When members of the Los Angeles Rams received their Super Bowl rings on Thursday in an ornate pre-game ceremony, the Arizona Cardinals, their archrivals to the South, made a bit of history of their own.
On Thursday, BetMGM and the Cardinals opened The BetMGM Sportsbook At State Farm Stadium, a two-story, 17,000-square-foot facility with a host of sports wagering amenities, a gourmet bar and grill, and a variety of large-screen TVs. The facility is the first retail sportsbook to launch at an NFL stadium, according to the team and BetMGM.
The much-ballyhooed debut comes with an asterisk. The sportsbook is located in The Great Lawn, a sprawling tailgating and entertainment area with eight acres of manicured green space and a stage for pregame concerts. The Great Lawn is a separate, detached area from the physical stadium, with the closest entrance located about 0.3 miles away. The lawn is even considered to be a non-ticketed area.
When the Cardinals host the Chiefs Sunday in the team's home opener, the sportsbook is scheduled to open its doors at 7 a.m. local time and remain open through the completion of the game. The facility will close for the night at 11 p.m., an MGM spokesman said, long after the completion of the Bucs-Cowboys Sunday night game.