The Arizona State football program has a lot of momentum.

It's been two months since the Sun Devils finished the season with that double overtime showing in the Peach Bowl against Texas, but the excitement of that showing has carried over to preparations for the new season.

ASU begins spring practices later this month in advance of the 2025 season opener on Aug. 30.

Behind the scenes, school administrators are working, too.

"We have everyone's attention now," said Deputy Athletic Director Lisa Young, who works alongside first-year Athletic Director Graham Rossini. "We have our students' attention. We have broader ASU's attention. We've had that for the long run but even more so now. With President Crow's commitment, that has had a trickle-down effect and our university constituents, who just may not have been as involved, they're more engaged now too."

Restoring the university to athletic prominence, particularly in revenue-producing sports, has been a labor of love for Rossini and Young, both graduates of the school. Young senses a renewed pride when she's out in the community.

"All of us now have a story where we're wearing the pitchfork or some ASU gear that identifies us as part of the school and someone stops us and says, `Go Sun Devils.' I can't say that's always been the case," said Young, who has been in her position for a year but worked at the school in other roles beginning in 2018.

Young didn't divulge specific numbers but said the school has doubled its number of new season ticket holders from a year ago and 80% of season ticket renewals have already been completed — both noteworthy numbers given that it is only March.

She expects the trend to continue now that the schedule has been released . ASU will have seven home games, that's up from six last season. ASU went 6-0 at Mountain America Stadium for its first unbeaten home record since 2004.

Young added that last season the school did particularly well in student attendance, going from an average of 7,000 to about 10,000, which was near capacity. As a result, the school is looking to add student seating to adjacent areas, although details on that are still being finalized.

"The demand is there and that's a good thing," she said.

The school is only halfway through its first year in the Big 12 and it already has four conference titles with football being joined by women's volleyball and men's and women's swimming.

The school fields teams in 26 sports. That's more sports than any other school in the conference. While not all are revenue-producing, Young added that each adds value and said the school is not looking to cut any sports. Still, finding a way to support them is a challenge. She acknowledges that many might go all in for one particular sport but that will never be a path ASU takes.

"We're never going to put all the chips in one bucket," she said. "Certainly we understand there are certain sports that fuel the rest of the sports so we rely on that revenue to generate because we need that to support 26 sports. Olympic sports are important for many reasons, a pipeline to the Olympics. Every sport adds a value, it may not be a monetary value, but they're all important and bring the diversity we thrive on."

Some sports that don't have a male equivalent are also important in helping the school keep in line with Title IX demands. She added that the facilities and operations teams have also risen to the challenge of being able to host so many events — as nine taking place on campus in the same weekend.

"Sometimes it seems like it's a seamless thing putting on that many events at once, but it really takes a village," she said. "It's more challenging than it looks."

Young added that recently the corporate sales team moved in-house, whereas many universities rely on third parties. That will enable all parties to work more closely, something from which all will benefit.

She echoed what Rossini has talked about in the past, that the school's focus is on making for a great game-day environment. Fan feedback reviews after every game will continue, especially with ASU bringing in so many new season ticket holders. Recent changes included slashing parking prices.

Young and Rossini also spend time mingling with spectators at events to gauge reactions. She doubled down on the need for improvements at Desert Financial Arena, which Rossini has also alluded to in the past. They are still not ready to discuss the details of what has been dubbed a "multi-year" renovation plan but said the priority will go toward "safety" improvements.

While there is a large ASU population in the area that went to ASU, athletics are now attracting transplants with no connection to the school. Young is hoping to tap into that population as well.

"We have over 300,000 alumni living here so we have a huge population base," she said. "What we want to be is the hometown team too so even if you went to a different school, you live here, so how do we build that affinity for the hometown team? We want it to be a safe place to take your kid or your family to an event and have a great experience regardless of a win or a loss."