Tag: Terry McDonough

Terry McDonough’s family now suing Cardinals, owner Michael Bidwill

The McDonough family continues to take action against Bidwill and the team.

Just when we thought that the drama between the Arizona Cardinals and former team executive Terry McDonough was over following a ruling in his arbitration claims against the team, there is more.

McDonough, unable to file suit himself because of arbitration, instead now has had his family file suit in Arizona Superior Court, according to ESPN. The family is suing the Cardinals, owner Michael Bidwill, the team’s crisis communications firm Counterpoint Strategies and its owner Jim McCarthy, and team attorney Don Johnsen and his law firm Gallagher & Kennedy for defamation, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

McDonough is also suing Counterpoint, McCarthy, Johnson and his firm.

The arbtitrator in the case against the Cardinals ruled the team must pay McDonough $3 million for defamatory comments the team publily made through McCarthy in response to his grievance against the team.

Included in the statement were accusations of spousal abuse and neglect of his disabled adult daughter.

After McDonough was let go in 2023 following the hiring of new general manager Monti Ossenfort, he filed the grievance, claiming wronful termination and that he was retaliated against after he opposed the use of burner phones to impermissably communicate with then-GM Steve Keim during his suspension following his guilty plea to extreme DUI in 2018.

That is when the team released its response to the grievance.

In arbitration, all claims were dismissed except for the amended claim for defamation, which led to the $3 million award for McDonough.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out because it will be the court system and not in the league’s arbitration system.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Potential NFL punishment for burner phone situation not cut-and-dry

The Cardinals never denied the phones, only saying that Michael Bidwill shut things down when he learned the scheme existed.

The Arizona Cardinals saw their arbitration case filed by former team executive Terry McDonough end with a ruling ordering them to pay McDonough $3 million for defamatory comments they made about him after he filed the grievance.

That book is closed on the case, but now many wonder if the NFL will dole out any punishment for the Cardinals.

After all, the event that more or less began the events leading to McDonough’s grievance was a scheme to cheat in a way.

When Steve Keim, then the general manager, was suspended by the team in 2018 following is arrest and guilty plea for extreme DUI, a time in which he was to have zero contact with the team, McDonough alleges that burner phones were used to maintain contact with Keim.

He claimed that when he voiced his opposition and discomfort for it, owner Michael Bidwill became very angry with him.

However, the team never denied the existence of those burner phones. In the Cardinals’ response, Bidwill did not know about it and, when he did, he shut it down immediately.

During arbitration, according to Dan Bickley for Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, Keim testified that the burner phones were actually McDonough’s idea.

That’s where things get tricky.

The league did not issue the suspension. Per the team, Bidwill shut down things once he was aware of it, so, at least in the eyes of the league, the team proactively punished Keim for driving drunk and then shut down a scheme to, in essence, cheat the suspension.

It wasn’t a salary cap violation or tampering. It wasn’t videotaping opponents’ practices. It wasn’t bounties for injuring players. It wasn’t deflating balls in secret.

Could the league fine the team? Sure. But in a he said, he said battle of claims between the team and McDonough where his original claims were all dismissed, it would make it easy for the league to do nothing.

It can rest on the perception that Bidwill didn’t do anything wrong and even shut down the scheme, casting the best possible light on one of the league’s owners.

If you think it is certain the Cardinals will lose draft picks over this, you might be surprised. It certainly isn’t a guarantee.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Terry McDonough also must pay Cardinals despite $3M award

McDonough must pay the Cardinals $25,000 for attorneys’ fees and $20,000 for violating an order of confidentiality.

The arbitration between the Arizona Cardinals and former team executive Terry McDonough concluded. After the arbitrator dismissed all McDonough’s original claims of wrongful termination and retaliation, the Cardinals were ordered to pay him a $3 million award for defamatory comments made publicly after he filed the grievance.

However, McDonough was hit with a ruling as well.

While the team must pay him $3 million, according to Pro Football Talk, McDonough must pay the Cardinals $45,000.

$25,000 of the amount is to pay the Cardinals for lawyers’ fees, as all his original claims were dismissed. The other $20,000 was a sanction against him for breaking the confidentiality order as part of the case, investigation and hearing.

McDonough sent a pair of emails to PFT’s Mike Florio and, while Florio says he did not solicit them and did not open the messages, it was enough to violate the order.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

PODCAST: Terry McDonough ruling, Cardinals draft needs

Jess Root and Seth Cox have another edition of the podcast.

We have a new edition of the podcast with me and cohost Seth Cox. There isn’t much new when it comes to football, but we did discuss the recent arbitration ruling involving the Arizona Cardinals and how they must pay Terry McDonough $3 million for defamation.

