The Dave Pasch Podcast - Michael Bidwill

Pash Pod. I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and I didn't leave the state until I was eighteen years old, when I went away to college at Syracuse University, and then after that I worked in markets, primarily on the East Coast and in the Midwest until moving to Arizona

in two thousand and two. So when I took the job in Phoenix, I didn't know a ton about the inner workings of the organization other than the fact that they had been in Chicago one point, moved to Saint Louis and then to Phoenix, and when I got here,

the Cardinals were still playing at Sundevil Stadium. Fan attendance wasn't high, but there was a buzz within the organization a confidence level internally from the marketing and broadcasting departments to the football side of the building, and what happened over the next decade proved that that confidence was merited. The organization had undergone a major transformation with State Farm Stadium, the community involvement expansion, and then being a playoff contender

on a relatively consistent basis. The Cardinals had totally changed, and the man behind the transformation is our guest today, Cardinal's owner Michael Bidwill. A one time ball boy, Michael grew up close to the organization, of course, with his family owning the team, but he spent a good part of his adult life outside the organization working as a federal prosecutor. He rejoined the team in nineteen ninety six,

eventually became president and now owner. We talk about the state of the NFL, his high expectations for the twenty twenty one Cardinal season, his love of aviation, and how that positively impact of the Cardinals. Michael tells some great stories about some of his favorite players, about all the time he spent with his dad. He also gets into Kyler Murray and his maturity level and J. J. Watton how that free agent signing went down. So here is

Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell on the Dave Pash Podcast. So, Michael, with the change to a seventeen game regular season, the new TV contracts, it seems like the appetite for NFL football as at an all time high. So with that in mind, what are your thoughts on the state of the NFL right now going into the twenty twenty one season. Well, Dave, thank you for the question and thanks for having me on.

I think this podcast is awesome. But to answer the question, I think the future of the NFL is very, very bright. We've got ten years of labor stability. We've managed our way through this pandemic in an unprecedented way. The NFL was the only league to play every scheduled regular season game last year and to play its championship games on time and on schedule on the original schedule. Nobody thought

we could do it. But it was collectively the players, the owners, the league office, the officials, the coaches, everybody you know chipped in and did what they needed to do to accomplish that. But when you look at that stability of having the agreement with the players, the seventeen game season in the growth of interest with our fans. We continue to make this it's the greatest game that there is, and we believe, you know, let's give more

to the fans. So there's more access, more regular season games, now more of a pathway to the playoffs for teams with the added wildcard for each conference. So I think it's very bright. And you'll just look at some of our ratings, you know, TV ratings around the draft, TV ratings around the combine, TV ratings around preseason. You know, we just blow everybody away, and you know, we continue to work at making the game more interesting and I think there are going to be a lot of things

that contributed to that. And I know you're gonna ask me a little later about legalized sports betting, but my guests is that will help contribute to interest as well. I want to follow up on one of the things you said about the NFL being the only league to not miss a game, and I was part of the NBA doing an NBA game the night it shut down and ended up spending some time in the bubble, and obviously the NBA took several months off and then started

the next season late. You guys just plowed right through. And I'm just curious when you were all having your conversations, how did that get finalized where you guys all said, you know what, we're going to just keep plowing ahead and we'll kind of figure it out. But we owe it to our fans and our sponsors and the players to continue as planned. Well, I think it started with Commissioner Goodell. I mean, Roger just was determined, especially when people said there's no way we could do it, that

we would find a way. And so doctor Sills is our chief medical officer for the National Football League, all the medical community, and then the relationship we have with an infectious disease specialist at Duke University as well as others, the relationship that we had and have with the federal

agencies that oversee the CDC and everything else. So we just worked very hard and then worked with some private contractors who were going to be able to do testing for us, and they developed these protocols that there was a real burden on our players, coaches, staff, but we tested every day. We knew that we'd have positives, we just needed to identify them early and eliminate them from the pool until they were fully recovered and not infectious anymore,

