Latest / The Good Side of Sports Podcast / Cardinals Climb: Stadium Steps to a More Inclusive Arizona

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Cardinals Climb: Stadium Steps to a More Inclusive Arizona · The Good Side of Sports Podcast

• 0:00
  You know, most of that went to our 4 cornerstone beneficiaries,
• 0:03
  but we granted 12 organizations, uh, and we also gave,
• 0:08
  um, some money to organizations that supported our Cardinals Climb, which we'll,
• 0:12
  we'll get into here in a little bit. But all in all, we gave to,
• 0:16
  you know, 60 organizations and $2 million
• 0:19
  in our first year, which is a good start. Who are the 4 primary pillars?
• 0:24
  Yeah, some names you'll probably uh,
• 0:27
  recognized Special Olympics of Arizona,
• 0:31
  and we've had a long-standing partnership with them.
• 0:35
  Uh, SARC, which is the Southwest Autism Research
• 0:39
  and Resource Center, widely recognized
• 0:44
  as one of the leaders in autism early diagnosis and intervention.
• 0:47
  Treasure House, which was started by Kurt Warner,
• 0:51
  and and his family. Kurt has a
• 0:55
  child with a traumatic brain injury, and Treasure House is an independent living facility
• 0:59
  for those with disabilities, helping them find that independence and
• 1:03
  living on their own. And then the Barrow Neurological Foundation.
• 1:07
  So they are known for brain spine
• 1:11
  research procedural work, but they've stepped up to build a care
• 1:14
  program for adults with disabilities
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  because it's harder to find care as you age. And so they're going to be
• 1:21
  that primary care provider for those adults, which is much needed. Okay.
• 1:25
  And I know you touched on the Climb earlier. Are there any other fundraising
• 1:30
  events that you have besides that one? Because the Climb sounds like a pretty dramatic
• 1:34
  one, but is there anything else besides that one?
• 1:37
  The Climb is our primary fundraising event and it's new.
• 1:40
  So we just had our first one last year. I mentioned we raised $2 million
• 1:44
  through that event. So we're off to a really good
• 1:48
  start, but I think the goal was we want this event to be,
• 1:52
  uh, one of the events that's circled in Arizona every year.
• 1:56
  And we want it to be synonymous with, you know, the Heart Walk and
• 2:00
  some of the bigger events that, that happen out here. And Pat's Run certainly has,
• 2:03
  has developed a, a huge presence. And so, um, we see our
• 2:07
  event becoming as large as those events in the future. Okay.
• 2:10
  But given that it was new and just getting off the ground, our primary focus
• 2:14
  is to establish that event over the first few years, um, and then continue to
• 2:18
  branch out from there and look for additional fundraising opportunities and revenue streams,
• 2:21
  which we might do a little bit of in year 2, but really primarily focused
• 2:25
  on growing the climb. Sure. So I've done a little bit of research about it.
• 2:28
  So is it like everyone comes together and then they just go
• 2:32
  into the stadium and go to work? Pretty much. Yeah,
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  it's very cool because people ask that question. They're like, is it
• 2:39
  a hike? Are we on a mountain? So the whole thing is hosted at
• 2:43
  State Farm Stadium where the Cardinals play, and everyone goes to
• 2:46
  the stadium, you park as if you're going to a game, a Cardinal game,
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  and then you go towards the main gates and we have base camp set
• 2:55
  up there. You get all your materials and you get checked in and you get
• 2:57
  your refreshments. You see, we got a stage and live music,
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  great vibe going, and people can stretch and get ready to go.
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  And then we have 4 trails that we've built. And so you find your trail,
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  they're in varying degrees of difficulty, but you find your trail,
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  And then we send you on a journey through the stadium. So you go up
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  and down and around and through the bowels of the building. And then all 4
• 3:19
  of the trails that we have come together and
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  you get to go onto the field together and you get to cross the 50-yard
• 3:27
  line together. And we really loved that
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  symbolism of inclusivity. And so it doesn't matter. We have
• 3:35
  a trail that's accessible and sensory-friendly for those that need it. We have a
• 3:39
  expert trail for those that want a great workout. So it doesn't matter your
• 3:43
  skill level or your disability level, we all get to cross the finish line
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  together as one, which is symbolic.
