University of Phoenix Stadium has a retractable floor. Because retractable roofs are soo old school

WHAT??? You can do WHAT exactly to the stadium hosting today’s Super Bowl? We’ll give you 100 guesses and we bet you still don’t come close.

The Super Bowl stadium is insane

RETRACTABLE roof? Pffft. Old school. That is soooo turn-of-the-millennium.

The stadium hosting today’s Super Bowl in Arizona does a thing no other stadium in the world can do on the same scale. Instead of having a retractable roof, the University of Phoenix Stadium has a fully retractable, completely slide-innable/slide-outable playing surface.

You’ll never say ‘that’s as exciting as watching the grass grow’ again. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

(Some of our readers have pointed out that there’s a stadium called the “GelreDome” in the Netherlands which came first, but it’s not as big or cool.)

Here’s how the University of Phoenix stadium works. An opening on one side of the stadium allows the entire natural turf playing surface to be wheeled outside. This unique innovation allows the turf to enjoy full sunlight, which means the corners don’t miss out on those precious rays, as often happens at other stadiums.

It also means you can host concerts and other events without damaging the turf.

Um, I think we might have forgotten something guys. AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin.

When design teams were first tasked with building this unique arena, they were told “not to think of it as a football stadium but as a multi-purpose facility, configurable for any type of show or convention, available 365 days a year”.

The grass field actually lives outside the stadium most days. This by all accounts makes it much easier to maintain despite the desert climate of America’s 13th largest city, which can reach 50 degrees in summer and well below freezing on winter nights.

And they say Australia has a contrasting climate.

Here are some other stadium facts:

— The (almost) one hectare field weighs around 9,000 tons.

— It takes about an hour to drive it in or out of the stadium.

— The stadium can host up to 79,000 people when configured to allow some people to stand, but today will be configured for seating only, meaning the attendance will likely be just below 70,000.

— It is home to NFL team, the Arizona Cardinals, who were quite possibly headed for this year’s Super Bowl before losing quarterback Carson Palmer to injury. Their season went down the gurgler with him.

In turf terms, the grass here is having a bit of a bad hair day.

— Interestingly, no Super Bowl team has ever competed in its home city. The Super Bowl is rotated around America’s biggest stadiums each year (with a bidding process as competitive as the Olympics), and it’s just one of those historical quirks that the local team never seems to make it.

WORLD’S COOLEST STADIUMS: MORE STADIUM ‘PORN’

— The University of Phoenix stadium last hosted the Super Bowl XLII in 2008, when the highly fancied New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants, thus blowing what would have been an undefeated season. An omen for the Patriots in today’s battle against the Seattle Seahawks?

The far corners of the car park are closer than most people’s homes.

— Oh, and we almost forgot. the stadium has lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of parking spaces. Fourteen thousand, to be precise.

Originally published as University of Phoenix Stadium has a retractable floor. Because retractable roofs are soo old school