Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said Friday that he believes his team’s workplace culture is “excellent” and recent lawsuits against him and the team are simply allegations that he will strongly defend.

One of those lawsuits, a defamation case against the team, its legal representation and a public relations firm filed by former Cardinals vice president of personnel Terry McDonough, was dismissed on Feb. 13.

“It’s a privilege to be in this position and all these positions,” Bidwill told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta. “Just like in the entertainment industry and CEOs or businesses and CEOs or sports teams and owners, there are going to be times where things come up where people make allegations. You got to go through the process — sometimes it’s a more lengthy process. But we’re going to defend this. We strongly deny all these allegations and look forward to the process that we can stand our ground (in) and make sure we defend ourselves strongly, which we will.

“Often times you see the reality is much different than what’s alleged. And allegations are simply that: just allegations. We look forward to moving forward. It just comes with the territory here, and I understand that. There are going to be critics out there, etcetera, and we’re just going to be focused on building a great organization, great team.”

What is the most recent lawsuit that the Cardinals and Michael Bidwill face?

Bidwill’s former personal assistant, Brittany Neuheisel, filed a lawsuit accusing the owner of verbally abusing her during her tenure that began in 2019 and ended last month.

The lawsuit filed Feb. 6 in the Superior Court of Maricopa County claims constructive discharge, wrongful discharge, discrimination and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The 54-year-old former assistant claims that she was “continuously tormented for failing to disavow members of her own family and for refusing to participate in illegal conduct.”

In another example, the suit claims that Bidwill demanded Neuheisel “provide false information” on federal and international disclosure forms relating to the owner’s travel on a private airplane. It also says that when Neuheisel would raise concerns about Bidwill’s requests, the owner would ridicule her Catholic faith.

Cardinals believe they have improved the workplace culture

Bidwill on Friday said the Cardinals have spent the last few years focusing on improving their workplace culture. That came with leadership changes in both the football operations and business wings of the franchise.

“I think there’s a perception outside the building that a few people want to carry on,” Bidwill said. “We’ve gone through a lot of changes the last couple of years and brought in new leadership. I’m excited about the leadership team we have both on the football and the business side.”

They hired chief people office Shaun Mayo in 2021 to oversee human resources and Jeremy Walls in 2023 as chief operating officer. Bidwill credited those two with helping improve the culture on the business side.

Walls’ hiring followed the departure of former COO Ron Minegar, who went on the record to ESPN about poor workplace culture in light of the initial McDonough complaint. It accused the Cardinals and Bidwill of misconduct, discrimination and harassment.

The Cardinals’ response to that complaint led to McDonough’s defamation lawsuit that was dismissed this month, although an NFL arbitrator ordered the Cardinals to pay McDonough almost $3 million in damages.

Of course, the Cardinals have also seen turnover on the football side of things as well. General manager Monti Ossenfort was hired before the 2023 season and has steadily built a core culture through the draft and development of his young players.

The Cardinals improved from four wins to eight in Ossenfort’s and head coach Jonathan Gannon’s tenure.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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