A bag rule that publishes a measurement for the bag it restricts and none for the bag it welcomes leaves a visitor measuring the wrong object. The downtown Phoenix arena does exactly that, and the figure most often repeated back to it, 4 by 6 inches, is not a bag limit at all.
The Mortgage Matchup Center bag limit is 14 by 14 by 6 inches for purses, medical bags and diaper bags, read September 2026. Small clutches and crossbody bags are permitted with no size attached to either of them, and standard backpacks are not permitted inside the arena.
Anyone still searching for the building as Footprint Center is reading rules published under a different name. The arena is Mortgage Matchup Center on every page of mortgagematchupcenter.com, read September 2026, and the old footprintcenter.com address now redirects there.
Mortgage Matchup Center sets one bag ceiling at 14 by 14 by 6 inches and leaves the clutch unmeasured
Purses, medical bags and diaper bags enter Mortgage Matchup Center inside 14 by 14 by 6 inches, read September 2026. Favorable: a clutch under 4 by 6 inches takes the Evolv express lanes. Normal: a larger purse enters through a standard lane. Unfavorable: a standard backpack is refused at the door.
Four separate texts on the arena’s own site decide what reaches a seat, and only one of them carries a number. The rest work by category, which is why a correct tape measure settles less here than it does at a ballpark gate.
| Item as Mortgage Matchup Center describes it | Size the arena publishes, read September 2026 | Where the arena writes it | What it decides at the door |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purse, medical bag or diaper bag | 14 by 14 by 6 inches, with additional screening protocols | Bag Policy, on the policies and rules page | Enters through a standard screening lane |
| Small clutch or crossbody bag | No size published for either one | Bag Policy, first sentence of the allowance | Permitted, and measured only against the express lane threshold |
| Clutch smaller than 4 by 6 inches | Smaller than 4 by 6 inches | Bag Policy, second paragraph | Qualifies for the Evolv express entry lanes |
| Standard backpack | No size, refused by category | Bag Policy and the block on each event page | Refused at the door regardless of what it measures |
| Single compartment drawstring bag | No size, referred to NBA and Arena size requirements | Prohibited Items, backpack clause | Admitted by one arena text and refused by another |
| Stroller or wheelchair | No size published, no price published | Item Check, Guest Services Office | Checked for a claim tag, collected at the end of the event |
One number does most of the work. Three sentences do the rest.
The 4 by 6 inch figure in Phoenix belongs to the Evolv express lanes and not to the clutch
Guests arriving without bags or with clutches smaller than 4 by 6 inches are encouraged to use the Evolv express entry lanes, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, read September 2026. That sentence sorts a queue. It does not cap a bag, and nothing in the arena’s bag allowance refuses a clutch above it.
Read the other way, the mistake costs a purchase. A visitor who buys a pouch to satisfy a Phoenix limit of 4 by 6 inches has bought against a threshold that only chooses which line to stand in, while an ordinary purse of, say, 12 inches across walks in through a standard lane under the published ceiling.
Utah writes those same two numbers as a refusal. Delta Center admits clutches no larger than 4 by 6 by 2 inches and refuses bags above that, according to Delta Center, read September 2026, which the Salt Lake City refusal and its three exceptions traces to the door. One figure, two jobs, a thousand miles apart.
Anaheim runs the same screening brand and attaches no size to it. Honda Center screens with Evolv Express walk through technology so a phone, keys and a wallet can stay in a pocket, read September 2026, with no express lane threshold printed beside it.
Two Mortgage Matchup Center texts disagree about the drawstring backpack
The Prohibited Items list refuses backpacks with the exception of single compartment drawstring bags that meet NBA and Arena size requirements, and media backpacks screened at the media entrance, read September 2026. No dimension is attached to the drawstring exception anywhere on the page.
Each event listing prints a stricter block. The page for the Phoenix Mercury against the Las Vegas Aces on 24 September 2026 states that no backpacks are allowed and that bags must be within the 14 by 14 by 6 inch size requirements, read September 2026, with no drawstring clause at all.
Same issuer, same week, two answers. A drawstring bag carried on the strength of the Prohibited Items sentence is being carried against the sentence printed on the ticket holder’s own event page, and the gate reads the second one. The safe reading is the strict one.
