The Cardinals may be NFC West rivals to the Rams, but they are also a class organization

The Cardinals have helped bring some semblance of joy to the people of Los Angeles during these tough times

The people of the city of Los Angeles have gone through a devastating time, and while LA and Arizona may be rivals on the field, the Cardinals organization has proven to be nothing but classy and welcoming to the incoming Rams this week. After wildfires became too close for safety, the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings Wild Card matchup was moved from SoFi stadium to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ. It’s only the second time in NFL history that a playoff game has been forced to move locations, the first time going all the way back to 1936.

Despite these challenges, the NFC West foe Arizona Cardinals have been nothing but welcoming to Los Angeles, changing colors in the stadium to Rams royal blue and sol, rebranding the game field, and having their staff clear out 74 lockers in their home locker room for the team. They even went as far as repainting the practice fields in an effort to help the Rams feel as normal as possible during these trying times.

Speaking about helping the team they normally seen as an enemy, Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell referenced a message from his father, saying:

“It’s always a good time to do the right thing,” Bidwill said. “If we can do something to help…maybe this is the only thing we can do. Let’s put our energy into it and try to focus on it and make it a great experience, whether it’s the players, their families or the coaches.” Bidwell continued “It might be a little painful to hear, ‘Whose house? Rams House!” he said jokingly “but our hearts are breaking with what’s going on. … It’s what’s best for the league, it’s what’s best for the team, and we have to do everything we can to make sure we have a great game.”

Even before the NFL gave the Cardinals the offical “GO”, they began preparing just incase the game was moved.

“I spoke to the team later that morning and said, ‘Look if this is gonna happen, let’s get ahead of it,’” Bidwill said. “Let’s get prepared and start thinking about everything that we’ll need to be doing to make this happen.”

“We shifted all of our attention even before the announcement to making sure that we were ready to go,” Bidwill said. “We knew that the people in their organization have been going through tremendous stress, with their families and friends that were losing everything and we wanted to be as thoughtful as we could. And then we realized the families were coming. It was like, OK, that’s a whole other layer to this.”

Bidwill asked his staff to put together lists of everything the Rams could need, from activities to babysitters to ice cream parlors, going above and beyond to make not just the team, but their families feel as at home as possible.

The Cardinals scrambled to get enough paint in Rams colors — Blue PMS 2736 and Yellow PMS 109 — for the field and end zone. 200 gallons were driven 1,500 miles from a factory in Leland, Mississippi to Arizona, arriving Saturday. The playoff-themed stencils were shipped from Los Angeles.

They also ordered enough food to feed over 60,000 people for game day and sent two Boeing 777 planes to pick up the Rams players, staff and families, which included 300 humans and eight pets.

“We tried to think of everything,” said Bidwell.

If the Rams are able to win Monday night, Bidwell also made it clear that LA is more than welcome to continue using the facilities as long as needed if fires remain a problem heading into the next week, saying “They’re more than welcome to stay.”

The Rams and Cardinals may have a rivalry that goes back to, not just to big games, but even players like QB Kurt Warner, who famously went from The Greatest Show on Turf to taking Arizona to their first Super Bowl. Still, somethings are much bigger than football and this week proves that. What also has been proven is that the Cardinals as a whole are a very giving, professional and upstanding organization. As a Rams fan myself, I think I speak for most of us in royal blue and sol today when I say these two simple words – thank you.