The NFL Cardinals "want to erect digital billboards around the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale,” according to Mike Sunnucks of the PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL. The team owns the parking lots and property around the stadium and has "long-term plans to develop garages and commercial buildings there.” Those prospecitve buildings have “existing approvals for large signage and billboards.” Cardinals President Michael Bidwill and other team reps “didn’t say how much might be spent on the new billboards.” The signage would add the Cardinals to the “competitive and lucrative local digital billboard marketplace,” which includes the Suns and D'Backs. The Cardinals’ billboard play comes “as the team has threatened to sue the city of Glendale over parking space" at the stadium and Westgate City Center. The location of the billboards “could run into state and local restrictions on electronic billboards adjacent to freeways," as Glendale city planners “have turned down some previous electronic billboard proposals” near Univ. of Phoenix Stadium. The signs “could be an issue in the Cardinals’ negotiations and potential legal dispute with Glendale officials over parking for football games.” A contract among Glendale, the Cardinals and the Arizona Sports & Tourism Authority states that the city "must provide 6,000 spaces at Westgate that also can be used for Phoenix Coyotes and Cards games.” The Cardinals "recently threatened to sue the city after Glendale allowed 3,700 Westgate parking spots to be demolished for Tanger Outlets’ construction of a 328,000-square-foot mall” (PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/27 issue).
