Name: Empire Polo Club
Brand: Desert Oasis Insider
Availability: InStock

How a 1987 polo destination became the home of Coachella and Stagecoach—and what visitors need to know about events, access, venue spaces and polo today.

Photographed and researched by Mark Miller, an Indio-based local guide. Last verified July 25, 2026.

Empire Polo Club is a landmark event venue at 81-800 Avenue 51 in Indio, California. Founded by Alexander “Al” Haagen III as a polo club in 1987, the property became known worldwide as the home of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach. Today, the famous Avenue 51 grounds host music, professional soccer, youth sports, art festivals, dog shows, weddings, corporate gatherings and other large-scale events beneath the Santa Rosa Mountains.

One distinction is essential: the Avenue 51 property no longer presents a regular public Sunday polo season. Goldenvoice gained year-round operational control of the main event grounds under a long-term agreement in 2021, while Empire’s active polo operation shifted to nearby Calhoun Ranch. Calhoun Ranch is a private polo facility. For public winter Sunday polo, use neighboring Eldorado Polo Club’s official season calendar; its next schedule had not been announced when this guide was verified.

Event dates, entrances, parking plans and venue rules can change.

Empire Polo Club at a glance

Detail	What to know
Location	81-800 Avenue 51, Indio, CA 92201
Founded	1987
Founder	Alexander “Al” Haagen III
Original purpose	A major winter polo destination
Best known today	Coachella, Stagecoach and large-scale special events
Current main-venue operation	AEG’s 2021 agreement identified the Haagen family as owner and gave Goldenvoice year-round operational control under a long-term agreement
Public access	Visitors generally enter for a scheduled public event, an on-site business during posted hours, a private invitation or a prearranged appointment; there are no advertised daily attraction hours
Regular public polo	No longer held at the Avenue 51 event grounds
Official event information	Empire Polo Club Events

Before visiting: Empire Polo Club is a working event venue, not a public park with universal hours or admission. Tickets, gates, parking, rideshare locations, bag policies, food rules, animal policies and accessibility procedures are set for each event. Always use the current organizer’s information.

What is Empire Polo Club today?

Empire Polo Club has lived two remarkable lives on the same landscape.

Its first life was equestrian. Haagen created the club during the rise of winter polo in the eastern Coachella Valley, developing a destination with tournament fields, arenas, exercise tracks, stabling and spectator areas. Empire helped establish the valley as a major U.S. winter-polo destination.

Its second life grew from the same qualities that made the property work for polo: immense lawns, open sky, a dry desert climate, mountain views and enough room to move people, horses and equipment at scale. Those characteristics also made the grounds unusually well suited to outdoor concerts, festivals, sporting competitions and elaborate private events.

The name can now describe related but different places:

Name visitors may see	What it means now
Empire Polo Club, Empire Polo Grounds or Empire Polo Fields	The famous Avenue 51 event property in Indio used by Coachella, Stagecoach and other public or private events
Empire Polo at Calhoun Ranch	Empire’s current private polo facility at 52995 Calhoun Street in Coachella, California, with grass fields, an indoor polo arena, an exercise track and stabling
Eldorado Polo Club	A separate neighboring club known for public winter Sunday polo; verify its upcoming schedule before visiting

This distinction matters because many older guides still publish Empire’s pre-2021 Sunday match times, admission details and parking prices. Those details should not be used to plan a current visit.

The history of Empire Polo Club

1987: A new winter polo destination

Alexander Haagen III established Empire Polo Club in 1987 after taking up the sport earlier in the decade. What began as a purpose-built polo property developed into a prominent West Coast club, drawing teams, professional players and spectators to Indio during the winter season.

1990–1991: Empire enters American polo history

Empire’s significance was established early. In 1990, the club hosted a rare 40-goal match composed entirely of 10-goal players—then only the second such match staged anywhere. That year, it also hosted the first officially USPA-sanctioned U.S. Women’s Open. In 1991, Empire hosted the first USPA-sanctioned Women’s Arena Open.

Those milestones place the club within the history of the sport itself, not merely within the later story of desert festivals.

1993: Pearl Jam proves the grounds can become a concert venue

On November 5, 1993, Pearl Jam performed at Empire Polo Club during the band’s dispute with Ticketmaster. The desert concert showed Goldenvoice that a remote polo property could support a major outdoor music audience. It became the proof of concept for something far larger.

1999: The first Coachella

The inaugural Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held at Empire Polo Club in October 1999. The festival eventually grew from a two-day experiment into an internationally recognized music and arts event, now staged across two April weekends.

2007: Stagecoach begins

Stagecoach held its first festival at Empire Polo Club in 2007, extending the site’s reach into country, bluegrass, folk and roots music. Coachella and Stagecoach together turned the polo grounds into the landscape most closely associated with Indio’s modern identity as the City of Festivals.

A stage for one-of-a-kind music events

Empire has also hosted music events designed as destinations in their own right. Phish created Festival 8 on the grounds in 2009. Desert Trip brought six landmark rock acts to a purpose-built arena in 2016. Goldenvoice staged Power Trip in 2023 with a heavy-rock and metal lineup. Each event used the same essential asset differently: a vast green canvas set within the Colorado Desert.

