Speaker 1: It's time for another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Arizona Cardinals play by play voice longtime
Speaker 1: ESPN announcer Dave Pash. We are presented by bet MGM,
Speaker 1: the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and
Speaker 1: Hila River Hotels and Casinos. If you want updates on
Speaker 1: future guests and also relive some of the moments from
Speaker 1: our previous guests, you can follow us on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Pash Pod. I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and I
Speaker 1: didn't leave the state until I was eighteen years old,
Speaker 1: when I went away to college at Syracuse University, and
Speaker 1: then after that I worked in markets, primarily on the
Speaker 1: East Coast and in the Midwest until moving to Arizona
Speaker 1: in two thousand and two. So when I took the
Speaker 1: job in Phoenix, I didn't know a ton about the
Speaker 1: inner workings of the organization other than the fact that
Speaker 1: they had been in Chicago one point, moved to Saint
Speaker 1: Louis and then to Phoenix, and when I got here,
Speaker 1: the Cardinals were still playing at Sundevil Stadium. Fan attendance
Speaker 1: wasn't high, but there was a buzz within the organization
Speaker 1: a confidence level internally from the marketing and broadcasting departments
Speaker 1: to the football side of the building, and what happened
Speaker 1: over the next decade proved that that confidence was merited.
Speaker 1: The organization had undergone a major transformation with State Farm Stadium,
Speaker 1: the community involvement expansion, and then being a playoff contender
Speaker 1: on a relatively consistent basis. The Cardinals had totally changed,
Speaker 1: and the man behind the transformation is our guest today,
Speaker 1: Cardinal's owner Michael Bidwill. A one time ball boy, Michael
Speaker 1: grew up close to the organization, of course, with his
Speaker 1: family owning the team, but he spent a good part
Speaker 1: of his adult life outside the organization working as a
Speaker 1: federal prosecutor. He rejoined the team in nineteen ninety six,
Speaker 1: eventually became president and now owner. We talk about the
Speaker 1: state of the NFL, his high expectations for the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one Cardinal season, his love of aviation, and how
Speaker 1: that positively impact of the Cardinals. Michael tells some great
Speaker 1: stories about some of his favorite players, about all the
Speaker 1: time he spent with his dad. He also gets into
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray and his maturity level and J. J. Watton
Speaker 1: how that free agent signing went down. So here is
Speaker 1: Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell on the Dave Pash Podcast. So, Michael,
Speaker 1: with the change to a seventeen game regular season, the
Speaker 1: new TV contracts, it seems like the appetite for NFL
Speaker 1: football as at an all time high. So with that
Speaker 1: in mind, what are your thoughts on the state of
Speaker 1: the NFL right now going into the twenty twenty one season. Well, Dave,
Speaker 1: thank you for the question and thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: I think this podcast is awesome. But to answer the question,
Speaker 1: I think the future of the NFL is very, very bright.
Speaker 1: We've got ten years of labor stability. We've managed our
Speaker 1: way through this pandemic in an unprecedented way. The NFL
Speaker 1: was the only league to play every scheduled regular season
Speaker 1: game last year and to play its championship games on
Speaker 1: time and on schedule on the original schedule. Nobody thought
Speaker 1: we could do it. But it was collectively the players,
Speaker 1: the owners, the league office, the officials, the coaches, everybody
Speaker 1: you know chipped in and did what they needed to
Speaker 1: do to accomplish that. But when you look at that
Speaker 1: stability of having the agreement with the players, the seventeen
Speaker 1: game season in the growth of interest with our fans.
Speaker 1: We continue to make this it's the greatest game that
Speaker 1: there is, and we believe, you know, let's give more
Speaker 1: to the fans. So there's more access, more regular season games,
Speaker 1: now more of a pathway to the playoffs for teams
Speaker 1: with the added wildcard for each conference. So I think
Speaker 1: it's very bright. And you'll just look at some of
Speaker 1: our ratings, you know, TV ratings around the draft, TV
Speaker 1: ratings around the combine, TV ratings around preseason. You know,
Speaker 1: we just blow everybody away, and you know, we continue
Speaker 1: to work at making the game more interesting and I
Speaker 1: think there are going to be a lot of things
Speaker 1: that contributed to that. And I know you're gonna ask
Speaker 1: me a little later about legalized sports betting, but my
Speaker 1: guests is that will help contribute to interest as well.
Speaker 1: I want to follow up on one of the things
Speaker 1: you said about the NFL being the only league to
Speaker 1: not miss a game, and I was part of the
Speaker 1: NBA doing an NBA game the night it shut down
Speaker 1: and ended up spending some time in the bubble, and
Speaker 1: obviously the NBA took several months off and then started
Speaker 1: the next season late. You guys just plowed right through.
