UC Irvine Athletics Announces Partnership with The Aspire Group

Agreement Will Provide Ticket Marketing, Sales and Service Support

UC Irvine Athletics has signed an agreement through 2018 with The Aspire Group, the global leader in athletic revenue enhancement, to administer the department’s outbound ticket sales and service operation through an on-campus Fan Relationship Management Center (FRMC).

The UC Irvine FRMC will be staffed with a selling manager and a sales & service consultant, and will provide year-round support in service & retention, outbound sales, fan contact data capture and revenue strategy for men’s & women’s soccer, men’s & women’s basketball, baseball and men’s & women’s volleyball.

“We are excited for the opportunity to bring in a partner that will enhance our ticketing efforts and support UC Irvine Athletics as we continue to make our athletic department as progressive as possible,” said UCI Athletics Director Michael Izzi.

The Aspire Group has hired Evan Peters as manager of the UC Irvine FRMC. Previously, Peters spent three years working for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their ticket sales department.

“It is an exciting time to be joining Aspire and the UCI Anteater team,” Evans said. “As a former D-I athlete, I understand that athletics are a vibrant part of the college experience for students, their families, for alumni and for the surrounding community. Aspire will bring its expertise in reaching out to these groups to boost attendance at athletic events and create a deeper connection to the University.”

Aspire’s Regional Vice-President of Fan Relationship Management, Tony Garrett, will oversee the partnership. Prior to this role, Garrett ran Aspire’s Tulane property, which oversaw three sell-outs at the Green Waves’ new Yulman Football Stadium.

This will be the second property for The Aspire Group in the Big West Conference along with UC Riverside.

For inquiries or further questions, please contact A.J. Smith at aj.smith@theaspiregroupinc.com (Director, Client Partner Development)

About UC Irvine Athletics

UC Irvine has been ranked in the nation’s top five in the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) All-Sports standings eight times in the past nine years. UCI finished fourth in the 2014-15 standings and was the top-ranked Big West Conference school for the fifth time in the last seven years, including the past two. In the past nine years, 44 Anteater teams have finished in the nation’s Top-25 final rankings.  During that span, 79 UCI teams have had representation in the NCAA postseason. In addition, 1,308 student-athletes have been honored as UCI Scholar-Athletes and 102 have earned All-America honors.

About The Aspire Group

The Aspire Group is a global sports and entertainment marketing firm that specializes in enhancing all revenue streams while building lifelong fans for our clients through superb fan engagement and service. The Aspire Group currently works with client partners in North America, Europe and Australia providing ongoing strategic business consulting and research; outsourced services; and implementation support in all facets of sport business and investment optimization. Aspire has become the global leader in outsourced revenue enhancement with over 40 collegiate properties in the USA and over 100 additional sports and entertainment properties who have trusted Aspire to drive revenue, attendance and enterprise value. In 2015, The Aspire Group was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Top Ten Best Places To Work For In Sports” and nominated by Sports Business Journal for a “Best In Property Consulting, Sales And Client Services” award for the second time. For more information, please visit www.theaspiregroupinc.com.