and so they put together a terrific plan. And there was a plan not only for the players and the coaches and keeping everybody safe, officials and all the people that are around them on the field, but also you know, for fans if we were going to be able to have fans and some teams, including the Cardinals, were allowed to have limited number of fans in in the twenty twenty season. All right, let's focus on twenty twenty one. Now, the camp in preseason are over. What are your thoughts

on the state of the team heading into the Tennessee game. Well, I think I couldn't be more excited about this season when you look at what we've built here and the terrific draft. But it started really probably a couple of years ago drafting Kyler and then last year being able to trade for DeAndre Hopkins, as well as you know this year in the offseason signing JJ Watt, trading for Rodney Hudson, addressing some of these things that we needed to address on our offensive line, as well as giving

him an additional target with AJ Green. I couldn't be more excited. We need Kyler to further grow and he's shown a lot of leadership through the offseason and training camp. But I feel really good about how they've prepared mentally, so I'm cited about Week one. They're a good team, the Tennessee Titans, and we're going to know what we're

made of and I'm excited to get that going. What are your expectations, because I assume as an owner, your expectation every years to win the Super Bowl, and if you don't, then it's a disappointing outcome because everybody wants to win the title. Obviously, it's only one out of thirty two. So what are your expectations for this particular year. Well, I think every year the goal is to win the division and then to stay hot through January and get

yourself to the super Bowl. And we've done that once before. We came short in twenty fifteen. But I feel like we've got a team with We've really strengthened that defense, we've strengthened the offense, and a lot of it is about staying healthy, making sure we manage ourselves through the pandemic because we're still in it. We know they're going to be additional infections this year, but again, we'll be testing and isolating, and we've got everybody vaccinated. Only one

players not vaccinated with us. But I think we've got a really good plan going forward. Now we got to and execute and stay healthy. And it was clear that part of the plan was to improve the leadership and accountability in the locker room. How did you go about plotting that out? And you talked about the signing of JJ Watt obviously that was important, but how did you and Steve Kime come up with the idea, Okay, this is how we want to plot this out and plan

to improve the locker room. Well, I think it's about, you know, growing the young leaders that we have, Buddha Baker, Chandler Jones, There's so many great leaders that we have on this team, and then making sure as we bring in new leaders you know DeAndre from a year ago, j Rodney Hudson, they're all doing a terrific job. And then we make sure you know that we're asking the coaches to make sure that they're leaders in each one

of those rooms. And they're doing it anyway, but we're really putting in an emphasis on it from top to bottom, and I think it's really showed and it's given the space for those young leaders to speak up and to be able to speak to their teammates. And I think Kyler showed a lot of leadership. You know, in his third year he needed to get comfortable, and he's gotten comfortable holding his teammates accountable. Why do you think, I want to follow up on your comment on Kyler in

what areas have you seen him grow? Why do you think it took till now maybe to be a little bit more vocal. Well, I think you know, it's natural with any young player coming in, it's got to be an intimidating situation. You come in and you know, twenty two years old and you're expected to be the leader of the entire team, not just one side of the ball, and it's going to take a little bit of time. And so I think he's done that. He's done a

good job. He's organized things in Dallas where in the off season he's been communicating with his teammates, and then certainly a training camp, he's been holding them accountable out on the practice field and you can see it and talking to his receivers, talking to his offensive lineman, talking to his running backs. You guys have done a great

job of keeping things quiet. It's amazing because nowadays it's hard when you have a major trade or a major free agent signing in any sport for schefter or woj in the NBA to not get it. But the DeAndre Hopkins moved last year and the JJ Watt signing, it didn't leak right. How did you guys execute the JJ Watt move? Well? I think part of it was it was important for JJ that he wanted to, you know, keep things buttoned up, and that's sort of our m oh,

that's how we operate. It's like, why talk about it until it's happened, because you're just gonna let people down if something big like that doesn't happen, And so we keep our mouths shut, and it's on a need to know basis internally sometimes just with Steve and me and nobody else knows until they need to know, and we'll bring coach in the loop, knowing that he was probably going to be all for it, which he was with both hop and JJ, and so it was super important

