Now, it’s not even crazy to argue that NIL has completely ripped the idea of “amateurism” out of college football. Competing for the national title is nearly impossible unless your alumni are multimillionaires or venture capitalists. Just yesterday, Arizona State’s coach Kenny Dillingham asked wealthy alumni to donate $20 million to elevate the program. Now, the AD has weighed in on Dillingham’s request.

On December 21, the Sun Devils’ athletic director hopped onto the presser and gave his blunt opinion on Dillingham’s take.

“We’ve got to keep fundraising. We’ve got to continue to grow the pie of people that are investing in Sun Devil athletics in the way that they can. Somebody wrote a $20 million check. I’m all for it, said Rossini.

We’d love to find those people. But more importantly, when you look at almost 700,000 ASU alums all over the world, there are nearly a million people who have attended this university.”

ASU Athletic Director Graham Rossini is essentially stating that the future of Sun Devil athletics relies on continued fundraising, not just from one billionaire donor, but from everyone who cares about the program.

Instead of relying on one person to write a $20 million check, it would be far better if the 700,000 alumni came together and made a donation. That could easily clear $20 million within a day or less.

Truth be told, the Sun Devils have become more relevant now than they ever have before. Homegrown head coach Kenny Dillingham took a school once known for desert heat and party culture to the Big 12 Championship in 2024 and followed it up with an 8–4 season this year, despite having a couple of their best players injured.

Most importantly, the Sun Devils are the only FBS team to hand Texas Tech (backed by oil money) its only loss of the season.

With the extension of Kenny Dillingham, the Sun Devils have positioned themselves as Big 12 contenders for the next few years. In our opinion, given that Kenny is an elite recruiter, now is the ideal time to invest in ASU stock. Even other sports like women’s basketball and men’s swimming have been cooking this season.

Forget $20 million for a minute.

Even if they raise half of that, they could dive deep into the transfer portal and land one of the top quarterbacks to replace Sam Leavitt. Rossini also gave credit to the coaches, athletes, and fans for the excitement surrounding ASU athletics as a whole. Folks in Tempe have started rocking Sun Devils drip again publicly, and they sold out all seven of their home games.

AD doubled down: “We’re not satisfied with where we are today, and we don’t want to put limits or ceilings on what we can accomplish as a department and get to the point where our coaches don’t need to consider leaving to go elsewhere, to do what they could do here.”

In simple terms, Rossini wants ASU to be a place where elite coaches can fully succeed without any financial constraints. He believes Phoenix is the right market to invest in.

Can ASU alumni complete Kenny Dillingham’s $20 million dream?

It’s hard to keep track of how many millionaires or billionaires the University of Arizona State has produced. As AD Rossini said, there are over 700,000 alumni; the odds are in our favour. The scale of the university alone screams there’s plenty of financial muscle within the Sun Devil network.

Just take the Sun Devil 100 Class of 2025 as an example for a minute. Alumni-led businesses in that group generated a combined $70 billion in revenue during the 2023 fiscal year. While that money belongs to the companies, many of the founders and CEOs behind them are comfortably in the millionaire club.

When it comes to heavy hitters, the billionaires, ASU has some very high-profile names. The most prominent is Joe Shoen, the billionaire CEO of U-Haul, who earned his law degree from ASU in 1981.

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You’ll also find names like Ira Fulton, the founder of Fulton Homes, who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the university over the years, though he attended rather than graduated. Other wealthy alumni include the late fashion icon Kate Spade, whose brand sold for $2.4 billion in 2017.

The university is also a magnet for wealthy donors who didn’t actually attend ASU but believe in the school’s mission. For example, the W. P. Carey Foundation, named after the late billionaire businessman, was named the 2025 Philanthropist of the Year for its ongoing support.

Between tech entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and superstar athletes, there’s no shortage of deep pockets in the Sun Devil family. That’s precisely why Dillingham is confident that someone in the Phoenix area can write a $20 million check to take the football program to the next level.