The Arizona State athletic department is looking to maximize the momentum from the 2024 football season.
ASU climbed out of the doldrums to the Big 12 championship game in coach Kenny Dillingham’s second year, and beyond postseason football, the challenge is how to sustain the success and avoid being seen as a “flash in the pan,” as athletic director Graham Rossini put it.
This is a critical time for that goal, as signing day was Wednesday and the Sun Devils will play for a College Football Playoff spot in front of a national audience on Saturday against Iowa State in the Big 12 title game.
“The beauty of this game on Saturday is there’ll be five million-plus people tuning in on ABC to watch as you play in the Big 12 championship. And so that creates more awareness that lets people understand how we play the game, how energetic it is, how entertaining it is, how well connected this team is and that’s got great value on the recruiting trail,” Rossini told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo.
“There’s been a really good effort to retain the talent on this roster, and that’s been a big focal point the second half of the season is retaining a lot of these key pieces so we don’t have to rely so much on the portal. … I do expect there to be a lot of interest. I think the nation is now taking stock of what’s going on here at ASU.”
Plus the game being played in Dallas marks the third trip to Texas Arizona State has made, an opportunity to showcase the program in a hotbed of high school football talent.
The momentum from ASU’s football victories this season has shown up in support for the program via ticket sales and the Sun Angel Collective to support athletes through name, image and likeness.
“Ever since that Utah game, we’ve seen a noticeable spike in new members, people increasing their monthly contribution,” Rossini said of the collective. “That’s now in the double digit percentage growth that’s grown hundreds of thousands of dollars versus where we were at the beginning of the year.”
Rossini added season ticket sales for 2025 have been robust, and the expectation is to have approximately 25,000-26,000 or more season ticket holders with a goal to create a stable base of 30,000 in the coming years.
“That would be a number we haven’t had here in decades,” Rossini said.
ASU has seven home games next year with new Big 12 visiting opponents Houston, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
“Really exciting to see that momentum right out the gate, and we know, no matter what happens the next couple weeks, that there’s this halo effect that we want to continue to build and grow the momentum that this season is allowing us,” Rossini said.
Graham Rossini defends Big 12 pursuit of a bye
In order to reach the CFP quarterfinals, ASU will need to earn a first-round bye or win a road game at a higher seed. The top four conference winners receive a bye, and ASU was the fifth conference leader in the latest CFP rankings behind the Mountain West’s Boise State.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark came out strong in opposing the idea that a Group of Five winner should be ahead of the Big 12 champ in the rankings.
Rossini said he does not spend a lot of energy in trying to influence rankings, but he shared a defense of the Big 12.
“We’re proud of our resume,” Rossini said. “Being 10-2 with a chance to win the conference title, that unlocks some opportunities for us, and whether we get a first-round bye or not remains to be seen. We’re just focused on winning the game.
“From a conference level, I know the commissioner and the Big 12 as a conference is really putting a lot of narrative and a lot of good information out there. We’ve got, other than the SEC, we’ve got the most amount of eight-win teams in the country. We’ve got the higher non-conference winning percentage of every conference other than the SEC and the Big 10. … We do think the Big 12 has a very strong argument and that we should be in consideration for these first-round byes.”
