Sports: Arizona Cardinals Tickets

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The Arizona Cardinals, a professional American football team is based in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. Currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team formed in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club in Chicago, Illinois is the oldest existing professional American football club in the United States. The Cardinals had always remained in either an Eastern conference or division. When the league was divided into Eastern and Western conferences prior to the 1953 season, the Cardinals were placed in the East while the Chicago Bears were placed in the West. After the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger, the team was placed in the NFC East and finally moved to the NFC West as part of the 2002 realignment.

The Cardinals won NFL Championships in 1925 and 1947 and are the oldest existing football club in the United States, beginning as an amateur athletic club team in Chicago named the Morgan Athletic Club founded by Chicago painter/builder Chris O'Brien in 1898.The team became a charter member of the American Professional Football Association in 1920, for the franchise fee of $100. According to some, the team's name was erroneously recorded as "Racine, Wisconsin." In 1932 the team purchased by Charles Bidwill has been under the ownership of the Bidwill family since then. The Cardinals won their last NFL championship game in 1947 (28-21 over the Philadelphia Eagles) with their "Million-Dollar Backfield," which included quarterback Paul Christman and halfback Charley Trippi.

The Cardinals acquired former Colts RB Edgerrin James through free agency, by signing him to a four-year, $30 million contract in 2006. The Cardinals drafted the 2004 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Matt Leinart with the 10th pick. Leinart played for the University of Southern California and won one national championships with the team in 2004.Starting in 1947, the team had a logo of a cardinal bird perched on the stitches of a football. However, the club did not attach a logo to their helmets until they debuted a cardinal-head logo in 1960. When the Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1988, the flag of Arizona was added to the sleeves.

In 2005, the team unveiled their first major changes in a century. The cardinal-head logo was updated to be sleeker and meaner. Black was added as an accent color, while trim lines were added to the outside shoulders and sleeves, and the sides of the jerseys and pants. It is unclear whether or not that tradition will continue when the Cardinals move to their new stadium in 2006, as early-season games will be played with the retractable roof of Cardinals Stadium closed, keeping the temperature inside at a comfortable 72 degrees.The team has started construction on a new stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. This stadium, which will feature a retractable roof and a slide-out grass surface, is scheduled to open for the 2006 season.