Speaker 1: And I'm just curious when you were all having your conversations,
Speaker 1: how did that get finalized where you guys all said,
Speaker 1: you know what, we're going to just keep plowing ahead
Speaker 1: and we'll kind of figure it out. But we owe
Speaker 1: it to our fans and our sponsors and the players
Speaker 1: to continue as planned. Well, I think it started with
Speaker 1: Commissioner Goodell. I mean, Roger just was determined, especially when
Speaker 1: people said there's no way we could do it, that
Speaker 1: we would find a way. And so doctor Sills is
Speaker 1: our chief medical officer for the National Football League, all
Speaker 1: the medical community, and then the relationship we have with
Speaker 1: an infectious disease specialist at Duke University as well as others,
Speaker 1: the relationship that we had and have with the federal
Speaker 1: agencies that oversee the CDC and everything else. So we
Speaker 1: just worked very hard and then worked with some private
Speaker 1: contractors who were going to be able to do testing
Speaker 1: for us, and they developed these protocols that there was
Speaker 1: a real burden on our players, coaches, staff, but we
Speaker 1: tested every day. We knew that we'd have positives, we
Speaker 1: just needed to identify them early and eliminate them from
Speaker 1: the pool until they were fully recovered and not infectious anymore,
Speaker 1: and so they put together a terrific plan. And there
Speaker 1: was a plan not only for the players and the
Speaker 1: coaches and keeping everybody safe, officials and all the people
Speaker 1: that are around them on the field, but also you know,
Speaker 1: for fans if we were going to be able to
Speaker 1: have fans and some teams, including the Cardinals, were allowed
Speaker 1: to have limited number of fans in in the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty season. All right, let's focus on twenty twenty one. Now,
Speaker 1: the camp in preseason are over. What are your thoughts
Speaker 1: on the state of the team heading into the Tennessee game. Well,
Speaker 1: I think I couldn't be more excited about this season
Speaker 1: when you look at what we've built here and the
Speaker 1: terrific draft. But it started really probably a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago drafting Kyler and then last year being able
Speaker 1: to trade for DeAndre Hopkins, as well as you know
Speaker 1: this year in the offseason signing JJ Watt, trading for
Speaker 1: Rodney Hudson, addressing some of these things that we needed
Speaker 1: to address on our offensive line, as well as giving
Speaker 1: him an additional target with AJ Green. I couldn't be
Speaker 1: more excited. We need Kyler to further grow and he's
Speaker 1: shown a lot of leadership through the offseason and training camp.
Speaker 1: But I feel really good about how they've prepared mentally,
Speaker 1: so I'm cited about Week one. They're a good team,
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans, and we're going to know what we're
Speaker 1: made of and I'm excited to get that going. What
Speaker 1: are your expectations, because I assume as an owner, your
Speaker 1: expectation every years to win the Super Bowl, and if
Speaker 1: you don't, then it's a disappointing outcome because everybody wants
Speaker 1: to win the title. Obviously, it's only one out of
Speaker 1: thirty two. So what are your expectations for this particular year. Well,
Speaker 1: I think every year the goal is to win the
Speaker 1: division and then to stay hot through January and get
Speaker 1: yourself to the super Bowl. And we've done that once before.
Speaker 1: We came short in twenty fifteen. But I feel like
Speaker 1: we've got a team with We've really strengthened that defense,
Speaker 1: we've strengthened the offense, and a lot of it is
Speaker 1: about staying healthy, making sure we manage ourselves through the
Speaker 1: pandemic because we're still in it. We know they're going
Speaker 1: to be additional infections this year, but again, we'll be
Speaker 1: testing and isolating, and we've got everybody vaccinated. Only one
Speaker 1: players not vaccinated with us. But I think we've got
Speaker 1: a really good plan going forward. Now we got to
Speaker 1: and execute and stay healthy. And it was clear that
Speaker 1: part of the plan was to improve the leadership and
Speaker 1: accountability in the locker room. How did you go about
Speaker 1: plotting that out? And you talked about the signing of
Speaker 1: JJ Watt obviously that was important, but how did you
Speaker 1: and Steve Kime come up with the idea, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is how we want to plot this out and plan
Speaker 1: to improve the locker room. Well, I think it's about,
Speaker 1: you know, growing the young leaders that we have, Buddha Baker,
Speaker 1: Chandler Jones, There's so many great leaders that we have
Speaker 1: on this team, and then making sure as we bring
Speaker 1: in new leaders you know DeAndre from a year ago,
Speaker 1: j Rodney Hudson, they're all doing a terrific job. And
Speaker 1: then we make sure you know that we're asking the
Speaker 1: coaches to make sure that they're leaders in each one
Speaker 1: of those rooms. And they're doing it anyway, but we're
Speaker 1: really putting in an emphasis on it from top to bottom,
Speaker 1: and I think it's really showed and it's given the
Speaker 1: space for those young leaders to speak up and to
Speaker 1: be able to speak to their teammates. And I think
Speaker 1: Kyler showed a lot of leadership. You know, in his
Speaker 1: third year he needed to get comfortable, and he's gotten
Speaker 1: comfortable holding his teammates accountable. Why do you think, I
Speaker 1: want to follow up on your comment on Kyler in
Speaker 1: what areas have you seen him grow? Why do you
Speaker 1: think it took till now maybe to be a little
Speaker 1: bit more vocal. Well, I think you know, it's natural
Speaker 1: with any young player coming in, it's got to be
Speaker 1: an intimidating situation. You come in and you know, twenty
Speaker 1: two years old and you're expected to be the leader
Speaker 1: of the entire team, not just one side of the ball,
Speaker 1: and it's going to take a little bit of time.
