Glendale billboard change a ploy to appease Cardinals?

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Glendale City Council has approved rules that could bring 13 new electronic billboards to one part of the city.

“It really is for a geographic area that runs for three miles on both sides of the Loop 101, roughly from Camelback Road on the south to Northern Avenue,” said Jon Froke, the city’s planning director.

That’s near University of Phoenix Stadium, where the Arizona Cardinals play. The team has hinted it wants to own some electronic billboards.

The Cardinals recently signed Hyundai as a sponsor and want to have marketing and signage outside of the stadium. Some observers believe that Glendale will allow the billboards to help ease tension between the city and the team.

The Cardinals are upset that a new outlet mall under construction is taking away much needed parking spaces. The team has threatened to sue the city for $68 million in damages.

City of Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni said the billboards have nothing to do with the parking dispute.

“Glendale has been working on this digital billboard ordinance since long before the issues with the parking and the Cardinals came up on their property,” she said.

Glendale has a parking contract with the team and is leasing space and paving areas to abide by it.

“We have presented our parking plan to the team,” said Frisoni. “We understand that their first preseason game is next month, and we are moving forward to make sure that those lots are ready for all of the fans that are going to come to Glendale.”

Glendale is continuing to restrict electronic billboards in other parts of the city.