Arizona Cardinals Relocation

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The team was established in Chicago in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club, and joined the NFL as a charter member on September 17, 1920. The Cardinals are the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the United States, and, along with the Chicago Bears, are the only NFL charter member franchises still in operation. In 1960, the team moved to St. Louis, where it was commonly referred to as the 'Football Cardinals', the 'Gridbirds', or the 'Big Red' to avoid confusion with Major League Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. Before the 1988 season, the team moved to Tempe, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, where it played home games for the next 18 seasons at Sun Devil Stadium. In 2006, the team moved to their current home field in suburban Glendale. Their executive offices and training facility remain in Tempe, although they are moving them to north Phoenix in 2028. From 1988 to 2012 (except 2005, when they trained in Prescott), the Cardinals conducted their annual summer training camp at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. In 2013, the Cardinals moved their training camp to their home field, then called University of Phoenix Stadium, now State Farm Stadium.

In Their Own Story

The first practice under the new ownership structure occurred as the team settled into Tempe. The atmosphere shifted from the humid Midwest to the dry heat of Arizona, though training camps remained at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff from 1988 to 2012, with a brief exception in Prescott in 2005. In 1996, head coach Vince Tobin led the team to a 7–9 record, followed by a regression to 4–12 in 1997. The turning point arrived in 1998 when the Cardinals qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 16 years. They defeated the Dallas Cowboys 20–7 in the wild card round, securing their first postseason win since 1947, before falling to the Minnesota Vikings 41–21 in the Divisional Round. This era marked the beginning of a new chapter for a franchise that had previously spent decades as the Chicago Cardinals and St. Louis Cardinals.

Reader's Guide

The Cardinals have won two NFL championships, both while the team was in Chicago. The first, in 1925, was disputed by supporters of the Pottsville Maroons. Their second, and the first to be won in a championship game, came in 1947. They returned to the title game to defend in 1948, but lost the rematch 7–0 in a snowstorm in Philadelphia. The team has since suffered many losing seasons and, as of 2025, has the longest active championship drought in North American sports at 78 seasons. The team's all-time win–loss record at the conclusion of the 2025 season was 603–836–41. They have been to the playoffs 11 times and have won seven playoff games, including three in the 2008–09 NFL playoffs. During that season, they won their only NFC Championship Game since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, and reached Super Bowl XLIII, losing 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The team has won five division titles (1974, 1975, 2008, 2009, and 2015) since their 1947–48 NFL championship game appearances. The Cardinals are the only NFL team that has never lost a playoff game at home: their 5–0 record encompasses the 1947 NFL Championship Game, two games during the 2008–09 NFL playoffs, one during the 2009–10 playoffs, and one during the 2015–16 playoffs. In their 37 seasons since moving to Arizona in 1988, the Cardinals have a total of six playoff appearances, three division titles, and one NFC championship.

Did You Know?

• The Cardinals are the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the United States.
• The team's name comes from faded maroon jerseys described as 'Cardinal red'.
• The Cardinals won their only NFC Championship Game since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger in the 2008–09 playoffs.
• The Cardinals have lost playoff games at home, including the 2015 NFC Championship Game and the 2021 Wild Card round.