• 3:50
  And it's really neat. And then you cross the 50-yard line, you get a medal
• 3:54
  for accomplishing the event, and it's handed to you by our players
• 3:58
  and legends. Kurt Warner was there. Larry Fitzgerald, you know, you alluded to earlier,
• 4:02
  was there. Our current players, Trey McBride was out there passing out medals.
• 4:06
  And so people get to experience that on the field and, and get to meet
• 4:09
  some of their, their favorite Cardinal legends and players. And then everyone goes to the
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  afterparty out on the Great Lawn where we host a concert and there's food
• 4:17
  trucks and family activations. And so it's really a, an entire day
• 4:21
  to celebrate the, the special needs community.
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  And it's, it's a special event for those of us that went in year one.
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  It was emotional. There was a ton of love and support and, and for the
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  special needs community, this is like their Super Bowl. They could participate in this event
• 4:37
  in a way that they can't in some other events. And, uh,
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  it's very cool. Yeah, that's, that's cool that you do like different courses depending
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  on what your skill level or your abilities are. So you probably have a course
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  designed for individual individuals that
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  you're supporting. Yeah, we do. We have, uh,
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  and we're thoughtful. We try to engage that community and, and understand what needs
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  they're going to have. We have, uh, sensory friendly
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  activations and quiet spaces.
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  And we had a sensory room, you know,
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  alongside the trail for those that need those accommodations. And we try to engage
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  that community to better understand what they need to make sure it's a great experience.
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  And so it's important to us that we're one of the most inclusive events
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  and accommodating events in the city, given that's our primary
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  focus. And so yeah, you've got an ADA and accessible trail,
• 5:30
  You've got a kids and family trail, which is really fun for little ones.
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  They get to meet Big Red and get some cool— it's like a
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  treasure hunt that they get to do. And so that's fun. And then you've got
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  like a moderate climb for your standard climber. And then you've got an expert
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  trail for those that really want a workout. And it was neat. You know,
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  you see people from all walks of life and I saw someone,
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  you know, sprinting with a weighted vest on, you know, in a full sweat.
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  So you get some of that, but then you also have,
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  individuals that are bound to maybe a wheelchair that are being pushed out
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  onto the field and they get to cross the finish line and achieve the same
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  medal. And so you get to bring all of that together in one place and
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  people saw that and were really moved by how cool that was. That's cool.
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  There's— I know I run and I know there's a lot of running groups
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  out there in Arizona, so I'd imagine the competitive course has some action
• 6:21
  over there with those guys in there. So I do.
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  A couple past episodes I had, like the Joe Nuxhall Foundation— I don't know if
• 6:30
  you're familiar with them or not. They're in Cincinnati, and they're all
• 6:33
  about baseball and special needs and stuff
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  like that. And they said that recently they've seen a lot of autism coming
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  into their organization or program too.
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  Have you noticed an increase in that?
• 6:49
  Yeah, I think You know, part of my story, Brian,
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  that's unique to me is I have an 8-year-old son who's autistic.
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  Okay. And so we were very involved as a family prior
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  to taking this role, prior to even having the Arizona
• 7:04
  Cardinals Foundation. And part of our story is we've had Cardinals Charities for more than
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  30 years. I mean, we've had a longstanding commitment to our
• 7:11
  community and serving a lot of causes. And just in the last year and a
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  half, we've made the decision to focus our efforts on on special needs.
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  And part of the reason why is because it's a,
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  it's a huge population. You know, I think 1 in
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  20 individuals now nationwide are living with an IDD,
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  a disability. Autism's now 1 in 30.
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  And so to answer your question,
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  I don't know that we've seen an influx of more like
• 7:41
  people coming to our event, but what we have kept an eye
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  on is how many more people are being diagnosed with a disability, and those
• 7:48
  numbers are increasing. And so we believe that as this population ages,
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  we need to be out in front providing more services to make sure we're accommodating
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  as they enter adolescence and young adulthood and even
• 7:59
  later in life care. So we impact along all parts of the
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  life spectrum. How did the idea for The Climb come about?
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  So I was hired by our COO, Jeremy Walls,
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  who came from the Miami Dolphins. And the Miami Dolphins do a
• 8:15
  cancer challenge, and it's a very similar structure to our events.
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  And they raise, you know, upwards of $20 million plus on an annual
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  basis. And so had had a lot of success with, with their event.
