The East Valley was pounded by hurricane-force winds that reached up to 100 miles per hour. Trees were uprooted and thousands of residents were left without power for several hours.

ASU wasn’t left unscathed by Mother Nature’s wrath. The brand new indoor football practice facility on campus, which was christened just earlier this month, was left a tattered pile of insulation and plastic, just one day before ASU opens their season against Northern Arizona. The damage was estimated at over $1 million, and the Sun Devils obviously will have to do without the facility for the rest of the season.

The facility, which came with a price tag of more than 8 million dollars, obviously got very limited use from the facility. They held their first practice there just 25 days ago. As it turns out, for 8 million dollars, ASU got 8 practices out of the deal. Ouch.

Some Sun Devil fans were upset with the construction of the facility, which made summertime practices possible in Tempe, and made Camp Tontozona just east of Payson, where ASU Football teams had trained for over 40 years, a thing of the past. The Sun Devils played only one scrimmage and spent one night at Camp T this season.

If there is a silver lining in this whole mess, it’s that the “Devil Dome” was taken down while practice wasn’t going on, and that it happened after the conclusion of training camp. Believe it or not, there are people relishing this event, and most of them happen to be U of A fans. But really, what is there to relish? The facility will be repaired for next season, and basically all that means is the Sun Devils are in the same boat they were practice-wise a year ago.

Looks like it’s back to outdoor, night time practices to beat the heat.

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