Speaker 1: And so I think he's done that. He's done a
Speaker 1: good job. He's organized things in Dallas where in the
Speaker 1: off season he's been communicating with his teammates, and then
Speaker 1: certainly a training camp, he's been holding them accountable out
Speaker 1: on the practice field and you can see it and
Speaker 1: talking to his receivers, talking to his offensive lineman, talking
Speaker 1: to his running backs. You guys have done a great
Speaker 1: job of keeping things quiet. It's amazing because nowadays it's
Speaker 1: hard when you have a major trade or a major
Speaker 1: free agent signing in any sport for schefter or woj
Speaker 1: in the NBA to not get it. But the DeAndre
Speaker 1: Hopkins moved last year and the JJ Watt signing, it
Speaker 1: didn't leak right. How did you guys execute the JJ
Speaker 1: Watt move? Well? I think part of it was it
Speaker 1: was important for JJ that he wanted to, you know,
Speaker 1: keep things buttoned up, and that's sort of our m oh,
Speaker 1: that's how we operate. It's like, why talk about it
Speaker 1: until it's happened, because you're just gonna let people down
Speaker 1: if something big like that doesn't happen, And so we
Speaker 1: keep our mouths shut, and it's on a need to
Speaker 1: know basis internally sometimes just with Steve and me and
Speaker 1: nobody else knows until they need to know, and we'll
Speaker 1: bring coach in the loop, knowing that he was probably
Speaker 1: going to be all for it, which he was with
Speaker 1: both hop and JJ, and so it was super important
Speaker 1: to them that the announcement. You know, it was important
Speaker 1: to JJ that he made his announcement, and it was
Speaker 1: important to the Texans when we did the trade that
Speaker 1: we just decided we're going to keep this buttoned up
Speaker 1: and we keep our end of the deal. Is the
Speaker 1: presence of JJ Watton noticeable for you? I know in
Speaker 1: talking with some of the coaches, they say, man, when
Speaker 1: JJ walks in, everybody kind of stands at attention, Like
Speaker 1: there's a major difference now in the locker room because
Speaker 1: the respect that he has, the respect and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, his presence of what he does on the field,
Speaker 1: and he's very vocal and he doesn't you know, he
Speaker 1: doesn't suffer fools, and he speaks the way he speaks
Speaker 1: his mind. And I also think with him being injured
Speaker 1: through part of camp, he wasn't on the practice field,
Speaker 1: but you know, the last week or so, he's been
Speaker 1: on the practice field and you can definitely see the
Speaker 1: intensity picked up. And this is when we need it
Speaker 1: as we go into week one of the regular season.
Speaker 1: I love the story from draft night when you flew
Speaker 1: Zavan Collins to let him see his hometown from up above,
Speaker 1: and then going from the small town in Oklahoma to Arizona,
Speaker 1: going from Tulsa to the NFL, and I know it's
Speaker 1: something you've done and maybe not a lot of its
Speaker 1: public in terms of just how much you assist players
Speaker 1: or whether it's just members of the organization with personal
Speaker 1: needs or for business purposes. You're always flying. When did
Speaker 1: that passion start? And is this what you envisioned in
Speaker 1: terms of how it's played out as the owner of
Speaker 1: the Cardinals? It no, I mean it started out when
Speaker 1: I was a little kid, just loving airplanes and liking
Speaker 1: going with my father on road trips. He would take me.
Speaker 1: I was a good traveler, he told me. I showed
Speaker 1: up on time and would pack myself and everything else,
Speaker 1: and could get my little tie on and everything and
Speaker 1: go around as a little dude and then sit at
Speaker 1: the table and not complain when he was out with
Speaker 1: other owners. And so I just love going and he'd
Speaker 1: tell me what kind of plane we were on, and
Speaker 1: so I loved, you know, aviation, from early age. His
Speaker 1: good friend and longtime lawyer back in Saint Louis purchased
Speaker 1: a small twin Cessna airplane when I was eighteen, and
Speaker 1: he said, Bill, I don't need the whole air plane.
Speaker 1: Do you want half to buy it? Half of the
Speaker 1: airplane with me? And so Dad came home and told
Speaker 1: us about it one night, and you know, of course,
Speaker 1: the first things out of my mouth, well, how many
Speaker 1: pilots on that airplane? Dad, Well, it just needs one.