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  And he saw firsthand what it did to unite their community and, and bring everyone
• 8:30
  together. And then the Eagles saw that and
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  they started their autism foundation, and then they built a an autism
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  event similar to the Dolphins. And then we've seen both of those and
• 8:42
  wanted to bring our own event to the NFL. And so,
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  you know, Jeremy having seen it in Miami, he was previously with the Dolphins
• 8:50
  and when he came here, he wanted to bring it to us. And so he
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  initially, he brought the idea to Michael and our ownership group and
• 8:58
  they gave their blessing for us to build
• 9:01
  out this community event. And with the vision of
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  bringing everyone together in a community way, but then also raising a lot of money.
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  And so they deserve a lot of the credit for the initial idea. And then
• 9:12
  when I was hired, the baseline idea was there.
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  And then I fortunately got to work with a great team and we all
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  sort of put it together. But we wanted something symbolic of
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  Arizona, which you think of Arizona, you think hiking, you think outdoors activities,
• 9:26
  you think of good weather outside of the summer. And so we loved that.
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  We loved hike. And hiking a football, there's a lot— there's a fun play there.
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  And then climbing is aspirational. It's setting goals and achieving
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  them. It's climbing higher. And we
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  just really loved the play on all of that mixed with our
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  sort of historic Cardinals name. And so the Cardinals
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  Climb just kind of personified all of those things coming together.
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  And we brought it to life last year. You mentioned Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald
• 9:58
  and a couple of current players. How many players usually show up for that event?
• 10:02
  Oh, we had a ton. I don't, I don't know if I know the
• 10:05
  final number, but you know, Trey McBride, I don't know if you've heard of him,
• 10:09
  uh, one of the best tight ends in all of football. I have him on
• 10:12
  my fantasy team every year. So, oh yeah, I bet you're not the only one.
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  So Trey was there. Michael Wilson was there, about 1,000 yards receiving last year.
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  Um, Elijah Higgins, another tight end of ours, was there.
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  Um, Owen Papo, a linebacker. We had, you know, other members
• 10:27
  of the team that were there, legends that were there. And then,
• 10:30
  you know, the historic players of, you know, to see
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  Larry and Kurt coming to this event to lend their
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  support too, you know, brought even more awareness to it. So we had a
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  great representation from, you know, a lot of our players and
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  a lot of our legends and our ownership group and the Bidwells
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  and their family. Everyone was there. So it just was really an organizational effort
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  and we showed up in a big way. That's cool. Um, so I was again
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  reading a little bit about it. So you can sign up your foundation or not
• 11:02
  yours, but an outside foundation can come in and, and, and do the
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  climb and then they, they receive funds back for that.
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  So what we did, which is unique to our event, you asked me this earlier,
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  is like we identified our 4 cornerstone beneficiaries, um, who received
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  most of the, the funding, um, that we, that we generate from this event.
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  Then we have a small grant application and we had 12 of those organizations.
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  And then we had, uh, another 45 organizations that
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  are focused on special needs that had created a team to come
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  out and hike the Cardinals Climb together. And so there's
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  a financial component to the event. It's, you have a registration fee and we
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  ask each participant to try to raise $250 for the cause.
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  And all that money goes into the, the foundation and then we disseminate
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  all that back. Well, I kind of thought that it would be a tough sell
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  for another special needs group that would be fundraising, and then that money wouldn't go
• 11:56
  to them because they're focused on their own fundraisers. And so what we did is
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  we allowed them to keep a good portion of the money that
• 12:03
  they raised on their team for themselves. And so it was a chance for them
• 12:06
  to utilize our events and their brand affiliation with the Cardinals to,
• 12:11
  to have their own fundraiser. And I just wanted this event to be open to
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  everyone where we can all support each other and everyone
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  can come together, but then everyone can utilize it to broaden
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  their spotlight and raise money. And so we gave
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  $300,000 back to those smaller organizations that participated in the climb,
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  which was a significant number.
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  And so, you know, it's— and to see them all come together and they had
• 12:37
  some concourse tables and some space at the events.
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  And so for them to get a little exposure, a little bit of money,
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  and to be part of our event was an important piece because we're not just
• 12:48
  supporting the Big Four. We want to support the whole special needs community all over
• 12:52
  Arizona. Yeah, I've never heard of that before. And I've
• 12:55
  interviewed several people that I know they have like volunteer opportunities at certain
• 12:59
  places, but to know exactly what you're going to get back right
• 13:03
  away, that's pretty motivating.
