The Arizona stadium situation began in Missouri in 1987.

St. at the time. Lewis Cardinals are miserable decade of seasonsThe team has suffered more losses than wins in eight of its ten seasons. In two positive seasons, they had just one win over losses.

Some blame the constant losing streak on unfocused players, inexperienced coaches, and poor defensive schemes. But the team’s owner had a different view.

For team owner Bill Bidwill at the time, fixing potential staffing and player issues was not a primary concern. Instead, he believed the team’s dismal record was largely due to the number of seats, or lack thereof, at their home stadium.

The Cardinals’ Missouri home, Busch Stadium, had a capacity of approximately 54,000 seats, 13,000 less than the league’s average seating capacity at the time. The possibility of a slight increase in fans was the difference between success and failure in Bidwill’s mind. chicago tribune.

“We’re going to be at a competitive disadvantage and have to cut a lot of what we’re doing,” Bidwell told the newspaper about what would happen if we didn’t add more seats. “The NFL had the lowest attendance numbers in the last eight years. It’s time to move on.”

St. Louis ultimately defeated the idea of ​​a new stadium, and Bidwill told the Tribune that he wasn’t thinking of moving the team, but they would become the Phoenix Cardinals in exactly one year.

The team became a tenant at Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium after moving to Arizona without a stadium. They remained tenants for 18 years and were also the only team in the NFL whose home ground was a university-owned stadium.

Bidwill’s stadium hopes, unlike fan morale, refused to die.