The long-vacant Fiesta Mall site in Mesa may finally be getting a second act, and it is a lot bigger than another strip of big-box stores. Sunny Day Sports, a private sports investment firm led by Vicki Mayo, is pushing to bring a professional women's soccer franchise and a domed stadium to the 80-acre Palo District planned at the former mall site. The bid is paired with a proposed $100 million women's health and performance campus and a public "founding fans" drive meant to show local support for a team. The vision ties together sports performance, medical research, and mixed-use development on land that has largely sat empty since demolition began, with new theme park district approvals from the city opening up fresh financing tools and regulatory pathways.
Land, zoning, and who owns it
The site, along Southern Avenue and Alma School Road near U.S. 60, is now being marketed as the Palo District after the Mesa City Council signed off on theme park district zoning last November. Sunny Day Sports has secured rights to roughly 80 acres there, according to The Arizona Republic. The theme park district setup allows a governing board to issue bonds and levy a sales tax surcharge, tools that developers say can help underwrite the larger and more expensive pieces of the master plan.
Women's health campus will anchor the redevelopment
At the center of the concept is a roughly $100 million women's health campus that developers are pitching as the anchor of the Palo District, with plans for a medical pavilion, sports-science labs and a performance training center that would serve both athletes and researchers, according to Axios. Officials say the facility is expected to offer services focused on aging and longevity, menopause and hormone care, behavioral health, diagnostics, and sports medicine, with construction slated to begin in the second quarter of 2026. Backers frame the campus as a way to blend community health care and elite training, rather than redevelop the property only for traditional retail or office space.
Stadium and a bid for pro women's soccer
Sunny Day Sports says the broader master plan was designed to handle the highest levels of professional soccer, and the group is actively courting a women's professional club while promoting a domed stadium to host matches, according to KTAR. The Arizona Republic reported that designers have already sketched potential stadium footprints and site plans intended to meet professional standards for both players and fans. To drum up interest and demonstrate demand, the company has launched a public-facing "founding fans" initiative that lets residents register their support early.
How realistic is an NWSL expansion here?
The National Women's Soccer League has publicly said it plans to add an 18th team, targeting a 2028 launch for that expansion slot, commissioner Jessica Berman told ESPN. Recent expansion fees show the size of the financial hurdle involved. Reported figures put Boston's expansion fee at about $53 million, Denver's at roughly $110 million and Atlanta's at a record $165 million, underscoring the deep-pocketed ownership groups and infrastructure the league has been requiring, SportsBusinessJournal reported. Any Mesa bid would need to marry local enthusiasm with serious financing and a venue ready to meet league standards.
Local reaction and the road ahead
To test that enthusiasm, Sunny Day Sports set an early benchmark for its "founding fans" drive, telling KTAR it aimed to collect 10,000 signatures in 10 days. At the same time, Mesa officials and the master developer, Plaza Companies, are working through permitting and infrastructure planning that will shape how quickly the Palo District can come out of the ground. The city's theme park district designation gives the Palo District board authority to capture new tax revenue and issue bonds, tools that supporters say will help pay for the largest components of the redevelopment, according to KJZZ. For residents, the rollout is expected to come in phases, with the women's health campus scheduled to break ground first and the rest of the district following as financing and tenants fall into place.
If Sunny Day Sports can convert early fan interest into solid backing from investors and the league, Mesa could end up with both a top-level women's soccer club and a new regional hub for medical and sports research. For now, city and project officials still describe the plans as preliminary, with more detailed partner announcements and timelines expected in the months ahead.