2021: The main grounds enter a new era

In October 2021, Goldenvoice announced a long-term agreement for year-round operational control of the primary Empire Polo Club site. The arrangement expanded the property’s ability to host concerts, sports, private functions and other programming throughout the year. Empire’s regular polo activity moved to Calhoun Ranch, where the club’s equestrian identity continues in a more private setting.

Why Empire Polo Club works as a large-scale venue

Empire is striking because it does not look like the landscape most people expect to find in Indio. Broad lawns, palms, gardens, water features and established event spaces form a green foreground, while the Santa Rosa Mountains create a rugged desert backdrop.

The property also offers something an arena cannot: flexibility. A polo field can become a concert audience area, a soccer pitch, a lacrosse grid, a sculpture garden, a hospitality village or a temporary world of stages and tents. The grounds can support intimate private gatherings and events for tens of thousands without forcing every production into the same footprint.

That physical adaptability explains why Empire’s history is not a simple change from polo to music. It is a continuing pattern of reinvention.

Major events at Empire Polo Club

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

Coachella occupies the grounds for two consecutive weekends each spring. Music is spread across multiple stages, while large-scale art installations turn the venue into a temporary cultural landscape. The festival began at Empire in 1999 and remains the event most closely identified with the property.

Stagecoach

Stagecoach follows with three days of country and roots music. Although it uses the same venue, its stage programming, food, activities and visual identity create a different experience from Coachella.

Coachella Valley Invitational

The Coachella Valley Invitational has brought Major League Soccer and National Women’s Soccer League clubs to Empire for preseason competition. Spectators can watch professional teams in an unusually close, training-ground-style environment, demonstrating how naturally the former tournament fields translate into a modern soccer campus. Its 2026 program ran in February; 2027 dates had not been announced when this guide was verified.

Sand Storm Lacrosse Festival

Sand Storm transforms more than 100 acres into dozens of lacrosse fields for teams from across the United States and Canada. Its long-term agreement keeps the event at Empire through at least 2044.

Southwest Arts Festival

The Southwest Arts Festival has used Empire’s landscaped setting for a juried presentation of traditional, contemporary and abstract fine art, jewelry, pottery, glass and crafts. The event reveals a quieter side of the property than the April music festivals. Confirm future dates with the organizer.

Kennel Club of Palm Springs dog shows

The Kennel Club of Palm Springs has traditionally held its New Year shows at the Empire Polo Grounds. The multi-day program includes all-breed competition, obedience and rally trials and is one of the first major West Coast dog-show events of the year. Confirm the next dates with the organizer.

Private and community events

Empire also hosts weddings, corporate retreats, product launches, trade shows, galas, sporting tournaments, film and photography productions and occasional civic celebrations. These events may occupy one garden or combine multiple spaces across the property.

Next confirmed major dates

Verified July 25, 2026; check each organizer before making plans.

Sand Storm Lacrosse Festival: January 16–17, 2027
Coachella Weekend 1: April 9–11, 2027
Coachella Weekend 2: April 16–18, 2027
Stagecoach: April 23–25, 2027

For other programming, begin with the Empire Polo Club public-events page, then confirm the date and status with the event organizer. The venue calendar is useful for discovery but may contain stale dates or status labels; confirm every listing with its organizer.

The four principal event spaces

Empire is more than a collection of open fields. Four landscaped and built environments allow the venue to host events with very different scales and moods.

Venue	Character and current specifications
The Rose Garden	Three acres with approximately 8,000 rose bushes, fountains, statuary, three Victorian gazebos and a renovated 5,000-square-foot indoor pavilion with hardwood flooring
The Forum	A fully enclosed, 48,000-square-foot clear-span structure with a 60-foot ceiling, six roll-up doors, a large adjacent field and tiered terraces
Hacienda del Toro	Three landscaped acres centered on a 16,000-square-foot permanent covered area with a hardscape floor and Art Deco chandeliers
Medjhool Lake	A ten-acre lakeside setting with palms, footbridges, walkways and three tented structures providing 24,000 square feet of covered event space

Official venue materials describe configurations for roughly 15 to 90,000 guests, depending on the event. Empire’s own current pages publish conflicting acreage figures—including approximately 1,000 acres in some descriptions and more than 250 acres in another—without reconciling the difference. This guide therefore describes Empire as a large multi-venue campus rather than presenting one acreage total as definitive.

Empire Grand Oasis is not one of the four spaces at the Indio grounds. It is a separate sister property in Thermal with a lagoon, white-sand beach, palms and a waterfall.

Event planners can review the official venue spaces or submit a request through the Empire Polo Club booking page.

Can you visit Empire Polo Club without an event?

Empire Polo Club does not advertise regular sightseeing hours, self-guided grounds access or a standing public tour program. Visitors generally enter for one of the following:

Admission to a scheduled public event
A visit to an operating on-site business
An invitation to a private event
A scheduled venue tour or business appointment

The Tack Room Tavern is an on-site restaurant open to the public during posted hours, but its schedule is seasonal and can change during festival setup, festival weekends and summer. Verify current hours before traveling.

