The sports story of 2014 at the mid-point of the year has to be Arizona State athletics and it’s not even close.
Three executives leaving the vaunted NFL to come to Tempe.
Finally breaking apart Sun Devil Stadium to move it into the 21st century.
Pac-12 Network money starting to flow through the athletic department.
Moving out of ancient Packard Stadium into Phoenix Muni.
Laying the groundwork for the golf program to thrive at Papago.
Making a dynamic hire to lead the wrestling program.
At the front of all of this movement is Athletic Director Ray Anderson. He has accelerated what Steve Patterson started and has made people sit up at attention to the light speed in which he is making impressive hires.
This past week former NFL player Scottie Graham was hired by Anderson. Graham was the Director of Player engagement for the NFL.
David Cohen was brought on board to work with the Sun Devil Athletics sports marketing. He was Director of New Stadium Sales for the Minnesota Vikings New Stadium project working for Van Wagner Sports and Entertainment.
Last month Greg McElroy left his position of Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing with the Dallas Cowboys. He was with the Cowboys for eight years.
Can you mix pro sports executives on the college level? It’s a very interesting time in Tempe for sure.
After 90 years with WGN radio, the Chicago Cubs announced this week that they are moving up the radio dial to a new home. Here in Phoenix, I am hearing that one of the major sports teams is trying to do the same thing from longtime flagship KTAR…
One name connected to the Suns is Orlando Magic guard Arron Afflalo. I know the Suns have Eric Bledsoe, but given his non-committal stance on wanting to remain in Phoenix, nothing would surprise me.
Kevin Love should be target #1,2,and 3 this offseason. One NBA agent told me that the Suns are certainly the “wild-card” in the Love
sweepstakes. With the draft picks, cap flexibility, and proximity to the West Coast, Phoenix could be and attractive alternative to Love if the Lakers and Clippers can’t get the right package together…
When ArizonaUnitedSC hosts LA Galaxy later this month, the crowd may be treated to Landon Donovan on the field at the Peoria Sports Complex. Head coach Michael Dellorusso told me on our weekly coaches show(11:00am every Tuesday) that he didn’t know yet about who was coming for Galaxy for the match on the 18th. If United wins, they would host Chivas the following week. Pretty amazing to think of that level of soccer coming through Arizona in such a short period of time…