to them that the announcement. You know, it was important to JJ that he made his announcement, and it was important to the Texans when we did the trade that we just decided we're going to keep this buttoned up and we keep our end of the deal. Is the

presence of JJ Watton noticeable for you? I know in talking with some of the coaches, they say, man, when JJ walks in, everybody kind of stands at attention, Like there's a major difference now in the locker room because the respect that he has, the respect and I think, you know, his presence of what he does on the field, and he's very vocal and he doesn't you know, he doesn't suffer fools, and he speaks the way he speaks

his mind. And I also think with him being injured through part of camp, he wasn't on the practice field, but you know, the last week or so, he's been on the practice field and you can definitely see the intensity picked up. And this is when we need it as we go into week one of the regular season.

I love the story from draft night when you flew Zavan Collins to let him see his hometown from up above, and then going from the small town in Oklahoma to Arizona, going from Tulsa to the NFL, and I know it's something you've done and maybe not a lot of its public in terms of just how much you assist players or whether it's just members of the organization with personal needs or for business purposes. You're always flying. When did

that passion start? And is this what you envisioned in terms of how it's played out as the owner of the Cardinals? It no, I mean it started out when I was a little kid, just loving airplanes and liking going with my father on road trips. He would take me. I was a good traveler, he told me. I showed up on time and would pack myself and everything else, and could get my little tie on and everything and go around as a little dude and then sit at the table and not complain when he was out with

other owners. And so I just love going and he'd tell me what kind of plane we were on, and so I loved, you know, aviation, from early age. His good friend and longtime lawyer back in Saint Louis purchased a small twin Cessna airplane when I was eighteen, and he said, Bill, I don't need the whole air plane. Do you want half to buy it? Half of the airplane with me? And so Dad came home and told us about it one night, and you know, of course, the first things out of my mouth, well, how many

pilots on that airplane? Dad, Well, it just needs one. It's a small airplane. Well what happens if that pilot has a heart attack? I think one of us should be able to fly. And he said, yeah, that's probably a good idea. So the next morning, my older brother, Bill Junior, and I went and signed up for flying lessons, and I've kind of stuck with it and worked up from single engine to multi engine to now jets, and

actually got my helicopter rating in college. Despite him saying, no, you can't, I went and did it anyway, and then told him about it the day I got my license and he said, okay, that's fine, but just don't take

your younger brother up. And so anyways, but no, it started back then and work my way up to where when I joined the team back in the in the mid nineties, I was going to NFL meetings with my father and we you know, he was so recognizable at the time, we couldn't really have conversation and on the airlines about the content of those meetings, and so it was like, you know, really for you know, so that we can have more effective time of our travel time

outside the office. We ended up purchasing a small corporate jet and I started flying it then and worked our way up. But it's been my pleasure. I mean, there are a few things you can do, and making this a special day for our our top picks and uh and and also when people lose a loved one, you know, and we're on a tight football schedule, if I can send a coach out and our player out and get them back so they can be with their family, be

at a ceremony and in a funeral and then back here. Um, you know, I try to do those things for our folks because it's it's it's a time when they you know, they need to be here, but they also need to be home. And if we can squeeze down the time by just getting them in and out and back here, you know, it seems to be the right thing to do as well. Michael, you mentioned packing, putting on your tie, going to the meetings with your dad? Was that? Do

you other early memories of the Cardinals. I assume a lot of those were with your dad at time of them, you know, I mean, my earliest memory was Lake Forest College where the Cardinals would have training camp. I remember, boy, I bet it was four or five years old. I mean, it was not much of a memory there, but I remember just seeing the training table and realizing we could eat as much as we wanted, which was not what

happened at home. And so when we got home the following week and told mom when we want waffles, pancakes, eggs, you know, and she was like, you get one thing, kid, So in any case, no, but that's that's my earliest memory, and we grew up around it, and it was just special times and being able to spend all that time with Dad and around some of these legends that have been around the Cardinals franchise and legends that are around the NFL. It's been a real honor to be a

