Kenny Dillingham calls for local businesses to support Arizona State football through NIL deals

While evaluating Arizona State’s standing in the revenue-sharing era of college athletics, Kenny Dillingham praised the school’s support in both NIL and rev-share. But he sees one “last step” to achieve that would fully maximize the potential.

Dillingham issued a call to action to local businesses to show their support through NIL deals. He used restaurants as an example, specifically naming items on the menu after Arizona State players. Of course, that happened last year when quarterback Sam Leavitt and former running back Cam Skattebo had their own meals named after them at Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers.

But if more restaurants took that approach, Dillingham said it would create a win-win situation for both sides. That was part of the pitch he made during his Monday press conference.

“There’s opportunity for real NIL here where our players are being branded,” Dillingham said. “Your company is seeing that, you see the support, the community wants to go support you because you’re supporting the athlete. We can do that at such a high scale. Every restaurant, if you don’t have a food item named after an Arizona State Sun Devil, why? I don’t get it. $500 a month, $1,000 a month? It’s a business expense because it’s a marketing expense. If you’re a local company and you want to engage community, or if you’re a new business and you want to get people involved, what better way to get your brand out there to the city than utilizing our players?

“Everybody thinks this is like a race – ‘I can’t give a $700,000 deal.’ No. We have a city behind us. If every restaurant in our city gave a kid a $500 or $1,000 a month deal to advertise them for them … I feel like we’d be in a good spot. And I know we’re not going to get all of them. But what if we got 25% of them? And I think that’s the last piece of this thing.”

Kenny Dillingham: ‘I want to keep pushing’

In his assessment of the landscape, Kenny Dillingham made it clear he’s simply looking for opportunities to improve Arizona State’s position. Reiterating his praise for the university and fan base, he said getting local businesses on board could make things even better for all parties.

Considering there aren’t any professional sports teams in Tempe, Dillingham said Arizona State is the top sports draw in town. That’s why he argued local businesses can also benefit from partnerships with athletes, as well.

“I’m never satisfied,” Dillingham said. “I want to keep pushing. But I do want to say, the university, they’ve been very, very supportive. The fan base has been unbelievably supportive. Now it’s, okay, this last step. How can we work it together to where the local businesses, successful people in The Valley want to see us succeed? Because our success leads to more success in local business. It’s all it is. We’re a revenue generator for the city.

“So if you’re a local business guy and you have nothing to do with Arizona State, well, our success can help your business and our success helps the city that you live in. So how do we work and work together with each other to take this next step of the program? Because I think we’ve taken steps and really activating The Valley. I think that’s that final piece. And it’s every single business. Not just restaurants. It’s car companies. It’s literally everything can get involved.”