In their nine decades of playing football, the Arizona Cardinals have lost a total of 664 games, 57% of all the games they have played. Since 1947, they have won only one playoff game, and since 1984, had only one winning season. In 86 years, they have won over ten games five times compared to the Philadelphia Eagles, England Patriots, and Indianapolis Colts, which have all won over ten games, at least five times in the past seven years.
The Oldest American Football Club
The Cardinals is the oldest American football club, originally formed in 1989 and was then named the Morgan Athletic Club, based in Chicago. The team was then called the Racine Normals (because they were located in Chicago's Racine Avenue) and was later changed to the Racine Cardinals. It was then that they started wearing dark red uniforms which were taken from the football college team, the Chicago Maroons. It was in 1920 that the Cardinals officially became a member of the NFL and was renamed the Chicago Cardinals. During World War II, in 1944, the Cardinals merged temporarily with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and were thus referred to as the Card-Pitt team, just for one season. In 1960, the Cardinals then moved to St. Louis Missouri and became the St. Louis Cardinals. They earned the moniker "The Big Red" due to a series of success in the 1970s. After failing to acquire a stadium in St. Louis solely for football, the Cardinals moved to Phoenix in 1988 and were named the Phoenix Cardinals. By 1994, it was officially known as the Arizona Cardinals. Today, they are based in Glendale Arizona in the outskirts of Phoenix and are members of the National Football Conference, Western Division and the National Football League (NFL). In 2006, all home games of the Cardinals were played at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, instead of the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe where they played at for 17 years.
No Super Bowl for the Cardinals
The Cardinals is one of six NFL teams who never made it to the Super Bowl including the Detroit Lions, the Cleveland Browns, the New Orleans Saints, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The team's only NFL championship game was in 1947, two decades before the Super Bowl was instituted. The other championship was in 1925, eight easy before NFL held championship games. Since 1947, the Cardinals have qualified only five times for the playoffs and won only one playoff game, a poor record shared only by one other team, the Detroit Lions.
Cardinals' Big Turnaround
In recent years, however, the Cardinals is looking at a major overhaul and makeover with the son's owner Michael Bidwill taking over the team in lieu of his father, William V. Bidwill. Michael took over as president and has recently invested on a new stadium, a marketing staff, and a larger share of revenues. Just last year, 2007, the Cardinals saw an increase of 20% revenue, to $189 million. The team is not worth $888 million, a 13% increase from the year before. Today, they are attracting better players and spending on equipment and training.
Rick Grantham is an avid sports fan. Most of Rick's articles focus on sports fan gifts. Many articles are related to mlb shop and other sports related topics. Rick is a contributing author to BooYah Village.
