Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill is under fire again for his workplace behavior. However, he denies any of the allegations.
His former personal assistant Brittany Neuheisel recently filed suit against him, alleging wrongful discharge, harassment and more.
Bidwill addressed the allegations in an interview on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM this past week on Friday.
“It’s a privilege to be in this position and all these positions,” he said. “Just like in the entertainment industry and CEOs of businesses and CEOs of sports teams and owners, there are going to be times where things come up where people make allegations. You’ve got to go through the process. Sometimes it’s a more lengthy process, but we’re going to defend this. We strongly deny all these allegations and look forward to the process that we can stand our ground and make sure we defend ourselves strongly, which we will.”
He continued.
“Often times, you see the reality is much different than what’s alleged. And allegations are simply that: just allegations, so we look forward to moving forward. It just comes with the territory here, and I understand that. There are going to be critics out there and we’re just going to be focused on building a great organization, great team.”
This is not the first time his workplace behavior has come into question. Former team executive Terry McDonough also sued Bidwill and the Cardinals and was awarded $3 million. Former COO Ron Minegar also spoke about a bad workplace culture after he left the organization.
But Bidwill believes that reality is different than perception.
“I think there’s a perception outside the building that a few people want to carry on,” he said. “We’ve gone through a lot of changes over the last couple of years and brought in new leadership. I’m excited about the leadership team we have both on the football and the business side.”
Jeremy Walls is now the COO and Shaun Mayo is chief people officer, overseeing a human resources department that previously did not exist.
“We’ve done a great job of building up a culture. and you come over to our business operations center and you see that every day,” he said.
What he says and what others seem to say differ greatly. How this lawsuit plays out is something to watch in the weeks and months to come, and whether we hear more problems.
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