part of it. I have a lot of great memories of your dad. There were three that really stick out. The first was when I got hired in two thousand and two. I was twenty nine years old. I had done the Bills preseason games, but I was also doing Syracuse and so I was close with Dick McPherson, who had coached the Patriots at one point. Obviously, coach at Syracuse, and he knew your dad, and he knew that I

was trying to get the jobs. So I had him call your dad and talked to him, and I came and interviewed that I met you and Ron Minneger and sat him with your dad for about a half an hour. One of the first things out of your dad's mouth, he goes, can you stop having these old retired coaches call me? And I'm like nervous. He's totally just busting my chops. But it was hilarious. He went to Georgetown, I went to Syracuse. So there's the right brother. He

knew that. He brought it up his great friend Val Pinchback right. He talked a lot about Val, who was a Syracuse guy who put together the NFL schedule for years. And another time was in two thousand and four when I got hired by ESPN, and you and your dad were kind enough when I came to you guys said, look, I want to keep doing the Cardinal Games. I have this other opportunity. Are you guys okay with this? And you guys are yep, don't worry about it. We'll figure

it out. And here we are eighteen years later, So I've always appreciated that. And the last one is the Super Bowl because your dad a lot of times would just come sit down and talk. Your dad had a great knowledge of broadcasting. He loved broadcasting. He knew everything about radio and television. And he sat down with Wolf and I right before the Super Bowl and we're almost

late for the bus. Your dad has roll and he was telling great stories from the old days where but then Wolf and I kind of looked like, we've got to goal, We've got to go. Then I'm like, wait a second, They're not even without him, So he can talk as long as he wants. But I had so many great memories of just being around your dad. A great sense of humor would always bust my chops whenever I saw. He loved to tell stories, and he was a little bit of our secret weapon. When we were

moving into the new stadium. You may remember this. We had that relocation process in which we invited all of our season ticket members to come into the training facility

and select their seats for State Farm Stadium. So when it was going to open, and so Dad just loved to tell stories and we'd have a new group coming in about every thirty minutes or so, and so I'm like, Dad, when you get to the office, can you just go out to the lobby and be yourself, we'll put And so he would go out there, and I still here today from season ticket members remembering, you know, your dad not only told me these great stories in the lobby,

but he also helped me pick out my tickets from my seat location because we knew approximately what was left on the day we got our appointment, and he helped pick the seat. So I hear that from time to time, and I'm so glad because you know, he was such a quiet person from you know, a public persona standpoint, but if you got to know him and you could just sit down one on one with him, he won

everybody over. And I know all those fans that got a chance to visit with him back in two thousand and five, when two thousand and six, when we were doing that, they were they were pretty Uh. He left a good impression. I want to get into the stadium, but I want to go back to you talking about your earliest memories as a cardinal. You were a ball boy. Did you have a favorite player, because you've seen every single person come through this organization over the last fifty years.

I think probably you know, all the stars at the time, probably the one I was, you know, we loved Larry Wilson. He was such a playmaker. And I remember when we found out he was going to retire and asking my dad like, how how are we going to be able to do this without Larry Wilson being one of the players. How are we going to be able to win football games? What's a team going to be like without such a

great player and a great leader. And I know he and my dad had a fondness and then he you know, came to the front office and then later in life was lucky enough to work with him. So I'd say Larry, But you know Dan Dierdorf, Jim Hart, Mel Gray, Otis Anderson who went and finished his career with the Giants. So many different players that were terrific. Pat Tilley was another receiver. Roy Green came along later in nineteen seventy nine.

But as I grew up and then you know, started actively working as a ball boy, there were some real characters too. And I remember one player who played for I think three seasons with us from like seventy eight to eighty John Barfield, and this guy referred to himself as doctor Doom. He was a linebacker and just a character.

