TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona Cardinals fans have been too familiar with this situation before.

	Bill Bidwill's Arizona Cardinals have been in constant turmoil.

It was 4th-and-goal. A field goal wouldn't help. They needed a touchdown.

The Cardinals were out of timeouts with just seconds left on the clock.

Quarterback Jake Plummer took the snap, dropped back and handed off ... to the voters of Maricopa County. They were the ones who would decide whether the Cardinals would win or lose their fight for a new stadium.

The results weren't determined as swiftly as originally anticipated. Because approximately 135,000 absentee ballots were cast, the official tally wasn't known until a week after Election Day. But in the end, the delay meant little to the Cardinals because the voters approved Proposition 302 by a narrow margin -- 51.89 percent in favor, 48.11 percent opposed.

What this means is, the Bill Bidwill family-owned franchise will be getting a new 70,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof and a natural grass field. It also means that the team's long-speculated relocation to San Antonio or Los Angeles is not going to happen.

The Cardinals are now entrenched in Arizona, and they are looking forward to a rebirth once the revenue streams from a new stadium start rolling in.

With the new facility, the Cardinals will retain revenue earned from stadium naming rights, luxury suites, concessions, stadium signage and game-day parking. Under their current deal at Sun Devil Stadium, the Cardinals' incoming revenue is limited.

The new money coming in has Arizona's front office excited, as more money will be available to spend on players.

"We're looking forward to getting into -- and winning -- a bidding contest with Daniel Snyder for a defensive tackle," said Cardinals vice president Michael Bidwill, who played a major role in the team's push for a new stadium.

Cornerback Aeneas Williams said getting a new stadium is "a stepping stone" toward more success on the field. However, success isn't guaranteed just because the Cardinals will be getting a new facility.

	“	This is a step. Certainly, there has to be continued due diligence to make sure that the extra things and the excess revenue that flows is used wisely. ”
		— Aeneas Williams, Cardinals cornerback

"This is a step," said Williams. "Certainly, there has to be continued due diligence to make sure that the extra things and the excess revenue that flows is used wisely. Those are things that are going to be crucial in the 21st century in the NFL."

The stadium issue had been hanging over this franchise for years, but things really heated up in the past year as the team prepared for the election. There has been additional pressure on the club -- from ownership down to the players -- to field a winner because the team believed voters might be more likely to support the measure if the club was enjoying success.

"It's definitely a relief in two ways," Plummer said. "A wins makes us all happy, knowing what the future holds for us. And now we can focus on just playing football. There's no vote, no stadium hanging over how we perform."

A final location for the stadium has not been finalized yet, perhaps pointing to future problems with the politics surrounding the issue.

The $331 million price tag for the new stadium does not include the cost of the land or the infrastructure, so future roadblocks are sure to crop up. Four proposed sites for the stadium are being considered -- west Phoenix, Tempe, the Tempe-Mesa border and the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation.

The stadium would seat 70,000 with 7,000 additional seats for the Fiesta Bowl and future Super Bowls. The team has announced it will bid for the 2007 Super Bowl, which is the earliest NFL title game that has not been awarded to a city yet.

The Cardinals are contributing more money to stadium construction than most NFL teams have in the past. They have committed $85 million for construction, plus $7.5 million over 30 years to lease the stadium.

The Cardinals originally moved to Arizona 12 years ago with the promise of a new stadium, but the franchise faced stiff voter opposition while the other pro franchises in the area all received new stadiums.

Mike Jurecki covers the Cardinals for XTRA 910-AM in Phoenix.

Material from Pro Football Weekly.
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