What Sun Devils are saying about stadium upgrades

Apr 4, 2012, 5:39 PM | Updated: 7:04 pm

Arizona Sports

“For the most part, I think the new stadium renovations
will bring a lot more excitement to ASU as a whole. It’s
going to help us in recruiting and definitely help bring
up the excitement in Sun Devil Stadium again.”

-Rudy Burgess, former Sun Devil letterwinner

“I think it’s a big thing for our program and it’s going
to put us to the next level. I’m excited to see all the
different plans and I think it will help with recruiting.
All of that stuff is really exciting and I’m pumped to see
what’s going to happen.”

-Evan Finkenberg, offensive lineman, current Sun Devil
student-athlete

“If you take a look at most of the top-10 successful
programs in the country, the common denominator is the
fact that they all have state-of-the-art facilities,
including the stadium. When recruits come in and tour
campuses and take a look at the facilities, they get an
idea of what type of a commitment that university has to
their sporting programs, specifically football. I think it
would behoove the Sun Devils, and help them tremendously
in their recruiting and in their ability to achieve the
goals they’re looking to achieve, by enhancing their
stadium. The alumni would get excited and the recruits
would get excited, and that would obviously turn into
wins. It’s just kind of a process that will continue to
create more and more excitement and more and more wins,
and that’s what we need here at ASU.”

-Nathan LaDuke, former Sun Devil letterwinner

“I won’t be able to play in it, but I’ll be able to come
back and visit it, and I think it would be nice to see a
brand new stadium. Everybody is so used to this, and we
got the new jerseys – I think a new stadium will help with
fan support and just getting everybody excited in
Arizona.”

-Brandon Magee, linebacker, current Sun Devil student-
athlete

“The new football stadium will be huge for us and it will
be a great recruiting tool. It’s still outdoors and still
allows you to feel the heat when you come down here, but a
little shade for the fans – I think they’ll appreciate
that. I think it will be a little louder, actually,
because it’s kind of an enclosed feel. I’m sad I can’t
play in it, but I’ll definitely come back to check out the
games and check out the renovations as they go. If you’re
trying to be great, what better way to start than to get
the best facilities possible?”

-Cameron Marshall, running back, current Sun Devil
student-athlete

“I like the idea of having something to cover the field
because that opens up opportunities to be nationally
televised in early September or late August because now
it’s tolerable. If we’re going to go big-time, than we
have do the big-time things so we are available to take
our shot on national television when it comes and we can’t
be held back because of weather. Everybody is so
impressionable, and people even to this day, because we
play most of our stuff at night, they’re not even sure
where Arizona is, let alone Arizona State. Every time you
can be exposed, whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent,
you’re going to make an impression on somebody, so playing
in front of a national audience is hugely important.”

-Ron Pritchard, former Sun Devil letterwinner

“Sun Devil Stadium is sorely in need of renovation after
looking around the Pac-12 landscape. I think from a fan-
enjoyment perspective, it needs to be improved. If fans
come, that will increase both recruiting and player
experience, which translates into revenue and wins.”

-Jeff Van Raaphorst, former Sun Devil letterwinner

“With the stadium renovations comes tradition and being
more of a family than ASU alumni have been in the past.
Creating more of a family and team atmosphere among the
football players is really going to add a cohesiveness
that has been missing somewhat, just because the stadium
is old. I also think it is really important for
recruiting, just as much as the locker room and the weight
room were. When there are top-tier, blue chip players that
are on the bubble about where they should go, they can
really look at the stadium as a means of creating their
future. It goes beyond just the four or five years they’re
going to play at Arizona State to a legacy we are trying
to build. We are creating that bond for the future so that
players like myself, 20 years later, want to bring their
families back and it feel like they’re right back at home
where they were before.”