Speaker 1: It's a small airplane. Well what happens if that pilot
Speaker 1: has a heart attack? I think one of us should
Speaker 1: be able to fly. And he said, yeah, that's probably
Speaker 1: a good idea. So the next morning, my older brother,
Speaker 1: Bill Junior, and I went and signed up for flying lessons,
Speaker 1: and I've kind of stuck with it and worked up
Speaker 1: from single engine to multi engine to now jets, and
Speaker 1: actually got my helicopter rating in college. Despite him saying, no,
Speaker 1: you can't, I went and did it anyway, and then
Speaker 1: told him about it the day I got my license
Speaker 1: and he said, okay, that's fine, but just don't take
Speaker 1: your younger brother up. And so anyways, but no, it
Speaker 1: started back then and work my way up to where
Speaker 1: when I joined the team back in the in the
Speaker 1: mid nineties, I was going to NFL meetings with my
Speaker 1: father and we you know, he was so recognizable at
Speaker 1: the time, we couldn't really have conversation and on the
Speaker 1: airlines about the content of those meetings, and so it
Speaker 1: was like, you know, really for you know, so that
Speaker 1: we can have more effective time of our travel time
Speaker 1: outside the office. We ended up purchasing a small corporate
Speaker 1: jet and I started flying it then and worked our
Speaker 1: way up. But it's been my pleasure. I mean, there
Speaker 1: are a few things you can do, and making this
Speaker 1: a special day for our our top picks and uh
Speaker 1: and and also when people lose a loved one, you know,
Speaker 1: and we're on a tight football schedule, if I can
Speaker 1: send a coach out and our player out and get
Speaker 1: them back so they can be with their family, be
Speaker 1: at a ceremony and in a funeral and then back here. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I try to do those things for our
Speaker 1: folks because it's it's it's a time when they you know,
Speaker 1: they need to be here, but they also need to
Speaker 1: be home. And if we can squeeze down the time
Speaker 1: by just getting them in and out and back here,
Speaker 1: you know, it seems to be the right thing to
Speaker 1: do as well. Michael, you mentioned packing, putting on your tie,
Speaker 1: going to the meetings with your dad? Was that? Do
Speaker 1: you other early memories of the Cardinals. I assume a
Speaker 1: lot of those were with your dad at time of them,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, my earliest memory was Lake Forest
Speaker 1: College where the Cardinals would have training camp. I remember, boy,
Speaker 1: I bet it was four or five years old. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was not much of a memory there, but I
Speaker 1: remember just seeing the training table and realizing we could
Speaker 1: eat as much as we wanted, which was not what
Speaker 1: happened at home. And so when we got home the
Speaker 1: following week and told mom when we want waffles, pancakes, eggs,
Speaker 1: you know, and she was like, you get one thing, kid,
Speaker 1: So in any case, no, but that's that's my earliest memory,
Speaker 1: and we grew up around it, and it was just
Speaker 1: special times and being able to spend all that time
Speaker 1: with Dad and around some of these legends that have
Speaker 1: been around the Cardinals franchise and legends that are around
Speaker 1: the NFL. It's been a real honor to be a
Speaker 1: part of it. I have a lot of great memories
Speaker 1: of your dad. There were three that really stick out.
Speaker 1: The first was when I got hired in two thousand
Speaker 1: and two. I was twenty nine years old. I had
Speaker 1: done the Bills preseason games, but I was also doing
Speaker 1: Syracuse and so I was close with Dick McPherson, who
Speaker 1: had coached the Patriots at one point. Obviously, coach at Syracuse,
Speaker 1: and he knew your dad, and he knew that I
Speaker 1: was trying to get the jobs. So I had him
Speaker 1: call your dad and talked to him, and I came
Speaker 1: and interviewed that I met you and Ron Minneger and
Speaker 1: sat him with your dad for about a half an hour.
Speaker 1: One of the first things out of your dad's mouth,
Speaker 1: he goes, can you stop having these old retired coaches
Speaker 1: call me? And I'm like nervous. He's totally just busting
Speaker 1: my chops. But it was hilarious. He went to Georgetown,
Speaker 1: I went to Syracuse. So there's the right brother. He
Speaker 1: knew that. He brought it up his great friend Val
Speaker 1: Pinchback right. He talked a lot about Val, who was
Speaker 1: a Syracuse guy who put together the NFL schedule for years.
Speaker 1: And another time was in two thousand and four when
Speaker 1: I got hired by ESPN, and you and your dad
Speaker 1: were kind enough when I came to you guys said, look,
Speaker 1: I want to keep doing the Cardinal Games. I have
Speaker 1: this other opportunity. Are you guys okay with this? And
Speaker 1: you guys are yep, don't worry about it. We'll figure
Speaker 1: it out. And here we are eighteen years later, So
Speaker 1: I've always appreciated that. And the last one is the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl because your dad a lot of times would
Speaker 1: just come sit down and talk. Your dad had a
Speaker 1: great knowledge of broadcasting. He loved broadcasting. He knew everything
Speaker 1: about radio and television. And he sat down with Wolf
Speaker 1: and I right before the Super Bowl and we're almost
Speaker 1: late for the bus. Your dad has roll and he
Speaker 1: was telling great stories from the old days where but
Speaker 1: then Wolf and I kind of looked like, we've got
Speaker 1: to goal, We've got to go. Then I'm like, wait
Speaker 1: a second, They're not even without him, So he can
Speaker 1: talk as long as he wants. But I had so
Speaker 1: many great memories of just being around your dad. A
Speaker 1: great sense of humor would always bust my chops whenever
Speaker 1: I saw. He loved to tell stories, and he was
Speaker 1: a little bit of our secret weapon. When we were
Speaker 1: moving into the new stadium. You may remember this. We
Speaker 1: had that relocation process in which we invited all of
Speaker 1: our season ticket members to come into the training facility
Speaker 1: and select their seats for State Farm Stadium. So when
Speaker 1: it was going to open, and so Dad just loved
Speaker 1: to tell stories and we'd have a new group coming
Speaker 1: in about every thirty minutes or so, and so I'm like, Dad,
Speaker 1: when you get to the office, can you just go
Speaker 1: out to the lobby and be yourself, we'll put And
Speaker 1: so he would go out there, and I still here
Speaker 1: today from season ticket members remembering, you know, your dad
Speaker 1: not only told me these great stories in the lobby,
Speaker 1: but he also helped me pick out my tickets from
Speaker 1: my seat location because we knew approximately what was left
Speaker 1: on the day we got our appointment, and he helped
Speaker 1: pick the seat. So I hear that from time to time,
Speaker 1: and I'm so glad because you know, he was such
Speaker 1: a quiet person from you know, a public persona standpoint,
Speaker 1: but if you got to know him and you could
Speaker 1: just sit down one on one with him, he won
Speaker 1: everybody over. And I know all those fans that got
Speaker 1: a chance to visit with him back in two thousand
Speaker 1: and five, when two thousand and six, when we were
Speaker 1: doing that, they were they were pretty Uh. He left
Speaker 1: a good impression. I want to get into the stadium,
Speaker 1: but I want to go back to you talking about
Speaker 1: your earliest memories as a cardinal. You were a ball boy.