And I just remember in seventy eight we drafted him in the second round and that you know, I heard he's going to show up and he wears a quarter in his ear, which were like, why why would he wear a quarter in his ear in the case he needed change to make a phone power or something. I don't know, but he always carried this quarter. He was

kind of a quirky guy. But when the drivers were going to pick him up when he flew in for training camp, there was a car crash and to stop traffic on the freeway and he was able to go and with just sheer strength probably opened the door and get these people out of the car. And it was kind of a local big story at the time that here's this big football player saves these folks and they are able to get him to the hospital and they

were survived and everything. But everything turned out. But there were lots of great players and lots of great characters. There was a Stafford May's David Galloway. There two defensive lineman and I worked with Rudy Feldman, who was the linebackers coach. So we were constantly around the defensive lineman and around the linebackers as I was during practice. And those were a couple of real characters too, just fun guys. And you know, the offensive line defensive line terrific leaders

as well. I mean I remember Dan dieter Dorff's leadership was he didn't mess around, and you know when he put his fist down, and he was pretty vocal guy, and it was good to have him in our locker room for sure. You talked about big personalities. I work with one of those guys, Ron Wolfley. This is your seventeen working with him, which is crazy. And you've known wolf forever back then when he was playing. What stood out to you about his uniqueness as a player and

as a person? Ron Wolfley total character. We drafted from nineteen eighty five. I think at that point. I was no longer a ball boy at that point, but I was still around the organization the summers doing other front office work. But when he got there, you could tell there's something different about this guy. He had a wild look about himself, and you know he was all in on football and all in on being tough, and he wanted to make a name for himself. So he was

going full go all the time. And he loved playing special teams. He loved blowing up that wedge. He loved being a part of all of the you know, the tough, gritty, nasty parts of the game of football. He was in there sticking his nose, leading from you know, with his chin on all those plays and just loved the the you know, the the physical aspects of it. So uh and I remember when when the club moved, it was he was, I guess the third year at the end

of eighty seven. I was in law school at the time, but I heard from my brothers he showed up to help pack boxes to move and literally loaded him up on the truck. I did not know that. Yeah, yeah, so it doesn't surprise me, knowing Wolf, let's get out of here. We're going to Phoenix. So he was, you know, just a blast. We had you on during one of the preseason telecasts, and so fans were watching it, got to see it. They won't be able to see it now, but they can go check it out. A picture that

Kyler Murray gave to honor your father. Can you tell us about that and what it was like when they presented it to you. How shocked were you when you saw it, because it's pretty cool. Yeah. No, So he dropped it off and it was actually a painting that he had commissioned of my father with a number of former players in it and him. It was it was very touching. I think, you know, I was blown away

by it. He had like family friend that that painted it and just I thought captured my father's expression perfectly. And actually Dan Dirdorf called me and said he had seen it on flight plan or on our social media or something and thought it was just awesome and he was honored to be one of the players that was painted into that that painting. So I told Kyler, I said, look, I can't think I wanted to talk to my siblings, but we couldn't think of a better place to hang it.

But we've hung it in our family's suite are loft at the stadium, So it's hanging up there so those players and Dad can be there with us and celebrate all those Cardinals victories. So we moved some other photographs, family photographs out of there because we wanted to feel like real family space and a little bit kind of sweet and living room sort of at the same time. So it's got a warm feeling to it, and I

think it works perfectly in there. You mentioned law school, and for people that maybe are listening that aren't Cardinal fans, are just NFL fans or sports fans that don't realize that you were a federal prosecutor and so you were not part of the organization your entire adult life, but eventually you came back in nineteen ninety six, you became president and now owner. What went into that decision twenty five years ago to leave a pretty good gig and

come back to be part of the Cardinals organization. Well, you know, my father gave great advice, and normally it came in, you know, two minute segments. He didn't need an hour to give his great advice. But I remember we were playing a preseason or it was a regular season game, and it was it was in November of eighty six, and he said, what are you doing next

year when you graduate? And you know, typical senior I'm like, well, I don't know, and he you know, and my brother was already working for him, and he said, well, I think one of you one of you kids has got to be a lawyer. You should go to law school. And we talked about it for another maybe thirty seconds. Next day I signed up for the LSATs and took him, uh, you know, four weeks later and went to law school.

