Steve Patterson has only been on the job for a week as the new athletic director at Arizona State University, but already he's proving that the lofty discussion at his introductory press conference wasn't just talk.

Patterson joined Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 620 for their weekly chat Tuesday and spoke about major upgrades to Sun Devil Stadium.

"Certainly, we want to stay in this place, it's an iconic site," Patterson said. "We love being between the buttes here and I think all of the fans and former players and former students feel that way as well."

While the process is in its infancy, the areas where ASU brass would like to see big changes are pretty clear, according to Patterson.

"Ultimately, we would probably have fewer seats, have better better club seating and suites available for folks on a premium level," he said. "Make the building more intimate, bring it up to ADA standards, better concessions, better restrooms, better vertical transportation.

"Our hope is that by the end of the first half of this year, we'd have a plan of finance in place."

There is design work being done, although that's in its early stages as well. In fact, ASU is holding a press conference on the matter Wednesday in Tempe, at which time, some of those sketches could be revealed.

"We do have concepts and we're looking at timing and pricing and how to get it built," Patterson said.

The improvements for athletic facilities are not limited to Sun Devil Stadium. Patterson also spoke about the baseball partnership ASU has with the Chicago Cubs to share a new complex in Mesa upon its completion in 2013 and a facelift for Wells Fargo Arena, which has housed Sun Devil basketball since 1974.