The backpack clause does rescue one object in both texts. Purses and diaper bags that may resemble backpacks are permitted provided they comply with the 14 by 14 by 6 inch size policy, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, so a parent’s rucksack style diaper bag passes on what it is for rather than on its silhouette.
One Phoenix ceiling covers the purse, the medical bag and the diaper bag that other Western arenas separate
Mortgage Matchup Center puts the purse, the medical bag and the diaper bag inside one ceiling of 14 by 14 by 6 inches and adds screening to all three, read September 2026. Three Western arenas keep that identical box for need alone and refuse the ordinary bag outright.
Crypto.com Arena admits a clutch or wallet under 5 by 9 by 1 inches and reserves 14 by 14 by 6 inches for a medical or parental exception with compulsory X-ray, read September 2026. Intuit Dome caps the everyday personal clutch at 10 by 6 by 2 inches and holds the larger box for medical and infant needs. Delta Center does the same from a flat refusal.
Seattle and San Francisco go the Phoenix way. Climate Pledge Arena publishes an allowance of one bag of 14 by 14 by 6 inches, clear or other, and Chase Center caps a bag at 14 by 6 by 14 inches with diaper and medical bags inside the same figure, read September 2026.
Winner for a parent carrying a full diaper bag: Phoenix, Seattle and San Francisco, because the bag enters as ordinary luggage and needs no reason attached. Loser: Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Inglewood, where the identical box exists only when there is a need to declare.
Where the same 14 by 14 by 6 inch box is everyday luggage and where it is a medical exception
The six arenas below print one of the two most common bag figures in the West, and the column that matters is the last one, because it decides what a wrong bag costs after the measurement has already failed.
| Arena and city, read September 2026 | What the 14 by 14 by 6 inch box covers | Ordinary bag admitted at that size | Published destination for a refused bag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix | Purses, medical bags and diaper bags, with additional screening | Yes, the same box | None published, and surrendered items are usually not returned |
| Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle | One bag, clear or other, plus a small clutch of 4 by 6 by 1.5 inches | Yes, the same box | No bag check on the pages read |
| Chase Center, San Francisco | Any bag including diaper and medical, written 14 by 6 by 14 inches | Yes, transparency not required | Bag check for a $10 donation beside the East Entrance |
| Moda Center, Portland | Everything outside basketball, and medical and childcare bags | Only outside basketball, 10 by 6 by 2 inches at a Trail Blazers game | Bag check available with no price published |
| Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles | Medical and parental need only, compulsory X-ray | No, clutch or wallet under 5 by 9 by 1 inches | Binbox lockers from $15 per bag, non refundable |
| Delta Center, Salt Lake City | Diaper and medical bags only, X-rayed at the entrance | No, clutch to 4 by 6 by 2 inches | No published place to leave it |
Phoenix sits in the generous half of that table on size and in the harsh half on repair, a combination the comparison of Western arena bag rules sets out venue by venue.
What the Mortgage Matchup Center door refuses by type rather than by size
Computers and laptops are refused outright, and tablets 8 inches or smaller are permitted for sporting events but prohibited during concerts and certain events, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, read September 2026. The same object therefore enters on a Tuesday for the Suns and stops at the door on a Friday for a touring show.
The rest of the refusal list works the same way. Professional cameras, video and recording devices including GoPros, selfie sticks, drones, laser pointers, weapons and knives of any size, mace or pepper spray of any size, outside food and beverages, artificial noise makers and Halloween style masks worn on entry all sit on the prohibited list, read September 2026.
Sacramento uses the same logic on the bag itself. Golden 1 Center prohibits anything larger than 8 by 6 by 1 inches and refuses backpacks at any size, read September 2026, which puts the category ahead of the ruler in both cities.
No tape measure answers a single line on that list.
The Guest Services Office in the pavilion takes a stroller and a wheelchair and no bag
Guests who need to check items that cannot be reasonably stored beneath a seat, such as strollers or wheelchairs, may do so at the Guest Services Office in the pavilion at the northwest corner of the building, and receive a claim tag to retrieve the item at the conclusion of the event, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, read September 2026.
Two limits sit inside that sentence. Guest Services reserves the right to decline storage of any item or to require that an item be returned to a guest’s vehicle, and the service names strollers and wheelchairs rather than bags.
No locker, bag check or storage price appears in the fifty arena policies, the transportation and parking page or the accessibility page read in September 2026. The same office does hand items out: sensory bags can be checked out there for use during events, and a mobility device can be stored while a wheelchair escort takes the guest to a seat.
