TEMPE, Ariz. — A day before the Arizona Cardinals moved most of their non-football operations out of their former practice facility and into a nearby workspace on Wednesday, they laid off three high-ranking employees at the football level. vice president or higher, sources told ESPN.
In total, there were fewer than 10 departures across various departments on the business side, a team spokesperson told ESPN.
Chief Financial Officer Greg Lee, who had been in that role for nearly 15 of his nearly 18 years with the team, was the highest-ranking executive to be fired, sources told ESPN. Mike Iaquinta, the vice president of business development who had been with the team for 15 years, and Tim Delaney, the vice president of digital content and creative who was a 16-year veteran, are also out, sources said.
Steve Ryan, the Cardinals' senior vice president of corporate partnerships, will leave on his own later this offseason after 20 years with the team, a team spokesperson told ESPN.
The departures also included two members of the Cardinals' social media team, sources said.
The team held a meeting with its business development, content and marketing departments in the practice facility's auditorium on Tuesday, when employees moving to the new facility had already packed up their desks, sources told ESPN. During the meeting, the message from new chief operating officer Jeremy Walls was that the jobs of employees present were safe, sources said.
Walls, in an email obtained by ESPN and sent minutes before that meeting, said the Cardinals have made “significant changes and updates” over the past year after studying the organization and identifying ways to “modernize our approach, strengthen our culture , invest in our people and provide clarity for the future.
In the email, Walls called the changes — the new facility and layoffs of employees — a “new beginning” for the team. He also said that he is confident the Cardinals organization “will be at its peak when we all come together as a team, which starts now.”
The moves come five months after Arizona hired Walls in August and more than two months after ESPN's investigation into a toxic workplace culture that current and former employees found abusive and intimidating due, in part, to owner Michael Bidwill.
Walls led an internal audit of non-football departments that a team spokesperson described as a “comprehensive review.”
That led to a restructuring of the non-football side, which added seven new departments and renamed another, according to a review of the team's website from October. The Cardinals have hired more than 40 employees in recent weeks and are preparing to hire more in the near future.
In August, Forbes listed the Cardinals as the 29th most valuable franchise in the NFL, worth $3.8 billion, $500 million in revenue and $83 million in operating income.