And my third year of law school, I ended up clerking at the US Attorney's Office in Washington, d C. In the homicide unit. During the time that DC was the murder capital of the world, and so it was a real wake up and got to see some really tough, tough stuff and work on some really tough cases, and I fell in love with the idea of working in this area. So I applied for the position. There was an open position out here in Phoenix, and I got

the job. Spent six years at the US Attorney's Office here as a Federal prosecutor the title as Assistant US Attorney, so as an a USA for six years in the violent crime unit here, and it was much different than anything I was doing. But one day I woke up and you know, it was like, you know, I tried a bunch of homicide cases and things like that, and I realized, you know, I don't feel like I'm growing anymore. And one day I woke up and realized time for

me to probably move on. So I sat up lunch with Dad and again another one of those really short conversations, and he said, well, you know, I need help with the stadium, and so we started talking about it, and I put in my notice the next day and went to a preseason game that was in August of nineteen ninety six, and then joined the team in November and started working on our stadium effort. Then the organization has undergone a tremendous transformation and you're at the head of

that over the last twenty five years. And you mentioned the stadium. I assume that it's on the list when you talk about your proudest moments. What are some of the other ones over the over the twenty five years that you've been with the team. Again, well, other than the last you know, a couple of minutes of that game down in Tampa, that was the best game of my life. Um, but I wish, you know, I wish we could have gotten right back there and and same

thing in twenty fifteen. But I think State Farm Stadium, the sellouts, we've had, the great memories, the great games being able to host two and a third Super Bowl to come soon, plus getting the Final four here in another Final four in its way. There's so many great memories out there, and then just being able to build

the team and build the culture here. Uh, and it was you know, there were as we sort of grew up with now having the stadium once once we got it in two thousand and six, and being able to have those revenues and the bill to build things. There are a lot of great memories. I'm really proud of our people. I'm proud of some of the coaches that have gone on to become head coaches in the NFL.

I'm proud of, uh, you know other other successes that we've had with people who've who've left the Cardinals and gone on to have great success um. And I'm I'm just excited about every year having the chance to build something which is pretty special, and I think this year could be pretty darned special. This draft, the first round, you know, Zaven has hit the ground running and he's going to be not just a contributor but a leader. Secondly,

I think he's seeing what roundel Moore has done. Second round, third round trading for Rodney Hudson, who's plug and play and really lifted them. The performance that offensive line, and then Marco Wilson is just an amazing So this draft, when you look at it, uh, you know, in our history, I think it's going to turn out to be a hell of a draft. Plus the free agents we've added, you know, AJ and jj Um, we should expect some

great things. And the person I should be talking about a lot here is Matt Prator having a great kicker. You know, we lost three games by just a few points field goals last year. Being able to make those I mean each year you look at special teams winning or perhaps not contributing to a win of three games. So I kind of chalk up that Matt Prator is going to be helping us win three games this year at least. The new partnership with bet MGM and the

long standing relationship with Hila River. For season ticket holders or people who are just going to go to an occasional game at State Farm Stadium, what will the sports betting experience be like for them at State Farm Stadium? Well, I think to the extent that fantasy football elevated people's interest in the NFL and in players I think sports

betting is going to do the same thing. It's prevalent around the world in Asia, South America, in Europe, and it's just not been so here in the United States until the Supreme Court case struck down a federal law and allowed states to begin passing their own statutes. In Arizona has done that this year. We figured it was that the legislature would pass it. It's a good thing for the state because it expands the gaming compacts with

the Indian communities here in Arizona. That allows more revenue to come to the state to pay for education and roads and public safety and things along those lines. But for football fans, you know, the average bets about ten bucks. So to the extent that people are building their fantasy teams, and you know, moms are playing with kids, and it's connecting families in a different way. And now all of

