Built in 1958, the stadium's original capacity was 30,000. The first addition in 1976 substantially raised the capacity to 57,722. Seating was added to the south end zone, along with press and sky boxes. A year later, in 1977, the upper tier was completed to bring seating to 70,311. In 1988, 1,700 more seats were added. During that time the Carson Student Athlete Center was added to the south end. The building is the home of the ASU Athletic Department.

In 2007, engineers realized the stadium's concrete base was buckling due to the rusting of structural steel supporting the foundation. Stadium designers and constructors had failed to account for a need to waterproof the structure when it was built, assuming a stadium in the desert would not need hydrophobic concrete. However, they did not take into account that the cleaning/maintenance crews for ASU (and later, the Cardinals) would use pressure washers, along with chemicals, to clean the seats and rows of the stadium after every game and event. The 1958 designers had also not foreseen the stadium, thought to be only used for a number of Saturdays and limited college events per year in what was then a small market, would be the home of an NFL team and the site of a major college bowl game and multiple concerts by the early 90s as Metro Phoenix's growth exploded. This introduced substantially more water and overall structural wear to the stadium than the designers had ever envisioned. Engineers estimated $45 million in repairs would be needed to maintain the stadium beyond 2010.

A new Arizona bill allows the Arizona Board of Regents to set up a district on ASU property to collect revenue from local businesses. Money from the fee will go toward the funding of renovation projects of ASU's athletic facilities, including the stadium. It was estimated the fund would accumulate enough money to begin planning renovations within 2–5 years (2012–2015).

In April 2012, Sun Devil Athletics unveiled an estimated $300-million plan to renovate Sun Devil Stadium that entailed reducing stadium capacity to the 55,000–60,000 seat range, field turf, and fabric roof shading. The plan to cover the stadium with a roof was later scrapped to reduce costs. In October 2013, Sun Devil Athletics announced the removal of approximately 5,700 north endzone upper-deck seats that would reduce the stadium capacity to 65,870 for the 2014 season. The Cactus Bowl, which is usually played in Sun Devil Stadium, was played at nearby Chase Field in 2016 and 2017 while the renovations took place.

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