• 13:06
  To get out there and donate or get donations and stuff
• 13:10
  like that. So that's a great idea. Yeah, definitely.
• 13:14
  And you said that the following year you give back the 100%.
• 13:17
  Is it an annual, this is what I have to work with from last year?
• 13:20
  How do you budget that out? Yeah, I mean, basically we
• 13:24
  put together our projections, we sell sponsorships for the event,
• 13:28
  we have fundraising for the events, we have the 50/50 raffle
• 13:32
  that happens at our games. You know,
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  which is the— those are the primary sources of what we would consider to
• 13:39
  be revenue or donations. And then, you know, we have the events and
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  whatever is in there that we have available to give,
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  we give 100% of that back. And the fundraising component of the event
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  itself, 100% of those dollars go directly back to the community.
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  And so we sort of empty the coffers, so to speak,
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  and we don't hold anything back. And for us, it's always been about you
• 14:03
  know, giving everything that we raise, and we're motivated to sell and raise
• 14:06
  more so we can accelerate these programs and, and give more.
• 14:10
  It's not a money-making endeavor for us, for sure.
• 14:13
  Uh, I know there's a lot of golf courses out there. Do you guys ever
• 14:16
  have any golf outings or anything like that for fundraising? We've done,
• 14:20
  we've done golf outings with Cardinal Charities in the past and with our legends
• 14:24
  in the past, and we might look to bring those back. I think in,
• 14:27
  at this stage, wanted to really focus our efforts on just maximizing the climb and
• 14:31
  having that be the sole focus of our of our marketing efforts
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  and our, you know, fundraising efforts.
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  And really, rather than having 2 events where people might have to choose which one
• 14:42
  to go to, we want them all to come to The Climb and to work
• 14:45
  alongside us to really establish this. And then who knows, maybe in the future,
• 14:48
  once The Climb is a huge event and it's sort of
• 14:52
  running itself, then we might look to add some new things. But I mean,
• 14:55
  we're always open to partnering with companies that are doing golf
• 15:00
  tournaments and maybe we could be a beneficiary and show up in a smaller way.
• 15:02
  But in terms of us hosting an event, we really want to prioritize The Climb,
• 15:06
  at least at this stage. Right. Sure. Do, uh, any players
• 15:09
  have foundations that, or charities that they support
• 15:13
  that they get involved with the Climb as well? Do the players? Yeah, I think
• 15:17
  each player has it, has their own,
• 15:20
  has their own kind of foundation or community, uh,
• 15:24
  efforts. And we try to do a Venn diagram to see where we
• 15:28
  cross over with them. And all of them have, have shown some support for our
• 15:31
  event as well. Um, but other of them have different causes that they support
• 15:36
  and focus their efforts there. But we, we try to do a good job of
• 15:38
  like supporting them and they do a good job supporting us and, and try to
• 15:42
  work together on those things. Is there a, how would, if there's a
• 15:46
  community or a special needs community that wanted to get involved or wanted to get
• 15:50
  in contact, how would they get in contact with you for, to be able to
• 15:53
  get into the climb and stuff like that? For, for everybody, it's cardinalsclimb.com.
• 15:57
  So for anybody that wants to go, it can be an individual hiker. You can
• 16:00
  create your own hiking team. A lot of ways to get involved.
• 16:04
  There's interest forms there, there's signup forms there. You know, that's, that's a
• 16:08
  great way to do it. You can also go to, you can email me directly,
• 16:12
  you know, just at bhamrick@cardinals.nfl.net
• 16:17
  or contact@cardinalsclime.com. There's a lot of ways to get
• 16:21
  in touch, but I'd say, you know, different links on our website. So I
• 16:25
  would say go to the cardinalsclime.com website and fill out an interest form.
• 16:29
  And whether you're an individual, a corporate, organization,
• 16:32
  interested in a partnership, you're a nonprofit org,
• 16:35
  by completing the form, a member of our team will be in touch to get
• 16:39
  you all the info that you need. Who are the main corporate sponsors
• 16:43
  or the biggest donations come from,
• 16:47
  I guess I could say? You know, really grateful for the
• 16:51
  corporate partners that we have. And I would say,
• 16:55
  you know, because they support to the Cardinals and
• 16:59
  the brand and the bird head, you know, and we have a deep relationship
• 17:02
  with a lot of them and all of them really. It's as we were
• 17:06
  launching this, everyone was raising their hand and wanting to support
• 17:10
  and help us get it off the ground. And so there were 2 that showed
• 17:13
  up in a huge way, and that's Desert Financial Credit Union and
• 17:17
  Dignity Health and 2 of our corporate partners
• 17:21
  on the team side. But you know, also became 2 of our founding partners
• 17:25
  at the Arizona Cardinals Foundation. And so just couldn't have got it
• 17:29
  off the ground without their support. And then, you know,
• 17:32
  a couple other partners just to, to call out that have really
• 17:36
  been a huge part of this thing. State Farm, of course, we've had a longstanding
• 17:39
  relationship with, with State Farm and they're a huge part of the event.
