First-year ASU football coach Kenny Dillingham said after Saturday’s spring game that he was “disappointed” with the low fan attendance at the game.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Kenny Dillingham says he is disappointed with the fan turnout for the Spring Game.
He says that it will take more than today’s attendance for Tempe to be a “football town.”
— Kevin Redfern (@KevinMRedfern13) April 15, 2023
Since landing his “dream job” as the head coach at ASU, Dillingham has voiced multiple times that he wanted a large crowd at the game. Dillingham, the youngest head coach at a Power 5 school, grew up in Arizona and went to Arizona State. He coined the slogan of this season’s team to “Activate the Valley” right after taking over the team.
32,000 fans
8,000 studentsCan we make this happen @942Crew #ActivateTheValley https://t.co/h5aYBp75nF
— Coach Dillingham (@KennyDillingham) January 31, 2023
Most fans sat in the shade on a sunny afternoon in Tempe. A lot of people suggested that the game should be moved to night time, as it was so hot during the day and many had prior commitments.
A lot of us have kids that are in sports and have games today. Killed me to not be there. But my kids come first.
— Heavy Devil (@SunDevil6) April 15, 2023
ASU did everything it could to try to get people in seats, as it scheduled the game the same day as Pat’s Run, had plenty of fan competition built in and promoted the game everywhere, even having prominent football personalities Taylor Lewan and Will Compton be opposing coaches in the game. There were also no tickets sold, and anyone could get in for free.
Dillingham monitoring a basketball comp involving fans mid-spring game pic.twitter.com/9tFFeIFV12
— Chris Karpman (@ChrisKarpman) April 15, 2023
In Tucson, the Wildcats’ spring game had quite the opposite turnout from the Sun Devils. Arizona sold a record of number of tickets to its game, which was coached by the Gronkowski brothers.
Spring Game attendance record‼️
Thank you Wildcat Nation!🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/fsEn2KH80N
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) April 16, 2023
In a since-deleted tweet ASU WR Xavier Guillory had something to say regarding their rival’s attendance, tweeting “ain’t nothing to do in Tucson.”
After a disappointing last couple of seasons for the Sun Devils, Dillingham thought the culture could change quick, but it appears that fans will only start showing up more if he can produce the winning product he envisions on the field in the fall.
