's open-air Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, where September heat could be brutal. Glendale followed in 2006.
On the field, the club claims two NFL titles: 1947, and 1925, which Pottsville Maroons supporters still argue was theirs. Its high point in Arizona came in the 2008 season: an NFC championship and a trip to Super Bowl XLIII, lost 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final minutes. No team in the four major North American leagues had gone longer without a title as of 2025, a distinction Arizona fans mostly greet with gallows humor.
Beyond football Sundays, the Glendale building stays busy: it has staged three Super Bowls (XLII, XLIX, LVII), the annual Fiesta Bowl since 2007, and the men's Final Four twice, in 2017 and 2024. Schedules and team news are on the Cardinals' team site.
Frequently asked questions
What row should I buy for a Cardinals game?
On the 100-level sideline, about row 15 or higher clears the players and staff standing along the sideline. Rows 1 to about 8 are close but often blocked.
Are 200-level club seats at State Farm Stadium worth it?
You pay more for roomier chairs, cooled indoor lounges and quicker food and drink. That comfort matters most early in the season and on days the roof is open.
Does it matter which side I sit on at State Farm Stadium?
Less than at outdoor stadiums, because the retractable roof is usually the deciding factor for heat and sun. Sideline position and row height matter more. Confirm the bench sides on the map for your game.
Which opponents make Cardinals tickets harder to find?
Big-name visitors whose fans travel (Dallas, Green Bay, Chicago, Pittsburgh), division opponents and night games are the toughest tickets.
Are the Arizona Cardinals the oldest team in the NFL?
The franchise dates to 1898 in Chicago, making it the longest continuously operating pro football club in the country. It and the Bears are the last two charter members from 1920.
Can I bring a bag to a Cardinals game?
Under the 2025 season policy, clear bags up to 12 x 6 x 12 inches are fine, and opaque bags must be 4.5 x 6.5 inches or smaller. Rules can change, so verify before gameday.