Three Western arenas price the same problem instead. Chase Center takes a $10 donation for a bag of any size, Crypto.com Arena starts its Binbox lockers at $15 per checked bag, and T-Mobile Arena starts its Binbox Lockers at $20 and shuts them 45 minutes after the event, read September 2026.
A surrendered item in Phoenix is usually not returned, and that prices the packing mistake
Guests found carrying prohibited items at a security checkpoint may be asked whether they would like to surrender the items rather than bring them into the arena, and items voluntarily surrendered are usually not returned to the person and are either disposed of or donated to a local charity, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, read September 2026.
That is the published destination for a refused object in Phoenix, and it is not a shelf. The cost of arriving with the wrong bag is the bag, unless the walk back to the car fits inside the time left before doors.
One category does get a return path. A video recording device used against the arena’s policy is secured by an usher or security personnel, delivered to the Guest Services Office and retrieved at the conclusion of the event, read September 2026. A camera taken at the door comes back. A bag handed over at the door does not.
Read those two rules together and the building is clear about which objects it intends to keep.
Re-entry is refused to the person in Phoenix and the in and out clause belongs to the car
Re-entry is not permitted for any games, concerts or events at Mortgage Matchup Center, according to the arena’s re-entry policy, read September 2026. The subject of that sentence is the ticket holder, so stepping outside to stow a bag ends the visit.
A second sentence sits on the parking side and gets quoted as if it were the first. Parking does not include in and out privileges, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, read September 2026, and its subject is the vehicle. Angel Stadium writes the same kind of clause about the car, and Crypto.com Arena prints its version among garage hours.
Both are refusals in Phoenix, which is why the distinction is worth keeping straight: the arena publishes one for the person and one for the car, and confusing them only matters at the buildings that publish just one.
The other Phoenix venue answers the opposite way. Chase Field sets up specific gates as re-entry gates and scans a ticket out and back in, read September 2026, and the ballpark rule that turns a refused bag into a walk is the reason a downtown habit does not transfer six blocks.
Doors at 75 minutes before a Mercury tip off are the only dated repair window the arena gives
Guests are encouraged to visit the designated event page for door times, as opening schedules vary by event, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, read September 2026. Mortgage Matchup Center publishes no general door time, so the repair window for a wrong bag has to be read off one listing at a time.
The Mercury against the Aces on 24 September 2026 carries the figure. Doors open 75 minutes prior to the scheduled start time on that event page, read September 2026, and that is the only clock a Phoenix visitor can count backwards from.
Parking is the other half. Guests should plan for parking to be available beginning approximately 30 minutes before doors open, unless otherwise noted for a specific event, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, and the parking clock set by the door time explains why a driver cannot convert it into an hour.
Stack the two and a driver arriving as parking opens stands about 105 minutes ahead of tip off and about 30 minutes ahead of the doors (Lot Opens calculation, September 2026). That half hour is the whole margin for a bag that fails.
Published Mortgage Matchup Center rules that change what a Phoenix group carries in
- One sealed plastic water bottle per guest is allowed for Phoenix Suns and Mercury home games, read September 2026, and the prohibited items list adds that sealed water bottles may be permitted for certain events but could be restricted.
- Items necessary for the care of children including baby bottles and formula are permitted, according to Mortgage Matchup Center, which is a separate allowance from the diaper bag that carries them.
- Children thirty-six months of age and older need a valid ticket, and younger children are admitted on a lap, so an infant does not create a second bag allowance.
- Banners and signs carry their own published limits, smaller for concerts than for Suns and Mercury games, and not every concert permits signs or flags at all.
- The arena is fully cashless, with reverse ATMs near the Ticket Office and Section 218 converting cash into a prepaid card, read September 2026.
- Bike racks sit inside the attached parking garage on level one and inside the Jefferson Street Garage on Level One along 3rd Street, so a helmet has somewhere to go that a bag does not.
Where a Phoenix bag plan comes apart between the garage and the Evolv lane
Treating 4 by 6 inches as the clutch limit. It is the threshold for the Evolv express entry lanes, and a larger clutch still enters Mortgage Matchup Center through a standard lane, read September 2026.
