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Arizona Athletic Grounds, the 320-acre Mesa sports complex formerly known as Bell Bank Park and Legacy Sports Park, is vying for a spot to be a Team Base Camp for the 2026 World Cup.
Arizona Athletic Grounds, the 320-acre sports complex with dozens of fields and courts in southeast Mesa, is vying for a spot to be a Team Base Camp for the 2026 World Cup.
Earlier this month, global soccer organization FIFA announced 49 cities in the U.S. and Mexico that could serve as hubs from where the teams participating in the FIFA World Cup with practice, prepare for games, rest and spend their time outside of the group stage matches, with Mesa being among them.
The Team Base Camps are supposed to be “home away from home” and Arizona Athletic Grounds (AAG) officials said it would a be a good home away from home for any of the teams competing in the tournament.
“We’ve got world-class facilities,” Meg Stevens, the president of AGG, told the Business Journal. “We think the facility and, truthfully, the people really help sell it.”
AAG’s facilities include 24 multipurpose fields, four of which are grass. It also has a versatile fieldhouse space that can accommodate coaches’ offices, locker rooms and a team-meeting area, as well as a nearly 20,000-square-foot performance center.
AAG’s bid for the site is connected with the Courtyard Mesa at Wrigleyville West hotel, which is located near the north loop of the 202 freeway adjacent to where the Chicago Cubs play spring training games. Team Base Camps are home not only to players, but also coaches, staff, country officials and families.
Not only does AAG want the business from a World Cup team, but Stevens said the exposure of having one of the top soccer teams call her facilities home for one summer would elevate AAG’s reputation and give the park more exposure.
“There are certain tournaments, certain names that you want to be associated with, obviously FIFA is one of the best and a name you want to be associated with,” Stevens said. “We’re excited to take that next step.”
AAG is one of 49 sites, along with Tucson’s Kino Sports Complex, being considered for the 48 teams that will participate in the 2026 World Cup.
Teams participating in the World Cup will submit their final selections for Team Base Camp locations following the draw for group matches in December 2025.
Games for the World Cup will be played in 16 cities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19 in 2026. No games will be played in Arizona, but U.S. sites include Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and Kansas City.
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