• 17:42
  Gila River Resorts and Casinos, Swire,
• 17:46
  Coca-Cola. And, you know, we just,
• 17:50
  It's— forgive me, we have a long list. I can't, you know, mention them all,
• 17:53
  but I think, you know, those partners,
• 17:56
  you know, have all, you know, really early in the game came
• 18:01
  to us and said, look, we love what you're doing. We see the need here.
• 18:04
  We want to support you however we can. And it's been a huge part of
• 18:07
  why we had so much success in year 1.
• 18:11
  So I know the focus is to get the climb as big
• 18:15
  as possible. Is there any other direction or anything besides the
• 18:19
  Climb, or is that the laser focus on that until it gets big enough,
• 18:22
  like you said, to be able to stand on its own? Yeah, our primary focus
• 18:26
  right now is to keep our main priority
• 18:31
  the main priority, which was establish the Cardinals Climb. And a lot of what we
• 18:34
  talked about today is new in the last 18 months.
• 18:37
  And so I think it's important to note that
• 18:42
  we the community understood us and knew us as Cardinals Charities,
• 18:45
  and we did, we've done a great job supporting a lot of these causes,
• 18:48
  but we, we didn't have a primary charitable focus. And so,
• 18:53
  you know, I was hired last March, a year and a half ago, and since
• 18:56
  then we've, you know, it's new mission statement, new logo, new cornerstone
• 19:00
  beneficiaries. We built an advisory board of,
• 19:03
  of 12 executives in town that, that supported, who we meet with
• 19:07
  regularly. You know, we, we launched the new foundation last
• 19:11
  year in July, so it's only really been a year.
• 19:15
  And then we launched the Climb in September and then had our first event in
• 19:18
  February. And so it's just last year was really
• 19:21
  like ton of learning and let's get it off the ground. And then this year
• 19:25
  it's like, right, okay, let's get ahead of the game and let's get the Climb
• 19:28
  out there and let's refine the way we, you know, market and talk about
• 19:32
  it and grow it. And so we're just excited to double down. And, you know,
• 19:35
  we raised $2 million last year. We want to raise and give $3 million this
• 19:39
  year and, and to try to continue to establish this event as,
• 19:43
  as one of the marquee events in the city. And so once we
• 19:46
  do that, we'll start to branch out a little bit, but we're not there yet.
• 19:51
  How many people did you, do you think were there last year? We had
• 19:55
  to stop registration at 3,500 people because we were going to run out of
• 19:59
  medals and t-shirts, which is a good problem to have,
• 20:02
  but Right. The salesperson in me was like, let's, you know, keep it going,
• 20:06
  keep, keep taking registrations. But we wanted to make sure it was a good experience.
• 20:09
  We had 3,500 last year. We had 200 organizations support
• 20:13
  the events. I think the number was we had 8,000+
• 20:18
  individual donations or something really large and just
• 20:23
  had great support for it. And I think our goal for this year is to
• 20:26
  try to get to 5,000 participants, closer to 300 teams.
• 20:30
  And to try to fundraise and give $3 million is kind of our, our North
• 20:34
  Star for this year and to make sure that people continue to have a great
• 20:37
  experience at the event itself. That's awesome. Well, that's all
• 20:41
  I have. Um, that's, that's a great— I, I love the model that
• 20:45
  you guys are doing as far as like you can go in and, and give
• 20:47
  money back right away and, and you're still taking money in for the foundation
• 20:51
  and giving it back to those pillars. That's, it's an amazing, it's an amazing job
• 20:55
  you're doing for sure. So it's, and it's such a short amount of time.
• 20:58
  So And that concludes our episode. So tune
• 21:01
  in next time when I'll bring you another amazing foundation supporting an amazing
• 21:05
  cause. And remember, show your good side out there,