FanDuel to open new Arizona sportsbook at Footprint Center, unveils first photos

FanDuel’s new retail sportsbook at Footprint Center in Phoenix is set to open soon, in time for the 2021-2022 NBA season, and the company has unveiled the first photos of what the venue will be like.

The sportsbook, located at the home of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, follows the legalization of sports betting in Arizona earlier this year and counts with 7,400 square foot of space.

It’s the first for the company inside a sports arena and will be open most days of the year regardless of whether games are being played, reports AZCentral. It will also be one of the first sportsbooks in an NBA arena in the country.

It will feature an outdoor terrace and 26 self-service betting terminals, as well as five windows and a sixth VIP one in a MVP room, which also counts with a video wall. There will be 31 HD televisions, and a 42-foot LED video wall.

The state of Arizona is planning to allow bets to be placed from Sept. 9 onwards, coinciding with the first game of the NFL season. It is expected that the new sportsbook will be ready in time for this date.

In anticipation for the upcoming seasons, FanDuel partnered earlier this year with the Phoenix Suns as its official sportsbook.

“We are actually 70% to 80% completed,” said Jose Torres, FanDuel’s director of design and construction of the downtown Phoenix sportsbook, according to the news website. The design is intended to spark curiosity among those who don’t necessarily know about betting or FanDuel, inviting them to come in.

Further plans to attract customers include a food service and a bar, and it is expected the sportsbook will open from about 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. weekdays and until 1 a.m. on weekends. However, special sporting events, could possibly introduce special hours on the days in which they take place.

But FanDuel’s won’t be the only sportsbook in the area. Caesars Entertainment, which announced in May a partnership with the Arizona Diamondbacks, is preparing a 20,000 square foot sportsbook at Chase Field.

The #Dbacks and @CaesarsEnt are teaming up to bring mobile sports betting and a state of the art sportsbook to Downtown Phoenix! pic.twitter.com/xm0Bkq5KMW

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 6, 2021

The Las Vegas-based company is remodeling a two-story restaurant and bar building detached from the stadium, expected also to start taking bets on Sept. 9, although the full venue is scheduled to open early 2022.

Further sportsbook options also include the Arizona Cardinals, which will be getting their own venue at State Farm Stadium through their partnership with BetMGM.