Mercury Continues Rising At Mortgage Matchup Center In Phoenix

Ahead of the NCAA Women’s Final Four kicking off, Mortgage Matchup Center’s Sarah Schock concedes there’s no such thing as a “new normal” when it comes to the live events calendar, but that’s part of what makes it fun.

“That’s a prestige event, one of the biggest we can have at the arena level,” says Schock, head of events and entertainment at the downtown home of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA Phoenix Mercury. “We’re really excited about that, for our investment here locally in women’s sports and particularly women’s basketball, so we’re stoked about that. Bruce Springsteen is coming up the week after that, and then there’s a whole onslaught of shows in the second half of the year, which I think it’s stacking up to be one of our strongest we’ve ever seen in our arena history. We’re strapping in and getting ready.”

This article is part of the Pollstar May 2026 Market Focus, which includes additional charts, news and editorial features.

More than just waiting for the call and hoping the tours come through town, the Suns, with support from the city, have invested hundreds of millions in the facility, which opened in 1992, including a near-full overhaul costing in the realm of $250 million that completed mostly in 2021. Serious investment continues largely driven by new owner and mortgage executive Mat Ishbia, who acquired the teams for $4 billion.

“It was a pretty significant gut-job to be really honest,” says Schock, who has worked at the arena since 2007. The entire concourse was reconfigured, meaning a refresh of all existing concession spaces as well as an expanded and reinforced rigging grid, and a new $100 million practice facility was built off-site, clearing up space for new high-end club spaces.

“I would put the Annexus Concert Club against any hospitality space in the country,” says Schock. “It’s a really cool, super-dramatic, double-decker club for the first two rows around the court, and for concerts, we put about 150 fans down there. It’s also used for artist hospitality, so we can provide access for touring personnel or visiting families, and it becomes a good industry hang location.”

That’s not to mention the $20 million investment in the Ra Ra Room, an exclusive high-end club within the arena that debuted in late 2024 as a partnership between Ishbia and Mario Carbone’s Major Food Group, designed by Gensler and operated by OVG Hospitality, which took over hospitality operations at the arena in August 2023. Oak View Group is parent company to Pollstar. The arena is owned by the city but operated by the Suns and Mercury.

While continuing the trend of super-serving higher-spending patrons and creating opportunities for exclusive spaces within venues, Schock says there’s a priority to serve all patrons and build long-term fans by providing good value.

“One of the things we’re most proud of is that within the span of one week we unveiled the Ra Ra Room, a super high-end, members-only dining club on the event level of the arena,” says Schock, who says the space is unlike anything she’s seen in an arena anywhere. “Then in the same week, we also unveiled a $2 concessions menu for Suns and Mercury games, which made it so much more affordable for families to be able to come to a game and to be able to buy some food and drink in a way that’s affordable and just reach different fans that way.”

The investments appear to have paid off, with the arena landing not only the Final Four taking place as this issue went to press, but also the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game, 2023 Super Bowl Music Fest (Paramore, Imagine Dragons, Dave Matthews) and Media Day and upcoming 2026 U.S. Gymnastics Championships and 2027 NBA All-Star Games. That’s not to mention a regular schedule of concerts, including 2025 seeing the arena’s biggest November ever with back-to-back concerts from artists including Tate McRae and Billie Eilish.

With Schock’s role involving both the basketball and events side, she takes pride in working toward a calendar that maximizes both sides rather than competing against itself for prime dates.

“It’s definitely one that weighs on us often, but I think it’s the most rewarding part when we can get it right, and we can win dates and have them in back-to-back situations where we get a really packed week full of activity,” says Schock. “Those are the most fun.”

Some recent examples of fun include a span of six shows in seven days in 2024, which included Aventura, Janet Jackson, Jhené Aiko, Edición Especial, Grupo Frontera and Chris Brown.

“I think it all comes down to our central location, and we are the venue that has the Suns and Mercury as our two existing tenants, so we have over 2 million fans coming through our venue every year,” says Schock, who admits having to get creative on the calendar to accommodate both teams’ schedules. “We have 175 to 200 ticketed events every year – that’s a lot of eyeballs that we can use to promote other upcoming events. It’s a well-oiled machine that continues and a promotional machine that really helps to support the artists that come and play here.”

Mortgage Matchup Center ranked No. 21 in Pollstar’s 2026 Q1 list of Top Arenas worldwide based on ticket sales, with recent shows including a sold-out Cardi B concert ($1.9 million grossed), K-pop group TWICE ($2.6 million), Duran Duran ($976,000 on 9,000 tickets), comedian Shane Gillis ($1 million on 16,000 tickets) and many others. Upcoming shows include Alex Warren, Rod Stewart, A$AP Rocky, Don Toliver, Lionel Richie, Daniel Caesar, Santana, Rüfüs Du Sol, Benson Boone and many others.

“Artists and their representatives want to work with us on finding the date that will work, because, bottom line, we give them the best chance to be able to sell the most amount of tickets and to make the most money that they can off of every ticket,” says Schock. “They also have the promise from us and the track record from us that we’re going to take care of their fans and take care of their crew. That maybe isn’t reflected in the bottom line, but it certainly counts for something.”

Although stadium runs are still seeing some of the largest superstars opt for an outdoor experience rather than an arena tour, Schock says that’s often a good sign for the industry as a whole.

“There is no new normal; the normal cadence that we thought we knew pre-COVID seems to change and be in flux all the time now,” says Schock. Although surely preferring to be on the routing for superstars like Bruno Mars hitting stadiums this year, “Personally when I see there’s strong stadium content, the concert and event industry as a whole is really strong, and that’s a good thing for all of us and means the whole ecosystem is stronger, even if it means that we’re losing some of those A-plus-plus acts to bigger venues.”

Repeat business is always a good sign, with two upcoming dates from red-hot comedian Nate Bargatze, who recorded his latest Netflix special, Your Friend Nate Bargatze, at the arena in 2024.

“It’s always special when you can be a part of a one-of-a-kind event like that,” says Schock, who says the discussions about filming the show for a special came after the event was already on sale. “We always love and will always show up for those kinds of things, to make things easy for our promoter and artist partners across the board, especially when it’s something important to the artist and obviously gives us a unique opportunity.”

The typical seating configuration was altered for the event, accommodating camera crew and other extra personnel and production aspects. “To see your venue on Netflix for the special, and to see some of our team get recognized in the credits, there’s an amount of pride that you just can’t buy. Again, we get to work in sports and entertainment. It should be fun. If you’re not having fun with it, you’re doing it wrong.”