Cardinals President Michael Bidwill Rips City of Glendale
By Scott Allen
Jan. 18, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals president Michael Bidwill speaks during a press conference at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill was a guest this afternoon on the Dan Bickley Show with Vince Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and the topic of events such as the Super Bowl in Glendale came up. To put it nicely, Bidwill doesn’t think very highly of Glendale officials.
Bidwill, while tearing Glendale a new one, praised the the City of Phoenix and Mayor Greg Stanton. He also praised the City of Scottsdale. You would never know by his comments that the Cards have a beautiful stadium in Glendale that will be hosting the 2015 Super Bowl. Therein lies the big issue. Glendale has not stepped up to the plate to do the things a host city should. There have been issues with hotels leading up to next years game. For that reason, there have been rumors that many of the events around the game next February will not be in Glendale but rather in the cities of Phoenix and Scottsdale, much like they were in 2008.
"They (Glendale) are just worried about their bottom line and that’s not the way great cities act, the way great leaders act"
Bidwill said everyone needs to work together. It is a $500 million economic impact to the valley to have the Super Bowl. Bidwill said the main problem with Glendale is leadership and short-sightedness. He’s right. We went through this with the Phoenix Coyotes recently. The valley is trying to secure Final Fours and other big national events. The buildings to host these events happen to be in Glendale. They spend too much time not looking at the big picture.
"They (Glendale) think they’ve got it figured out and they really don’t"
Some really harsh but honest words from the Cards president. He continues on by saying they’ve done a poor job of planning and financially planning, that they’ve made some bad decisions and been proud about them. This isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement you want to be selling to the NFL for future games. Next year could be the last Super Bowl for quite some time if things don’t change and Glendale officials step up to the plate.