Buying a clear bag for a Phoenix arena night. Thirteen of the twenty-seven Western venues Lot Opens reads from source publish the 12 by 6 by 12 inch clear box, Chase Field and the Kia Forum among them, and no clear bag rule appears in the fifty Mortgage Matchup Center policies read in September 2026. Transparency buys nothing at this door.
Carrying a drawstring bag on the strength of the Prohibited Items exception. The event page block refuses backpacks with no exception, and the gate works from the event.
Expecting the Guest Services Office to hold a purse. Its published service covers strollers and wheelchairs, and a refused item is more likely to be surrendered than stored.
Reading the parking in and out sentence as permission to step outside. That clause is about the vehicle, and the pedestrian refusal is a separate rule that covers every game, concert and event.
Which Mortgage Matchup Center pages carried each rule in this guide
Every bag dimension, refusal and check in this guide comes from the Mortgage Matchup Center policies and rules page, read September 2026, whose fifty rules include the Bag Policy, Prohibited Items, Item Check, Re-Entry Policy, Containers, Surrendered Items and Door Times. The 75 minute door time comes from the arena’s event page for the Mercury against the Aces on 24 September 2026.
The parking clock and the in and out clause come from the arena’s transportation and parking page, and the Guest Services detail from its accessibility and ADA page, both read September 2026. Comparisons name their own issuer inside the sentence that carries them, whether that is Climate Pledge Arena, Chase Center, Moda Center, Crypto.com Arena, Intuit Dome, Delta Center, Honda Center, Golden 1 Center, T-Mobile Arena, Chase Field or the Kia Forum.
The figures in this guide were verified in September 2026 against the sources named in each section. Bag rules change by event and by promoter, door times are published per event rather than per building, and item restrictions can be modified for concerts and special events; check the issuer’s page before you travel.
Bag questions Suns and Mercury visitors ask before the pavilion doors
Six answers taken from the Mortgage Matchup Center policies and rules page and from the arena’s own event listing, read September 2026, covering the ceiling, the express lane threshold, the backpack refusal and the way back in.
Purses, medical bags and diaper bags are allowed at Mortgage Matchup Center provided they comply with arena bag size guidelines of 14 by 14 by 6 inches, and are subject to additional screening, read September 2026. Small clutches and crossbody bags are permitted with no published size, and standard backpacks are not permitted inside the arena.
No. Guests arriving without bags or with clutches smaller than 4 by 6 inches are encouraged to use the Evolv express entry lanes, read September 2026, which makes that figure a queue threshold rather than a ceiling. A larger clutch is still permitted and enters through a standard screening lane.
Standard backpacks are not permitted, read September 2026. The Prohibited Items list allows single compartment drawstring bags meeting NBA and Arena size requirements, while the block printed on each event page refuses backpacks with no exception, so the strict reading is the safe one. Diaper bags resembling backpacks pass inside 14 by 14 by 6 inches.
No locker, bag check or storage price appears in the fifty arena policies, the transportation page or the accessibility page read in September 2026. The Guest Services Office in the pavilion checks strollers and wheelchairs for a claim tag, and a surrendered prohibited item is usually not returned and is disposed of or donated.
Re-entry is not permitted for any games, concerts or events at Mortgage Matchup Center, read September 2026, and the subject of that rule is the ticket holder. A separate parking sentence states that parking does not include in and out privileges, and the subject of that one is the vehicle.
Mortgage Matchup Center publishes no general door time and sends guests to the designated event page, read September 2026. The listing for the Phoenix Mercury against the Las Vegas Aces on 24 September 2026 gives doors 75 minutes prior to tip off, and parking opens approximately 30 minutes before those doors.
In Phoenix the ceiling is generous and the object rule is not
Measured against the Western arenas, Mortgage Matchup Center is one of the roomier doors. Its 14 by 14 by 6 inch box matches Climate Pledge Arena, beats the clutch limits at Crypto.com Arena and Delta Center by a wide margin, and asks for no transparency at all.
The generosity stops at the tape measure. A backpack fails on what it is, a tablet fails on what night it is, a refused item is more likely to be surrendered than stored, and the ticket ends at the exit. Phoenix gave the bag room and gave the mistake nowhere to go.
Related guides
- Climate Pledge Arena and the same box as everyday luggage
- Crypto.com Arena, its refused bags and the Binbox lockers
The arena measured the bag once and judged the object twice, and only the second judgement has no appeal.