We also delve into the 2024 NFL draft, going over what the Cardinals’ draft needs are — critical, primary and secondary.

Enjoy!

Enjoy the show with the embedded player above or by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform, so you never miss a show. Make sure as well to give it a five-star rating!

Times and topics:

(1:00) The ruling in the Terry McDonough arbitration case

(27:21) The Cardinals’ draft needs

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=663413582]

Could Cardinals face league discipline after Terry McDonough ruling?

The arbitrator found that the Cardinals did use burner phones in 2018 while GM Steve Keim was suspended.

The Arizona Cardinals can close the book on the arbitration case for grievances filed against them by former team vice president Terry McDonough. As reported by ESPN’s Tisha Thompson, most of the claims filed against the team were dismissed but they must pay McDonough $3 million for defamatory comments made about him after he filed his grievance.

While the case is now over, we now must wait and see if the Cardinals will face any league discipline for some of the details alleged by McDonough that the arbitrator found to be true.

Part of what stemmed the grievance in the first place is that McDonough felt he was wrongfully terminated and also retaliated against because he was not comfortable with a scheme involving burner phones to communicate with general manager Steve Keim in the summer of 2018 during his team-imposed suspension for an extreme DUI arrest in July that year.

As part of the ruling, arbitrator Jeffrey Mishkin “found that the team did use burner phones.” Now, the Cardinals never denied the existence of those phones. They claimed that when owner Michael Bidwill was made aware of the burner phone scheme to contact Keim during his suspension, it was shut down and the phones were to be collected.

This is where it gets tricky.

The league did not impose any punishment on Keim, accepting what the Cardinals imposed. However, it is possible the league could take action against the team for the burner phone scheme. In many instances, draft picks have been moved or forfeited as punishment.

Most previous draft pick forfeitures have been for salary cap violations, tampering allegations or other violations to league protocol.

With the ruling having come from arbitration and the NFL draft coming at the end of the month, we will see if the Cardinals end up losing any draft picks as a result of all of this.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

How Larry Fitzgerald somehow became part of the Terry McDonough story

Larry Fitzgerald is a character in the odd story between the Cardinals and former team exec Terry McDonough.

The Arizona Cardinals were ordered to pay former executive Terry McDonough $3 million for defamatory statements they made publicly after he filed a grievance for wrongful termination and other things.

ESPN’s Tisha Thompson has the full report and revealed an interesting fact that somehow includes legendary receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

How?

Arbitrator Jeffrey Mishkin detailed how the Cardinals got info related to spousal abuse allegations they referred to in their public response to McDnough’s grievance.

In September 2018, former Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald received an unsolicited letter from McDonough’s former father-in-law accusing McDonough of abandoning his daughter. Fitzgerald gave the letter to a team executive who “did not notify Mr. Bidwill of the allegations in the letter” but instead “put the letter in Mr. McDonough’s employment file and never spoke a word of it to Mr. Bidwill until nearly five years later,” when the team searched McDonough’s “emails and files for potential content to include” in its statement, according to Mishkin’s decision.

This raises all sorts of questions. Why did the former father-in-law send it Fitzgerald? Why wasn’t Bidwill told? Why didn’t anyone follow up before making public comments about McDonough’s character without real knowledge of the situation?

This continues to be an ugly situation that hopefully will have some sort of conclusion soon.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Cardinals ordered to pay former VP Terry McDonough $3M for defamation

The NFL arbitrator dismissed McDonough’s original claim but awarded him money for what the Cardinals said about him after the claim.

According to ESPN’s Tisha Thompson, an NFL arbitrator has ruled that the Arizona Cardinals must pay former executive Terry McDonough $3 million for “false and defamatory” statements the team released to the public.

However, McDonough’s other original claims of unlawful retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy were dismissed.

McDonough’s claimed that he was retaliated against when the team allegedly had temporary “burner” phones to communicate with general manager Steve Keim in the summer of 2018 during his team-imposed suspension for a DUI arrest. McDonough said he expressed that he was not comfortable with doing it.

What is interesting is that the arbitrator found that the team did use burner phones, which might cause the league to dole out a punishment to the organization.

However, it was not found that the Cardinals prevented McDonough from getting a GM job elsewhere.

What led to the $3 million ruling were the statements the Cardinals released publicly about McDonough.

The ruling said the Cardinals “published the defamatory statements with actual malice.”

McDonough sought more than $100 million from the Cardinals for lost wages, emotional distress, reputational harm and punitive damages.

The ultimate award is broken down as $150,000 in general harm to his reputation, $600,000 for emotional distress and $2.25 million in punitive damages.

Now we get to wait and see if the league will punish the Cardinals for what they did.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

Terry McDonough amends complaint against Cardinals, adding defamation claims

The Cardinals’ original response prompted McDonough to add defamation and invasion of privacy to his complaint against the team.