Speaker 1: Did you have a favorite player, because you've seen every
Speaker 1: single person come through this organization over the last fifty years.
Speaker 1: I think probably you know, all the stars at the time,
Speaker 1: probably the one I was, you know, we loved Larry Wilson.
Speaker 1: He was such a playmaker. And I remember when we
Speaker 1: found out he was going to retire and asking my
Speaker 1: dad like, how how are we going to be able
Speaker 1: to do this without Larry Wilson being one of the players.
Speaker 1: How are we going to be able to win football games?
Speaker 1: What's a team going to be like without such a
Speaker 1: great player and a great leader. And I know he
Speaker 1: and my dad had a fondness and then he you know,
Speaker 1: came to the front office and then later in life
Speaker 1: was lucky enough to work with him. So I'd say Larry,
Speaker 1: But you know Dan Dierdorf, Jim Hart, Mel Gray, Otis
Speaker 1: Anderson who went and finished his career with the Giants.
Speaker 1: So many different players that were terrific. Pat Tilley was
Speaker 1: another receiver. Roy Green came along later in nineteen seventy nine.
Speaker 1: But as I grew up and then you know, started
Speaker 1: actively working as a ball boy, there were some real
Speaker 1: characters too. And I remember one player who played for
Speaker 1: I think three seasons with us from like seventy eight
Speaker 1: to eighty John Barfield, and this guy referred to himself
Speaker 1: as doctor Doom. He was a linebacker and just a character.
Speaker 1: And I just remember in seventy eight we drafted him
Speaker 1: in the second round and that you know, I heard
Speaker 1: he's going to show up and he wears a quarter
Speaker 1: in his ear, which were like, why why would he
Speaker 1: wear a quarter in his ear in the case he
Speaker 1: needed change to make a phone power or something. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but he always carried this quarter. He was
Speaker 1: kind of a quirky guy. But when the drivers were
Speaker 1: going to pick him up when he flew in for
Speaker 1: training camp, there was a car crash and to stop
Speaker 1: traffic on the freeway and he was able to go
Speaker 1: and with just sheer strength probably opened the door and
Speaker 1: get these people out of the car. And it was
Speaker 1: kind of a local big story at the time that
Speaker 1: here's this big football player saves these folks and they
Speaker 1: are able to get him to the hospital and they
Speaker 1: were survived and everything. But everything turned out. But there
Speaker 1: were lots of great players and lots of great characters.
Speaker 1: There was a Stafford May's David Galloway. There two defensive
Speaker 1: lineman and I worked with Rudy Feldman, who was the
Speaker 1: linebackers coach. So we were constantly around the defensive lineman
Speaker 1: and around the linebackers as I was during practice. And
Speaker 1: those were a couple of real characters too, just fun guys.