Current seasonal notice: As of July 25, 2026, the Tack Room’s official site lists a summer closure from July 6 through September 3, with reopening scheduled for September 4, 2026.

Getting to Empire Polo Club

Address

Empire Polo Club
81-800 Avenue 51
Indio, CA 92201

Official venue and festival pages continue to publish the Avenue 51 address. A section of Avenue 51 between Monroe Street and Madison Street has also been named Haagen Way, so navigation systems or local signs may display both names.

For ordinary events

Use the entrance, lot and arrival instructions supplied by the organizer. Empire is a large property with multiple gates and internal destinations; the street address alone may not identify the correct entrance.

For Coachella and Stagecoach

Do not rely only on a standard GPS route. Festival traffic plans can include road closures, one-way travel patterns, dedicated parking approaches, shuttle routes and specific rideshare or pickup areas. Follow the current festival map, temporary signs and traffic personnel.

Parking and rideshare

There is no universal Empire Polo Club parking policy. Some events include parking, some charge separately, some use off-site overflow, and others restrict where passengers may be dropped off. Check the event organizer’s current parking page before departure.

Camping

Empire Polo Club is not a general-purpose campground. Overnight camping is available only when a specific event offers it and only under that event’s pass, check-in and vehicle rules. Coachella and Stagecoach sell their own camping or resort products, which are separate from ordinary venue access. Do not sleep in a day-parking lot or arrive with an RV unless the organizer explicitly permits it.

Accessibility

Accessibility services, parking, entry lanes and viewing areas are also event-specific. Visitors should use the organizer’s ADA page or contact information rather than assuming that one festival’s procedure applies to every event at Empire.

Pets, food, coolers and cameras

These rules change with the event. A dog show, private wedding, youth tournament and music festival may each use different animal, food, beverage, cooler, chair, blanket and camera policies. Check the current event’s allowed-and-prohibited list instead of relying on an old Empire guide or another organizer’s rules.

Desert conditions and what to wear

Even when temperatures are comfortable, the site can involve long distances across grass or temporary pathways. Supportive footwear, sun protection, water if permitted by the event and an evening layer are practical choices.

Airport and lodging

Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) is the Coachella Valley’s principal commercial airport. Lodging is available throughout Indio, La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and Palm Springs. For the April festivals, compare distance with the organizer’s shuttle network before booking: a designated shuttle hotel farther west may be easier than a closer property without festival transportation.

Where is Empire polo played now?

Empire’s polo operation continues at Calhoun Ranch, a separate private facility with ten grass fields, an indoor polo arena, an exercise track and stabling. It does not offer a regular weekly public match schedule, although occasional special polo events may be opened to spectators.

For visitors who want to watch a traditional winter Sunday match, Eldorado Polo Club is the neighboring public venue to check. Eldorado is a separate club known for its seasonal Sunday program. Its next schedule had not been announced as of July 25, 2026.

This is the clearest way to understand the three names:

Empire Polo Grounds in Indio: the famous event and festival venue
Empire Polo at Calhoun Ranch: the current private Empire polo facility
Eldorado Polo Club: the neighboring club known for public winter Sunday polo

Why Empire Polo Club matters to Indio

Few places tell Indio’s modern story as clearly as Empire Polo Club. The city’s agricultural landscape and winter equestrian culture created the setting. Polo shaped the fields. Pearl Jam revealed the property’s concert potential. Coachella and Stagecoach then carried the name of Indio to a worldwide audience.

The impact extends beyond festival weekends. The California Governor’s Office reported in 2026 that Coachella and Stagecoach together contribute more than $700 million annually to the state economy, while the 2025 Coachella festival drew nearly 250,000 attendees across its two weekends. The same grounds now support professional soccer, youth sports, art, hospitality and private events at other points in the year.

Empire is therefore more than the place where Coachella happens. It is one of the landscapes that changed what Indio could become.

Frequently asked questions

Is Empire Polo Club open to the public?

Empire Polo Club is open to attendees during scheduled public events, whether ticketed or free, and on-site businesses may have their own posted hours. The grounds do not advertise universal daily admission or a regular public tour program.

Can you still watch polo at Empire Polo Club?

Not as a regular Sunday program at the famous Avenue 51 grounds. Empire’s current polo activity is based at private Calhoun Ranch, which may host occasional public special events. Eldorado Polo Club is known for public winter Sunday polo, but visitors should verify that its next season has been announced before making plans.

Is Empire Polo Club where Coachella and Stagecoach are held?

Yes. The Empire Polo Club grounds in Indio have hosted Coachella since the festival began in 1999 and Stagecoach since its first edition in 2007.

Is parking free at Empire Polo Club?

Parking depends entirely on the event. It may be included, sold as a separate pass, offered first-come and first-served or routed to an overflow location. Use the current event organizer’s map and parking instructions.

Can Empire Polo Club be rented for a wedding or private event?

Yes. The property hosts weddings, corporate events, private parties, productions and sporting events. Its four principal Indio spaces are the Rose Garden, the Forum, Hacienda del Toro and Medjhool Lake, with configurations ranging from intimate gatherings to major productions.