The drama this offseason with the Arizona Cardinals continues. They face arbitration in claims made by former vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough. McDonough amended his complaint to include defamation and invasion of privacy, according to ESPN’s Tisha Thompson.

When McDonough filed his original complaint requesting arbitration, accusing the team of misconduct and harrassment, the team responded harshly with claims of their own of his misconduct and even evidence of domestic violence.

That response is now part of the complaint.

The Cardinals and Bidwill “publicly disclosed private facts about McDonough” and made “false and defamatory statements about McDonough” that the team knew “to be false” as part of an “effort to intimidate and harass him and his family members,” according to the complaint obtained by ESPN.

The league appointed former NBA attorney Jeffrey Mishkin to hear the case.

The team responded with a statement stating it was aware of the amended complaint and is confident with the stance already taken, but the Cardinals would not comment further.

This is going to drag on for a while.

[affiliatewidget_smgtolocal]

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=2173]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbw7fa4ahbvdd03 player_id=none image=]

Terry McDonough claims scandal will cost Michael Bidwill ownership of Cardinals

Terry McDonough believes that when he is heard and when Steve Wilks speaks on Bidwill’s workplace behavior, he will be forced out as owner.

The Arizona Cardinals are dealing with a new offseason scandal. Former vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough filed a request for arbitration with the league accusing owner Michael Bidwill of a number of things including cheating, bullying, harassment and more.

McDonough believes the result of what he is bringing will be the end of Bidwill as the owner of the Cardinals.

He shared a number of text messages with Doug Franz, a former well-known radio host in Phoenix who now has his own daily podcast, “Doug Franz Unplugged.”

Franz shared the texts he got from McDonough on Monday.

“Bidwill’s days of owning the Cardinals will soon be coming to an end, and he has nobody to blame but himself and his horrific behavior toward so many people,” he wrote to Franz via text.

McDonough claims he has a 29-page petition of what he says is completely factual evidence of Bidwill’s mistreatment of employees and says it is all the truth.

“This was never about me,” he said. “Someone had to put a stop to Bidwill’s cruel treatment of people. When I saw how he was trying to treat me, I knew it was time to speak up against him and for all the people he thought he could bully because he owned the team.”

McDonough includes former head coach Steve Wilks as one of the biggest victims of Bidwill’s behavior.

“Do you have any idea of how heinous Michael Bidwill’s actions were toward Steve Wilks in 2018,” he asked. “Bidwill loved me right up until that point.

“From (general manager Steve) Keim’s suspension on, everything changed. The only thing I did was let Bidwill know that I was going to expose him for his atrocious treatment of Steve Wilks. That’s why I suddenly disappeared. He couldn’t fire me because he knew I had him dead in his tracks, and that’s why he came out with all that B.S. about me last week.”

He was referencing the response the team gave, bringing up McDonough’s own workplace misconduct.

McDonough believes he and Wilks hold the smoking gun that will force Bidwill out.

“His biggest mistake is this — he never thought he was going to be held accountable for his cruel and uncivilized behavior towards many people,” he said. ‘His time of owning an NFL team is going to come to a quick and abrupt end whenever I speak and especially when Steve Wilks talks.”

Thus far, Wilks has made no comment on any of this, although he is included as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the NFL for racist hiring practices filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores.

The league will decide if commissioner Roger Goodell will hear this case or whether someone he appoints will hear it.

McDonough appears ready to make sure this story doesn’t get forgotten.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=2173]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbw7fa4ahbvdd03 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]

Terry McDonough promises fight with Cardinals over allegations

He tells Peter King he will fight the way his father did as a reporter.

The Arizona Cardinals found themselves in the news last week when former vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough filed a request for arbitration against the Cardinals, alleging cheating, misconduct and wrongful firing.

Among the allegations, McDonough claims Bidwill either knew or spearheaded a scheme to maintain communications with general manager Steve Keim during his five-week suspension in 2018 using burner phones.

He claims Bidwill creates a hostile work environment, verbally attacked a pair of pregnant women and that minority employees work in fear.

The Cardinals countered with a statement of evidence to the contrary, painting McDonough as unstable, hard to work with and allege evidence of domestic abuse in his home.

NBC Sports’ Peter King wrote this in his Monday column.

Great quote from McDonough to me Saturday: “I am Will McDonough’s son.” Meaning: I’m going to fight this one hard, the way my dad would have. Will, one of the great football columnists of all time, did not take guff from anyone, ever.

If the league rules there will be arbitration, this could get even uglier.

But Cardinals fans should be used to bad news these days.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbw7fa4ahbvdd03 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]