Speaker 1: And you know, the offensive line defensive line terrific leaders
Speaker 1: as well. I mean I remember Dan dieter Dorff's leadership
Speaker 1: was he didn't mess around, and you know when he
Speaker 1: put his fist down, and he was pretty vocal guy,
Speaker 1: and it was good to have him in our locker
Speaker 1: room for sure. You talked about big personalities. I work
Speaker 1: with one of those guys, Ron Wolfley. This is your
Speaker 1: seventeen working with him, which is crazy. And you've known
Speaker 1: wolf forever back then when he was playing. What stood
Speaker 1: out to you about his uniqueness as a player and
Speaker 1: as a person? Ron Wolfley total character. We drafted from
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five. I think at that point. I was
Speaker 1: no longer a ball boy at that point, but I
Speaker 1: was still around the organization the summers doing other front
Speaker 1: office work. But when he got there, you could tell
Speaker 1: there's something different about this guy. He had a wild
Speaker 1: look about himself, and you know he was all in
Speaker 1: on football and all in on being tough, and he
Speaker 1: wanted to make a name for himself. So he was
Speaker 1: going full go all the time. And he loved playing
Speaker 1: special teams. He loved blowing up that wedge. He loved
Speaker 1: being a part of all of the you know, the tough, gritty,
Speaker 1: nasty parts of the game of football. He was in
Speaker 1: there sticking his nose, leading from you know, with his
Speaker 1: chin on all those plays and just loved the the
Speaker 1: you know, the the physical aspects of it. So uh
Speaker 1: and I remember when when the club moved, it was
Speaker 1: he was, I guess the third year at the end
Speaker 1: of eighty seven. I was in law school at the time,
Speaker 1: but I heard from my brothers he showed up to
Speaker 1: help pack boxes to move and literally loaded him up
Speaker 1: on the truck. I did not know that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so it doesn't surprise me, knowing Wolf, let's get out
Speaker 1: of here. We're going to Phoenix. So he was, you know,
Speaker 1: just a blast. We had you on during one of
Speaker 1: the preseason telecasts, and so fans were watching it, got
Speaker 1: to see it. They won't be able to see it now,
Speaker 1: but they can go check it out. A picture that
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray gave to honor your father. Can you tell
Speaker 1: us about that and what it was like when they
Speaker 1: presented it to you. How shocked were you when you
Speaker 1: saw it, because it's pretty cool. Yeah. No, So he
Speaker 1: dropped it off and it was actually a painting that
Speaker 1: he had commissioned of my father with a number of
Speaker 1: former players in it and him. It was it was
Speaker 1: very touching. I think, you know, I was blown away
Speaker 1: by it. He had like family friend that that painted
Speaker 1: it and just I thought captured my father's expression perfectly.
Speaker 1: And actually Dan Dirdorf called me and said he had
Speaker 1: seen it on flight plan or on our social media
Speaker 1: or something and thought it was just awesome and he
Speaker 1: was honored to be one of the players that was
Speaker 1: painted into that that painting. So I told Kyler, I said, look,
Speaker 1: I can't think I wanted to talk to my siblings,
Speaker 1: but we couldn't think of a better place to hang it.
Speaker 1: But we've hung it in our family's suite are loft
Speaker 1: at the stadium, So it's hanging up there so those
Speaker 1: players and Dad can be there with us and celebrate
Speaker 1: all those Cardinals victories. So we moved some other photographs,
Speaker 1: family photographs out of there because we wanted to feel
Speaker 1: like real family space and a little bit kind of
Speaker 1: sweet and living room sort of at the same time.
Speaker 1: So it's got a warm feeling to it, and I
Speaker 1: think it works perfectly in there. You mentioned law school,
Speaker 1: and for people that maybe are listening that aren't Cardinal fans,
Speaker 1: are just NFL fans or sports fans that don't realize
Speaker 1: that you were a federal prosecutor and so you were
Speaker 1: not part of the organization your entire adult life, but
Speaker 1: eventually you came back in nineteen ninety six, you became
Speaker 1: president and now owner. What went into that decision twenty
Speaker 1: five years ago to leave a pretty good gig and
Speaker 1: come back to be part of the Cardinals organization. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, my father gave great advice, and normally it
Speaker 1: came in, you know, two minute segments. He didn't need
Speaker 1: an hour to give his great advice. But I remember
Speaker 1: we were playing a preseason or it was a regular
Speaker 1: season game, and it was it was in November of
Speaker 1: eighty six, and he said, what are you doing next
Speaker 1: year when you graduate? And you know, typical senior I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know, and he you know, and my brother
Speaker 1: was already working for him, and he said, well, I
Speaker 1: think one of you one of you kids has got
Speaker 1: to be a lawyer. You should go to law school.
Speaker 1: And we talked about it for another maybe thirty seconds.
Speaker 1: Next day I signed up for the LSATs and took him, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, four weeks later and went to law school.
Speaker 1: And my third year of law school, I ended up
Speaker 1: clerking at the US Attorney's Office in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: In the homicide unit. During the time that DC was
Speaker 1: the murder capital of the world, and so it was
Speaker 1: a real wake up and got to see some really tough,
Speaker 1: tough stuff and work on some really tough cases, and
Speaker 1: I fell in love with the idea of working in
Speaker 1: this area. So I applied for the position. There was
Speaker 1: an open position out here in Phoenix, and I got
Speaker 1: the job. Spent six years at the US Attorney's Office
Speaker 1: here as a Federal prosecutor the title as Assistant US Attorney,
Speaker 1: so as an a USA for six years in the
Speaker 1: violent crime unit here, and it was much different than
Speaker 1: anything I was doing. But one day I woke up
Speaker 1: and you know, it was like, you know, I tried
Speaker 1: a bunch of homicide cases and things like that, and
Speaker 1: I realized, you know, I don't feel like I'm growing anymore.
