Businessperson of the Year: Michael Bidwill presides over high-flying Cardinals empire

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Bidwill shakes hands with military service members at the Cardinals’ annual kickoff luncheon.

Mike Sunnucks

Senior Reporter- Phoenix Business Journal

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This is the first in a series of 10 blogs making the case for our Businessperson of the Year nominees. We are asking our readers to help us decide a winner. Please vote in our online poll, which runs through Dec. 1.

Michael Bidwill

Title: President

Organization: Arizona Cardinals

Sometimes it's good to be king. And, the Arizona Cardinals are currently kings of the state's sports world. The team is 8-1. That is the best record in the National Football League.

There's the real possibility the Cardinals could be the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.

The team is worth $1 billion, according to Forbes. Cards games are the most watched television program in the Phoenix market each week. The team's Nov. 9th win over the St. Louis Rams drew 554,000 local television household viewers.

Michael Bidwill is reigning over all the Cardinals recent success, on and off the field.

Related:

• Ruffling feathers: Cardinals chief Michael Bidwill doesn't pull punches or shy away from a fight
• Super Bowl will give Arizona chance to change tarnished image

Bidwill took over as team president in 2007. He helped push through a Maricopa County ballot measure that imposed tourism taxes to help build University of Phoenix Stadium.

Bidwill led the regional effort that brought Super Bowl XLIX to Glendale in February. He's also involved with economic development efforts serving on the board of the Arizona Commerce Authority. He was also a top business backer of governor-elect Doug Ducey.

Bidwill has been known to ruffle a few feathers, including a public spat with the city of Glendale over Super Bowl organization efforts.

Agree? Disagree? Be sure to vote in our poll.

Mike Sunnucks writes about residential and commercial real estate, government, law, sports business and workplace issues.