NFL Cardinals President Michael Bidwill said that the team's training complex, which underwent a $15M renovation this offseason, is "again among the best in the NFL," according to Kent Somers of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. The renovation "was done in three phases, with the first being the indoor practice facility" that was completed in '13. The second and third phases "included the expansion and renovation of the main building." More than 14,500 square feet were added, "all of it designated for 'football player support and development.'" The facility had no kitchen before, but it now features a "full-service, 4,830-square-foot cafeteria that includes a 12-person staff." The club expanded and upgraded the locker room, and more than doubled the "size of the weight room to 9,000 square feet" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 9/12). Meanwhile, PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote the field at Univ. of Phoenix Stadium yesterday for Saints-Cardinals looked "more like desert than grass." After 22 practices during training camp and the Cardinals' first preseason game, the center of the field "was resodded." Beyond the strip of new turf, which "looks fine, the rest of the field has large, noticeable bare spots." A Cardinals spokesperson said, "Footing and performance is still optimal but appearance admittedly is not" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 9/13).
SOLDIERING ON: ESPN.com's Josh Weinfuss noted the Cardinals on the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center "unveiled a memorial" to honor late NFLer Pat Tillman, whose decision to enlist in the Army "was triggered by events of that day." The team "saved his locker" during the recent renovation of its locker room and "preserved it behind glass in the new facility" (ESPN.com, 9/11).