Speaker 1: And one day I woke up and realized time for
Speaker 1: me to probably move on. So I sat up lunch
Speaker 1: with Dad and again another one of those really short conversations,
Speaker 1: and he said, well, you know, I need help with
Speaker 1: the stadium, and so we started talking about it, and
Speaker 1: I put in my notice the next day and went
Speaker 1: to a preseason game that was in August of nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six, and then joined the team in November and
Speaker 1: started working on our stadium effort. Then the organization has
Speaker 1: undergone a tremendous transformation and you're at the head of
Speaker 1: that over the last twenty five years. And you mentioned
Speaker 1: the stadium. I assume that it's on the list when
Speaker 1: you talk about your proudest moments. What are some of
Speaker 1: the other ones over the over the twenty five years
Speaker 1: that you've been with the team. Again, well, other than
Speaker 1: the last you know, a couple of minutes of that
Speaker 1: game down in Tampa, that was the best game of
Speaker 1: my life. Um, but I wish, you know, I wish
Speaker 1: we could have gotten right back there and and same
Speaker 1: thing in twenty fifteen. But I think State Farm Stadium,
Speaker 1: the sellouts, we've had, the great memories, the great games
Speaker 1: being able to host two and a third Super Bowl
Speaker 1: to come soon, plus getting the Final four here in
Speaker 1: another Final four in its way. There's so many great
Speaker 1: memories out there, and then just being able to build
Speaker 1: the team and build the culture here. Uh, and it
Speaker 1: was you know, there were as we sort of grew
Speaker 1: up with now having the stadium once once we got
Speaker 1: it in two thousand and six, and being able to
Speaker 1: have those revenues and the bill to build things. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of great memories. I'm really proud of
Speaker 1: our people. I'm proud of some of the coaches that
Speaker 1: have gone on to become head coaches in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I'm proud of, uh, you know other other successes that
Speaker 1: we've had with people who've who've left the Cardinals and
Speaker 1: gone on to have great success um. And I'm I'm
Speaker 1: just excited about every year having the chance to build
Speaker 1: something which is pretty special, and I think this year
Speaker 1: could be pretty darned special. This draft, the first round,
Speaker 1: you know, Zaven has hit the ground running and he's
Speaker 1: going to be not just a contributor but a leader. Secondly,
Speaker 1: I think he's seeing what roundel Moore has done. Second round,
Speaker 1: third round trading for Rodney Hudson, who's plug and play
Speaker 1: and really lifted them. The performance that offensive line, and
Speaker 1: then Marco Wilson is just an amazing So this draft,
Speaker 1: when you look at it, uh, you know, in our history,
Speaker 1: I think it's going to turn out to be a
Speaker 1: hell of a draft. Plus the free agents we've added,
Speaker 1: you know, AJ and jj Um, we should expect some
Speaker 1: great things. And the person I should be talking about
Speaker 1: a lot here is Matt Prator having a great kicker.
Speaker 1: You know, we lost three games by just a few
Speaker 1: points field goals last year. Being able to make those
Speaker 1: I mean each year you look at special teams winning
Speaker 1: or perhaps not contributing to a win of three games.
Speaker 1: So I kind of chalk up that Matt Prator is
Speaker 1: going to be helping us win three games this year
Speaker 1: at least. The new partnership with bet MGM and the
Speaker 1: long standing relationship with Hila River. For season ticket holders
Speaker 1: or people who are just going to go to an
Speaker 1: occasional game at State Farm Stadium, what will the sports
Speaker 1: betting experience be like for them at State Farm Stadium? Well,
Speaker 1: I think to the extent that fantasy football elevated people's
Speaker 1: interest in the NFL and in players I think sports
Speaker 1: betting is going to do the same thing. It's prevalent
Speaker 1: around the world in Asia, South America, in Europe, and
Speaker 1: it's just not been so here in the United States
Speaker 1: until the Supreme Court case struck down a federal law
Speaker 1: and allowed states to begin passing their own statutes. In
Speaker 1: Arizona has done that this year. We figured it was
Speaker 1: that the legislature would pass it. It's a good thing
Speaker 1: for the state because it expands the gaming compacts with
Speaker 1: the Indian communities here in Arizona. That allows more revenue
Speaker 1: to come to the state to pay for education and
Speaker 1: roads and public safety and things along those lines. But
Speaker 1: for football fans, you know, the average bets about ten bucks.
Speaker 1: So to the extent that people are building their fantasy teams,
Speaker 1: and you know, moms are playing with kids, and it's
Speaker 1: connecting families in a different way. And now all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, everybody knows. I mean, my nephew knows more
Speaker 1: about some of the other teams and players on other
Speaker 1: teams because he plays fantasy football. I don't have the
Speaker 1: time to do it, but he knows more about some
Speaker 1: of the you know, the great players out there in
Speaker 1: the league than I do. Especially the ones outside of
Speaker 1: our conference. But that's going to make that interest. When
Speaker 1: you can have a tenu bet on it, it's gonna
Speaker 1: make it a a little deeper. So I think it's going
Speaker 1: to be really good for the interest, and I think
Speaker 1: it's going to become more acceptable is more and more
Speaker 1: states do this, and as people can choose whether they
Speaker 1: choose to participate in it or not. I won't be
Speaker 1: I just don't bet. And we also have NFL restrictions
Speaker 1: that costruct you and me and the players and the coaches,
Speaker 1: So I won't be doing it, but I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be great for the fans. In twenty nineteen, you
Speaker 1: received the Paul Taglio Award for your leadership in the
Speaker 1: area of career development for minorities and advocating for diversity.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals have been always at the top in terms
Speaker 1: of providing opportunities for everybody. I think of early on
Speaker 1: in my tenure here when you had Dennis Screen as
Speaker 1: a head coach and Rod Graves as the general manager.
