SCOTTSDALE, AZ — It's now less than four months until the 2024 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Event organizers and safety officials said preparations are well underway for the upcoming 89th installment of the "Greatest Show on Grass."
"Fingers crossed, everything's going great," said chairman George Thimsen. "Our team is very experienced out here."
Preparations really have been underway since the end of the last Open.
"As soon as that last ball drops on that Super Bowl Sunday, we're already thinking about, what can we do to improve on this next year?" Thimsen said.
That's a similar mindset for Scottsdale safety officials too.
"It's probably back to business as usual," said Scottsdale Fire Department Captain Dave Folio. "We really ramped it up last year because of the Super Bowl."
Folio said they're always working to make the massive event safer and more efficient for everyone year after year.
"We always learn some stuff, like, if you noticed this year, that front entrance got really congested, so you'll probably see a wider entrance," he said.
His department's engineers are now out making sure the "city within a city," that TPC Scottsdale is commonly referred to as during the Phoenix Open, is going up structurally sound.
"We as a fire department have to be able to know where to stage equipment, know that we have large cooking facilities at [the 16th hole] where there's ten thousand people [near] cooking oils and propanes," Folio said.
Several announcements have been made regarding entertainment at the 2024 WMPO.
The lineup for the Coors Light Bird's Nest is starting to take shape.
Country music stars Hardy and Bailey Zimmerman will hit the stage Wednesday, February 7. Hip-hop artist mike. will open the show.
