Kenny Dillingham says high-level donor helped ASU’s indoor practice facility move forward

Arizona State got some help with the indoor practice facility for its football program in the form of a big-spending donor, head coach Kenny Dillingham told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Thursday.

“I went on a rant about an eight-figure donor one day, and we got somebody very close to that to help with the indoor already,” Dillingham said as part of Newsmakers Week. “Somebody who’s not naturally associated with the program but somebody associated with the Valley … so that’s trending in the right direction.”

“We earned an incredible commitment from a longtime ASU partner,” athletic director Graham Rossini added. “Maybe an unconventional way to get to that number but a group based here in the Valley that heard the news, they see the value, they’ve had a connection to ASU in other ways and they see a great opportunity to tie their name to this football facility.

“We got a groundbreaking coming up in a couple months and we’ll have a big announcement for it.”

ASU announced the facility last year, with hopes its placement adjacent to Mountain America Stadium will improve efficiency, along with the potential benefits of being shielded from the Arizona heat.

The team’s current situation includes shuttling players half a mile from the stadium to the Kajikawa Practice Fields on the other side of Rural Road, where there is also an indoor dome with one full field.

“Really grateful our fanbase continues to step up, this business community continues to step up,” Rossini said. “The cost of doing business in college sports is obviously changing, but there is a great return on that investment in terms of you’re investing in young people, you’re investing in output of … student-athletes.”

Dillingham said the ASU indoor practice facility will include a half-field in addition to a full field, with the full field completely indoors. The half-field will be covered, and an additional full field sits outside the facility.

“(It’s) gonna be unbelievable for the football team and for the tailgating, the fun and the experience, maybe you’d be able to host youth football championship games in there. … There’s so many different things that we’re gonna be able to do with this,” the head coach said.

Using the WM Phoenix Open’s 16th hole as a model, he wants the gameday use of the facility to marry the best of both the tailgating and “sports barring” experiences, emphasizing the available air conditioning ahead of a game.

The facility, which includes over 100,000 square feet of turf fields, also includes space for volleyball use.

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