Menu
Facilities

With clubs still to come, Sun Devils make plans to cool off fans

Don Muret
Arizona State fans sitting in Sun Devil Stadium’s new club seats this football season will make do in the desert heat without air-conditioned lounges.

As part of the stadium’s three-year, $268 million renovation, the Pac-12 school, in tandem with national sports architect HNTB and local designer Gould Evans, developed three midlevel clubs along the facility’s west side. The 462 club seats will be installed by ASU’s Sept. 3 home opener against Northern Arizona, but the three indoor hospitality areas supporting those seats won’t be completed until 2017, said Rocky Harris, senior associate athletic director.

Midlevel club seats are going in at Sun Devil Stadium, but the clubs will open in 2017.
Photo by: ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY (2)
“We only planned to ‘shell it out’ this year because of timing between seasons and to make sure the stadium was open and available to all fans on time in 2016,” Harris said. “The clubs will be finished with the rest of the stadium, [including] the east side and the student-athlete facility in the north end.”

To feed those premium patrons, Sodexo, ASU’s concessionaire, will set up temporary buffet lines and bars in open-air spaces where the

Rendering of the Coach’s Club, planned for the northwest corner
clubs will be next year.

Last week, school officials were trying to come up with a solution to pump cold air into the unfinished club spaces to keep fans comfortable during the first few games of the year. They may add electrical fans to help with air circulation, Harris said.

For ASU, the good news is that the Legends Club, situated in the southwest corner, is nearing a sellout. In late August, 16 seats were unsold among 179 total. Legends Club seats cost $3,500 a season plus a $12,500 gift payable over five years. A minimum purchase of two seats is required.

The Coach’s Club in the northwest corner has 105 seats remaining for sale among 283 total. Those paying a $500,000 gift over 10 years get a six-seat all-inclusive package in the Coach’s Club with food and drink, including beer, wine and hard liquor. Sideline passes and access to premium hospitality at Sun Devils’ basketball games are among other perks.

The Coach’s Club also features four loge boxes, all designed as groups of four seats. Two of the four loge boxes are sold, carrying a $600,000 gift payable over 10 years.

The Founders Club, situated at midfield on the new premium level, is tied to 10 suites that sell for $10 million apiece, to be paid over 10 years.

Half of the Founders Suites are sold, which includes one double suite, Harris said. Four regular suites remain, and one more suite is reserved for the stadium’s naming-rights sponsor.

ASU is handling those rights in-house through Greg McElroy, the athletic department’s associate vice president and chief business development officer. But it is early in the process and the school could hire an agency later if it could help close a deal, Harris said.

The facility has been called Sun Devil Stadium since it opened in 1958.

Don Muret can be reached at dmuret@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @breakground.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/08/22/Facilities/Breaking-Ground.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/08/22/Facilities/Breaking-Ground.aspx

CLOSE