Speaker 1: Are you seeing the growth and the change around the
Speaker 1: league in terms of diversity that you hope for? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: I think we're seeing it. We've we've implemented I'm also
Speaker 1: on the Diversity Committee for the league, and we've implemented
Speaker 1: some new policy that over the last two to three years,
Speaker 1: some pretty big steps we made in terms of those policies,
Speaker 1: and they expand the Rooney rule from just not coaches
Speaker 1: but also general managers, but there are other positions as well,
Speaker 1: and we've really tried to put an emphasis on having
Speaker 1: people step back and think about why wouldn't we have
Speaker 1: a diverse pool of applicants for every position we have,
Speaker 1: So we very intentionally are Chief People Officer Sean Mayo
Speaker 1: very intentionally looks for a diverse group of candidates and
Speaker 1: make sure that they can do the job we're asking
Speaker 1: them to do. But we want diversity there, not just
Speaker 1: in terms of color, but also of sex. You know,
Speaker 1: we want women in positions that maybe have traditionally been
Speaker 1: held by men. So we're going to be doing a
Speaker 1: lot of different things and not doing We are doing them,
Speaker 1: but I also think the other teams are doing it,
Speaker 1: and we're being very intentional. We also know, look, the
Speaker 1: NFL leads in a lot of different areas. We see
Speaker 1: other leagues doing it, and we see other industries citing
Speaker 1: the NFL rule. In fact, you see in corporate America.
Speaker 1: They're calling it the ruining rule in corporate Americas. So
Speaker 1: there's a big emphasis and I think we've got to
Speaker 1: lead the way here. Last one and we'll get you
Speaker 1: out of here. You just were added to the NFL
Speaker 1: Owners Committee, which negotiates with the NFL PA. Can you
Speaker 1: talk about that, what that means and what we can expect. Yes,
Speaker 1: So we refer to it as the CEC. It's one
Speaker 1: of our big four committees, and I'm honored to be
Speaker 1: on it. It's a limited number of owners that are
Speaker 1: asked to be on that, and and you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's it's going to be great to be able
Speaker 1: to be a part of that. You know, there'll be
Speaker 1: things that come up between now and the next extension,
Speaker 1: and you know, we'll be working on the next extension,
Speaker 1: probably not the minute before it's going to expire, but
Speaker 1: years in advance. And so it's good that I can
Speaker 1: get up to speed on those issues and begin to
Speaker 1: develop some of the relationships with our you know, the
Speaker 1: players on the other side, and and talk about the
Speaker 1: issues that are important. But I think at the meantime,
Speaker 1: it's about growing the game. There's no doubt that we
Speaker 1: have a bright future. The revenue will grow, the players
Speaker 1: will share in a greater amount of dollars each year,
Speaker 1: especially as we get through this transition time that we
Speaker 1: have with some of the offset for the pandemic costs
Speaker 1: the teams have had to absorb. But I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to it. Thanks Michael, appreciate the time. Thank you, Dave Man.
Speaker 1: I could have spent another thirty minutes with Michael listening
Speaker 1: to some of those great stories. He is living Cardinal's history.
Speaker 1: He has seen at all every player, every coach that's
Speaker 1: walked through here over the last fifty years. I love
Speaker 1: to hearing about his relationship with his dad, and he
Speaker 1: and I talking about mister b sense of humor and
Speaker 1: maybe that part of his personality that the world didn't
Speaker 1: always get to see, but he was such an engaging
Speaker 1: person once you got to know him. It's clear, too
Speaker 1: listening to Michael that his expectations are very high for
Speaker 1: this year, and they match the fan expectation. Everybody thinks
Speaker 1: the Cardinals should be a playoff team in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: and Michael made that clear. The moves that he and
Speaker 1: Steve Kim made in the offseason were designed to get
Speaker 1: this team into the playoffs and win the division. He said,
Speaker 1: that is the first goal, winning the division. So it
Speaker 1: was great to hear Michael's candor and his high hopes
Speaker 1: for twenty twenty one. Coming up later this week, we
Speaker 1: branch out and get a take on the cardinals upcoming
Speaker 1: opponent from somebody in the world of entertainment. Tennessee Titans
Speaker 1: diehard James Rode, who also happens to be an award
Speaker 1: winning actor from the hit TV show psych will join
Speaker 1: us to talk about the upcoming season and much more.
Speaker 1: You can follow us on Twitter at Pashpod and a
Speaker 1: reminder that we are presented by bet MGM, the official
Speaker 1: sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and Hila River
Speaker 1: Hotels and Casinos. Thanks again to Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell.
Speaker 1: I'm Dave Pash. We'll talk to you soon on the
Speaker 1: Dave Pash Podcast.