Long Beach State and The Aspire Group Welcome Benny Garcia to the Beach

Long Beach, Calif. – Long Beach State Athletics and The Aspire Group have hired Benny Garcia to lead the on-site Fan Relationship Management Center (FRMC) as part of the partnership between the two entities. Garcia will lead the FRMC’s efforts in ticket sales and service support for all ticket Long Beach State athletic events.

“I’m thrilled to get this opportunity to work with Long Beach State,” said Garcia. “We have an exciting challenge building this ticketing sales partnership from the ground up. It’s going to be fun working to expand and grow what is already a promising ticketing base from a new direction, leading the first outbound sales operation of its kind with the Beach.”

Garcia has a wealth of experience in athletics ticket sales, having worked for multiple sales operations in Southern California at the professional level, including the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Sparks. A Southern California native, Garcia has lived in Long Beach throughout that time spent working in professional sports.

Most recently, Garcia has spent the past four years as the Manager of Sales and Service for the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the NBA development league team of the Los Angeles Lakers. While there, attendance grew by 10 percent in his first year, and his team helped lead a 25% increase in revenue in just one season.

His role at Long Beach State will be to lead the FRMC as part of a partnership with the Aspire Group. One of Garcia’s initial tasks will be the hiring of an account executive, who with Garcia will begin work on outbound sales and support for LBSU Athletics ticketing.

“Building genuine relationships with our alumni and community is critical to growing a new generation of Beach Athletics fans and this partnership will enhance our ability to provide a first-rate, personalized experience for more supporters,” said Rob Clark, Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Relations when the partnership was announced.

Garcia’s first day at the Beach will be on July 11.

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 sports business and investment optimization. Aspire has become the global leader in outsourced revenue enhancement with more than 60 collegiate properties in the USA and over 100 more 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 10 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 the Aspire Group’s website.

Originally posted on longbeachstate.com.