DraftKings Continues Work on TPC Sports Book

Article originally posted on HERE on August 24, 2023

Nearly two years after DraftKings announced plans to open a retail sportsbook at the TPC Scottsdale golf club the facility is inching closer to opening this fall. 

Once completed, the 13,000-square-foot facility that sits on a 3.2-acre parcel on the southeast corner of Hayden and Bell roads will include a 390-seat indoor sports betting area equipped with 40 individual betting kiosks, seven ticket windows and two VIP rooms that can accommodate up to 16 people.

Over 3,400 square feet of video walls and screens will be located throughout the venue. The bar that will offer brands of beer, many from local brewers, as well as wines and mixed drinks and the restaurant will serve upscale bar food.

The outdoor patio with be equipped with video screens, VIP cabanas and fire pits. 

DraftKings will staff the retail sportsbook portion and TPC Scottsdale will manage food and beverage.

Construction broke ground in May 2022, less than a month after the Scottsdale Planning Commission approved the sports book. 

TPC is currently in the process of hiring managers and intends to host a job fair in September to fill as many as 90 positions. 

Brad Williams, TPC Scottsdale general manager and regional director of operations, said they need that many employees because  the facility could be open from 11 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and open as early as 9 a.m. on weekends.

 However, official hours of operation have not yet been determined. 

“It’s a lot of really long hours of operation going from 9 a.m. to midnight, so we’ll need a lot of coverage,” Williams said.

Though TPC and DraftKings are working through the headaches of opening a new facility, the goal is to bring a communal lounge feel to the traditionally isolating gambling scene. 

“We really wanted an entertainment venue,” said Williams. “Unlike a lot of sportsbooks in Vegas, where you go when it’s like lines and rows of meters and seating, we wanted a much more socially engaging feeling,” 

Williams says this will be accomplished by decorating the interior with soft seating like couches, love seats, coffee tables and furniture that helps create more of a community environment. 

“I think about (this) from a golf standpoint where if we have a foursome or anywhere from eight to 12 players that want to come here after playing golf, we want them to hang out in a space that’s not just sitting in single file rows,” Williams said.

 “We want guests to be engaged and talking among themselves or with another party because, from a business standpoint, the more engagement and sociability our guests have, the longer people will stay.”

DraftKings spokesman Stephen Miraglia echoed a similar sentiment. 

“DraftKings and PGA Tour, together we’re trying to integrate sports bets where they are in a communal space,” Miraglia said. “Betting is a socially inherent activity where people often bet against their friends, so I think that’s what this space is really all about.” 

Although Saturdays and Sundays are projected to be the busiest days of the week for the DraftKings Sportsbook Scottsdale, no time will be busier than when the PGA Tour brings its annual WM Phoenix Open to TPC Scottsdale.

 The sportsbook will be an official hospitality site for the tournament.

Williams says that TPC Scottsdale is still working with The Thunderbirds, a Phoenix nonprofit that distributes money raised through the WM Phoenix Open golf tournament, to iron out the details of how that could work. 

The other impact that this building will have on the tournament relates to its entry points. 

Since the building sits on a 3.2-acre parcel that used to house the former main entrance to the tournament, a new 60-footwide entrance is also being constructed. 

This was a major selling point in March 2022 when the project was approved by a vote of 5-1 by the Planning Commission. 

“It’s not going to cause traffic issues. In fact, we’re adding a pedestrian high intensity activated crosswalk (HAWK) signal. We’re not adding access points,” attorney Jordan Rose said last year.

“The golf course has been there for 36 years, and this request just expands that.”

Because of this, the fall can’t come sooner for all parties involved in this project.

“From a PGA Tour standpoint, it really is a one-of-a-kind venue because there’s no other PGA Tour event on the schedule that will have its own sportsbook,” said tour spokesman Chris Cox. “It’s a truly unique environment and is something perfect for the tourists in Scottsdale.” 

Once finished, the facility will be able to seat 350 people indoors and up to 140 people outside and the total capacity of the venue is 850 people, including staff. 

The restaurant will also be available for reservations and events.