The arbitration claim recently filed by former Cardinals executive Terry McDonough makes various specific allegations against owner Michael Bidwill. Some of those allegations have been corroborated by a fellow former employee of the team.
McDonough generally accuses Bidwill of being “abusive” and engaging in “widespread workplace misconduct.” Specifically, McDonough claims that Bidwill halted a “2019 corporate cultural assessment of the Cardinals organization that was being conducted by an outside consulting firm after an expansive initial round of employee responses criticized the Cardinals’ woeful culture and placed most of the blame on Bidwill.”
McDonough contends that many of the employees who responded to the survey “indicated that they were fearful of Bidwill on a daily basis, as a result of Bidwill’s erratic and often abusive interactions with them,” and that the employees “were largely working in fear, which they attributed to interactions with Bidwill.”
McDonough’s claims have found some support. In a letter that former Cardinals executive V.P. and COO Ron Minegar hand-delivered to Bidwill on December 18, 2019, Minegar included multiple statements that echo concerns raised by McDonough. PFT has obtained a full copy of the December 18, 2019 letter from Minegar to Bidwill.
“You are not the guy I met back in 2000,” Minegar wrote. “You used to smile and laugh a lot. You used to be fun to be around. You were excited about the future and what it would mean for our organization. You worked your ass off and started to see the fruits of your labor.”
In the next paragraph, Minegar said this: “I acknowledge that you have had to deal with a ton of issues this past year, but you come to work angry every day. You talk down to almost everyone. You’ve become arrogant and condescending. You need to get credit for everything when things are going well and are quick to point the finger at everyone else when we are struggling.”
Later, Minegar wrote this: “Our lack of sustained success combined with your daily anger is extremely frustrating and makes me feel like I’ve squandered 19 years of my career here.”
Minegar directly confirmed McDonough’s allegations regarding the employee survey, in this portion of the letter: “Until recently, we didn’t really have a clue how our employees really feel about working here. Have we created an environment that eliminates barriers to success and motivates people to excellence? That changed when we got the first round of results from the employee engagement study. Sadly, we learned that a majority of our employees are working in fear. There are several factors, but much of this was directed at you based on the poor interaction they’ve had with you. . . . What was your reaction when you saw the preliminary responses? Instead of leaning into it and trying to change things for the better, you shut the study down.”
Minegar also complained in his letter that Bidwill promptly dismissed an idea for an upcoming season-ticket renewal campaign.
“You immediately zone in on the trip for two on the team charter as one of the proposed renewal incentives and dismiss it with a ‘we aren’t fucking going to do that,'” Minegar wrote. “It was a preliminary idea that came out of a creative session. Your negativity sucks the life out of the entire process and erodes our collective resolve to work our asses off for you and this franchise. Its [sic] not just me — everyone in this building is impacted by your constant negativity.”
Minegar concluded his letter with this: “I am sad for you and worried about you. You deserve to be happy, but you are miserable. You know it. The people around you feel it daily and it impacts them more than you understand.”
The Cardinals responded to a request for comment on Minegar’s December 18, 2019 letter with this statement from Jim McCarthy, external public relations advisor.
“The concerns you are describing from Mr. Minegar were later characterized by Mr. Minegar himself as misguided and were pulled back in a note of apology that he volunteered to our team’s owner,” McCarthy said. “In that subsequent September 2022 note expressing regret Mr. Minegar wrote, ‘I’m way overdue . . . to express my sincere apologies for my attitude and behavior the last several years we worked together.’ He continued, ‘I am starting to understand what an angry, bitter man I had become. I sincerely regret how my actions and attitude impacted our relationship.’ The note continued that he had come to ‘realize how misguided I was’ and that ‘I am proud of the work we did together.'”
Minegar disputed this characterization of his September 2022 communication to Bidwill.
“I am disappointed that my private notes to Michael Bidwill have been pulled into the dispute between Michael and Terry,” Minegar said in a statement provided to PFT. “Moreover, I am saddened to learn that portions of the September 2022 correspondence have been used by the Cardinals to erroneously signal I was retracting the statements I made in my 2019 resignation letter. This is blatantly false and must be interpreted as an attempt to deflect criticism. I stand by the statements I made in my December 2019 letter and am willing to discuss with the involved parties as part of the NFL’s Arbitration Process.”
Minegar added that, following years of no communication from Bidwill, Minegar recently heard from him.
“After not speaking to him since January of 2020, Michael Bidwill called me to discuss the private dispute between the Team and Terry McDonough,” Minegar said. “Michael indicated the arbitration claim filed with the NFL included one page of a three-page letter I handed to him in December of 2019 in which I outlined reasons why I felt we needed to discuss my resignation.
“During the call, Michael asked if I would allow the team to use portions of an e-mail I sent in September of 2022 in which I congratulated him on the halftime tribute they conducted in honor of his father. I also took the opportunity to apologize for my role in the deterioration of our relationship over the last several years of my employment. I wrote this very private note to Michael to ‘Make Amends’ as part of my program of sobriety which I have undertaken for the past 1000+ days.
“I told Michael that I would consider his request, but I would want the entire note to be utilized as opposed to just selecting snippets. I also requested that my entire resignation letter be used instead of just one page to provide proper context. Unfortunately, they opted to pick and choose segments of the letter in an attempt to put their position in a favorable light.”
The claims made by McDonough will be resolved in an arbitration proceeding controlled by the league. Minegar is the first former coworker to speak out in a way that corroborates portions of McDonough’s claims.
It will be very interesting to see whether others follow suit.
"behavior" - Google News
April 11, 2023 at 09:12AM
https://ift.tt/zxdQjMZ
Former Cardinals executive Ron Minegar raised concerns about owner Michael Bidwill’s workplace behavior in 2019 - NBC Sports
"behavior" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3iK094R
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Former Cardinals executive Ron Minegar raised concerns about owner Michael Bidwill’s workplace behavior in 2019 - NBC Sports"
Post a Comment