This past week, former Arizona Cardinals front office executive Terry McDonough filed an arbitration claim against the team that accused owner Michael Bidwell of gross misconduct, including cheating, discrimination, and harassment.[2] The arbitration claim was filed with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell last Tuesday, but the exact details of the accusations and contents of the filing remain undisclosed as the matter is pending the league’s arbitration process.[3] McDonough is seeking damages for breach of contract and emotional distress.
Terry McDonough has spent over 30 years in the NFL as a front office member, with a decade of that time spent working for the Arizona Cardinals. McDonough’s time with the Arizona Cardinals came to an end in 2021, where he finished his career as the Senior Personnel Executive for the team.[4]
According to an individual with personal knowledge of the claims, the heart of McDonough’s filing, and the reason why he’s seeking arbitration from the NFL in the first place, stems from his demotion following his refusal to participate in the organizations alleged cheating scheme.[5] The scheme in question arose in late July, 2018, after former Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim was charged with driving under the influence.[6] Keim pled guilty to the charges and rather than wait to see what reprimand he would face from the NFL, the Cardinals decided to act first and suspended Keim for five weeks. However, McDonough alleges that Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell couldn’t handle having his team go through training camp without their GM, so he allegedly required McDonough and then-head coach Steve Wilks to use burner phones to keep communicating with Keim during his “suspension.”[7] McDonough claims that he refused to participate in the illicit burner phone scheme, and as a result Bidwell ultimately demoted him from Vice President of Player Personnel to Senior Personnel Executive, and that his opportunities for advancement in the NFL at other organizations evaporated.[8] Jim McCarthy, external public relations advisor for the Arizona Cardinals responded to McDonough’s claims by stating that the burner phone scheme was not the idea of Bidwell but that of another unnamed executive, and that it was actually Mr. Bidwell himself who “took swift action when he learned of the situation and directed the phones to be retrieved and communications stopped.”[9]
In addition to his claims of cheating to circumvent the 2018 suspension of then-GM Steve Keim, McDonough also alleges that the Cardinals owner treated a black employee and two pregnant women poorly and “created an environment of fear for minority employees.”[10] According to McDonough, many employees responded to a 2019 employee survey conducted by the Cardinals that they were “fearful of Bidwell on a daily basis, as a result of [his] erratic and often abusive interactions.”[11] McDonough further claims that the results of his survey were kept private to ensure that criticism of Bidwell as an owner wasn’t made public. In response to these claims, Jim McCarthy further stated that “the 2019 employee survey referenced in the complaint was not ignored but in fact formed the basis for significant enhancements to our workplace practices.”[12]
The final part of McDonough’s claims against the Cardinals organization outlined the unfair treatment of former Head Coach Steve Wilks following the 2018 season. While Wilks joined the Cardinals as one of the most sought-after heard coaches at the time, McDonough alleges that the Bidwell “sabotaged” him as a head coach in order to quickly fire him and turn around and replace him with Kliff Kingsbury.[13]
While it is normally very difficult to ascertain the truth of claims in he-said-they-said situations such as this, some truth on the matter could come to light if the NFL ultimately decides to arbitrate the matter. Regardless of the potential results of arbitration, these claims cast even more doubt on the Cardinals organization for the upcoming 2023 season after their dismal 4-13 regular season finish in 2022.
[1] Photograph: https://apnews.com/article/arizona-cardinals-cheating-bidwill-phones-dfd42a75c4589f1aa569c1fde26fb71f
[2] https://www.si.com/nfl/cardinals/news/arizona-cardinals-owner-michael-bidwill-accused-cheating-discrimination-harassment
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] https://www.sbnation.com/2023/4/5/23671168/arizona-cardinals-cheating-scandal-explained
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/36069257/ex-cardinals-vp-terry-mcdonough-accuses-owner-cheating
[9] https://www.counterpointstrategies.com/azc
[10] https://www.si.com/nfl/cardinals/news/arizona-cardinals-owner-michael-bidwill-accused-cheating-discrimination-harassment
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] https://www.sbnation.com/2023/4/5/23671168/arizona-cardinals-cheating-scandal-explained
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