In honor of today's schedule release, I figured I'd post some intel I gathered back in November. ASU is a client of my company, and I was in Tempe for 24 hours for an event that ASU IT was hosting inside Sun Devil Stadium (it has a corporate name, but whatever). The event was in one of the club areas, which I'll detail below, and got a chance to check out the empty stadium and the Tempe area.
TL
R - Tempe is a really nice area and travel destination, bonus points for Scottsdale and rest of the surrounding areas. ASU is the perfect location to make a boys/golf weekend out of the UCF trip, and there are plenty of nice resorts with good spas that would satisfy the wives and families if you wanted an excuse to make it a family trip.
Flight:
American flies direct to PHX since it's a hub so that is my metal of choice. I believe Southwest and Frontier may have a couple flights a day as well. Because of the distance/and west to east travel you'll have to make a decision on red-eye flight home, or stay an extra night and leave the following morning. Not to get political, but they really are shipping out migrants from flights out of PHX around the country. My experience on the late night red-eye flight home had dozens on my flight from PHX to CLT. Just a heads up to keep your head on a swivel, and in case that sight would disturb yours or your signifcant others sensibilities.
Travel:
Depending on where you plan to stay, Pheonix/Tempe/Scottsdale is pretty spread out so if you plan on staying anywhere besides Tempe, you'd probably want a rental car. I stayed right in downtown Tempe and an uber/lyft was like $10 to/from the airport. There is also a light rail, that I didn't investigate closely (so might be some other options). The Tempe area north of campus (where my hotel was) and near the Football stadium was VERY walkable and they have those Bird scooters around too.
Hotel:
As a Marriott Bonvoy guy, I stayed at the Westin Tempe, which was very nice, modern, relatively new. Had a nice looking restaurant in the lobby, and a rooftop bar that had great views & vibe. There are a handful of other Marriott properties, an Omni that looked really nice, and a couple Hyatt options all right there in the area north of University Dr.
Nightlife:
Given ASU is a party school similar to ourselves, Tempe has a lot of bars and cool spots. It was a work trip so couldn't do any proper intel on the co-eds (sorry
@dali drama ). There were a ton of restaurants and bars right there on Mill Ave. that were within walking distance from all those hotels and relatively close walking distance from the football stadium too. The one place I did check out was
Pedal Haus Brewery, which was great. Had a great vibe, tons of big table/outdoor seating, plenty of TV's to watch other games, etc. Lots of beer, and good food and german vibe. Would be an awesome pre/post game spot. Scottsdale and other areas also have legendary scenes that I'm sure someone else can give some insights on. But you could very much stay right there in Tempe and walk everywhere and have a good time too.
Football Stadium:
I thought the stadium was really nice. Lower Bowl, not a bad seat in the house. The stadium underwent a five-year, $304-million renovation that was completed in August 2019. Nice scenery of the surrounding hills, etc There are towers/club areas on both sides. The only real upper deck (300-level) was on the sidelines of the stadium but part of the tower buildings, so probably still a decent view. My take on ideal seat location would be anything 100-level would have amazing view, pretty much similar to 100-level in the bounce house, or in the club area.
The event I was in was in the San Tan Ford Club which is the 200-level across the entire East sideline. This was part of the renovations at the stadium a few years back. There was a combo of cushioned club seats that are covered in shade, and loge boxes, with a huge indoor AC club area behind it. There were food options on both ends of the club plus two standalone bars inside as well. (Honestly, and ideal version of what the Bounce House should have). Pics and views from the San Tan Club.
I was told by some ASU folks that behind the big scoreboard in the North Endzone is a big beer garden which is THE SPOT during halftime. This is basically on top of the Football Facilities as well.
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