The roof is made out of translucent "Bird-Air" fabric and opens in twelve minutes. It is the first retractable roof ever built on an incline.

The shape of the stadium is loosely modeled after a barrel cactus, a widespread plant in the Arizona desert.

University of Phoenix Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLII on February 3, 2008 in which the New York Giants defeated the previously undefeated New England Patriots 17-14 with a paid attendance crowd of 71,101. This game was mentioned as one of the biggest upsets of all time. This was the second time the Phoenix area hosted a Super Bowl, the other being Super Bowl XXX held in nearby Tempe at Sun Devil Stadium in 1996 when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On February 23, 2009 it was reported that the stadium will host WrestleMania XXVI, the twenty-sixth edition of the annual supercard produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on March 28, 2010. Global Spectrum, the stadium's operator, had worked in previous years with WWE to recruit the event to their venue. Spearheaded by financial backer and New York Architect Ron Elsensohn, on January 18, 2008, Global Spectrum publicly announced its intentions to host WrestleMania in 2010. The event gained media attention weeks prior when a photo of Wayne Gretzky wearing a shirt promoting the event surfaced in the Swedish newspaper Expressen. A press conference was held on February 24, 2009 at the University of Phoenix Stadium to formally announce the event for Glendale, Arizona at the University of Phoenix Stadium; this marked the first WrestleMania event to be held in the state of Arizona. WrestleMania XXVI grossed $5.8 million and became the highest grossing and attended entertainment event ever hosted by the venue, breaking the previous record held by a U2 concert on October 20, 2009 that attracted 50,775 fans and grossed $4.9 million. 72,219 fans from all 50 U.S. states and 26 countries attended WrestleMania XXVI.

On August 1, 2009, the stadium hosted Monster Jam Summer Heat, with Maximum Destruction defeating Captain's Curse in the racing finals and Grave Digger winning the freestyle event.

On September 26, 2006 the University of Phoenix acquired the naming rights to the stadium totalling $154.5 million over 20 years.

The Stadium is not owned by the University, the University does not control access to the stadium, and the University has no high level sports teams that would play at such a stadium. The naming rights are for advertising purposes only.

Alamodome (Alamo) • Aloha Stadium (Hawaiʻi, Hula) • Amon G. Carter Stadium (Armed Forces) • AT&T Park (Kraft Fight Hunger) • Bank of America Stadium (Meineke) • Bronco Stadium (Humanitarian Bowl) • Cotton Bowl (Dallas) • Cowboys Stadium (Cotton) • Ford Field (Little Caesars Pizza) • Georgia Dome (Chick-fil-A) • Independence Stadium (Independence) • EverBank Field (Gator) • LP Field (Music City) • Ladd Peebles Stadium (GMAC, Senior) • Florida Citrus Bowl (Champs Sports, Capital One, East-West Shrine) • Legion Field (Papajohns.com) • Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (Liberty) • Louisiana Superdome (New Orleans, Sugar) • Qualcomm Stadium (Poinsettia, Holiday) • Raymond James Stadium (Outback) • Reliant Stadium (Texas) • Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (EagleBank) • Rose Bowl (Rose, BCS Nat'l Champ.) • Sam Boyd Stadium (Maaco) • Sun Bowl Stadium (Sun, Texas v. Nation) • Sun Devil Stadium (Insight) • Sun Life Stadium (Orange) • Tropicana Field (Beef 'O' Brady's) • University Stadium (New Mexico) • University of Phoenix Stadium (Fiesta) • Yankee Stadium (Pinstripe)

Arizona Stadium (Arizona) • Sun Devil Stadium (Arizona State)