a sudden, everybody knows. I mean, my nephew knows more about some of the other teams and players on other teams because he plays fantasy football. I don't have the time to do it, but he knows more about some of the you know, the great players out there in the league than I do. Especially the ones outside of our conference. But that's going to make that interest. When you can have a tenu bet on it, it's gonna

make it a a little deeper. So I think it's going to be really good for the interest, and I think it's going to become more acceptable is more and more states do this, and as people can choose whether they choose to participate in it or not. I won't be I just don't bet. And we also have NFL restrictions that costruct you and me and the players and the coaches, So I won't be doing it, but I think it's

gonna be great for the fans. In twenty nineteen, you received the Paul Taglio Award for your leadership in the area of career development for minorities and advocating for diversity. The Cardinals have been always at the top in terms of providing opportunities for everybody. I think of early on in my tenure here when you had Dennis Screen as a head coach and Rod Graves as the general manager. Are you seeing the growth and the change around the

league in terms of diversity that you hope for? Absolutely?

I think we're seeing it. We've we've implemented I'm also on the Diversity Committee for the league, and we've implemented some new policy that over the last two to three years, some pretty big steps we made in terms of those policies, and they expand the Rooney rule from just not coaches but also general managers, but there are other positions as well, and we've really tried to put an emphasis on having people step back and think about why wouldn't we have

a diverse pool of applicants for every position we have, So we very intentionally are Chief People Officer Sean Mayo very intentionally looks for a diverse group of candidates and make sure that they can do the job we're asking them to do. But we want diversity there, not just in terms of color, but also of sex. You know, we want women in positions that maybe have traditionally been

held by men. So we're going to be doing a lot of different things and not doing We are doing them, but I also think the other teams are doing it, and we're being very intentional. We also know, look, the NFL leads in a lot of different areas. We see other leagues doing it, and we see other industries citing the NFL rule. In fact, you see in corporate America. They're calling it the ruining rule in corporate Americas. So there's a big emphasis and I think we've got to

lead the way here. Last one and we'll get you out of here. You just were added to the NFL Owners Committee, which negotiates with the NFL PA. Can you talk about that, what that means and what we can expect. Yes, So we refer to it as the CEC. It's one of our big four committees, and I'm honored to be on it. It's a limited number of owners that are asked to be on that, and and you know, I think it's it's going to be great to be able

to be a part of that. You know, there'll be things that come up between now and the next extension, and you know, we'll be working on the next extension, probably not the minute before it's going to expire, but years in advance. And so it's good that I can get up to speed on those issues and begin to develop some of the relationships with our you know, the players on the other side, and and talk about the issues that are important. But I think at the meantime,

it's about growing the game. There's no doubt that we have a bright future. The revenue will grow, the players will share in a greater amount of dollars each year, especially as we get through this transition time that we have with some of the offset for the pandemic costs the teams have had to absorb. But I'm looking forward to it. Thanks Michael, appreciate the time. Thank you, Dave Man. I could have spent another thirty minutes with Michael listening

to some of those great stories. He is living Cardinal's history. He has seen at all every player, every coach that's walked through here over the last fifty years. I love to hearing about his relationship with his dad, and he and I talking about mister b sense of humor and maybe that part of his personality that the world didn't always get to see, but he was such an engaging person once you got to know him. It's clear, too listening to Michael that his expectations are very high for

this year, and they match the fan expectation. Everybody thinks the Cardinals should be a playoff team in twenty twenty one, and Michael made that clear. The moves that he and Steve Kim made in the offseason were designed to get this team into the playoffs and win the division. He said, that is the first goal, winning the division. So it was great to hear Michael's candor and his high hopes for twenty twenty one. Coming up later this week, we branch out and get a take on the cardinals upcoming

opponent from somebody in the world of entertainment. Tennessee Titans diehard James Rode, who also happens to be an award winning actor from the hit TV show psych will join us to talk about the upcoming season and much more. You can follow us on Twitter at Pashpod and a reminder that we are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals and Hila River Hotels and Casinos. Thanks again to Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell.

I'm Dave Pash. We'll talk to you soon on the Dave Pash Podcast.