The Aspire Group Expands West Adding Arizona State University as Ticketing Partner

ATLANTA – Arizona State University has announced a partnership with The Aspire Group to manage its athletic ticket marketing, sales and service functions. The Aspire Group will partner with Sun Devil Athletics on all facets of ticketing sales including, premium seating sales and service, season ticket renewals and new sales, group ticket sales, in-person site visits and inbound/outbound phone sales. The Sun Devil Athletics Fan Relationship Management Center (FRMC) will have thirty full-time staff and continue to emphasize an aggressive outbound sales campaign providing best in class customer service on inbound calls and renewals.  The Aspire Group will sell tickets for football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and ASU’s national championship softball team from the Fan Relationship Management Center located on campus.

Jeff Rucker has been hired as Director of Sales and Service and will oversee the FRMC. Jeff will dual report to The Aspire Group and Sun Devils Athletics Administration. Jeff began his career in sports in 2005 and has extensive tickets sales background with teams in the National Hockey League, Major League Lacrosse and Arena Football 2. The Aspire Group has also hired Nate Christiansen as Manager – Premium Sales and Customer Service. Nate was an Account Executive, Season & Group Ticket Sales at Kroenke Sports Enterprises before joining The Aspire Group.

“Our partnership with The Aspire Group is just one of the additions Sun Devil athletics has made this year designed to produce significant revenue growth” stated Steve Hank,  Associate Athletic Director of Revenue. “By adding additional staff resources, Aspire will provide enhanced customer service to our fans that will lead to long-term sustainability through deeper customer relationships as well as immediate revenue and attendance results.”

The Aspire Group’s Fan Relationship Management Centers are staffed with full time college graduates committed to developing their career in sports sales. The Sun Devil Athletic Fan Relationship Management Center, the fist of it’s kind in college athletics started in 2006, will now transition to the Aspire partnership with those students currently employed being given the opportunity to work at the FRMC on a part time basis.

Considered one of the most beautiful collegiate football stadiums in the nation, ASU’s Sun Devil Stadium has played host to some of college football’s most memorable games and has set numerous attendance records over past years. Soon Aspire professionals will be filling these seats along with those for several other Sun Devil sports, offering fans a full menu of ticket and hospitality products along with an excellent customer experience.

“We look forward to a strong partnership with Sun Devil Athletics and proactively working to provide these fans with exceptional customer service across a full menu of products,” said Bernie Mullin, Chairman and CEO of The Aspire Group. “It will be exciting to build upon the success that Steve Hank and his staff have had over the past five years and we are humbled by their respect and belief in our system.”

“We are excited to be partnering with Bernie and the Aspire Group to best serve our loyal Sun Devil fans.” said Stephen Patterson, Chief Operating Officer for Sun Devil Athletics.  “Through the Fan Relationship Management Center, we will be able provide top-level service while dramatically increasing our revenues.”

 

About Sun Devil Athletics

Arizona State University is home to over 70,000 students located in Tempe, Arizona, just outside Phoenix, the nation’s sixth largest city.  Sun Devil Athletics is home to 21 varsity sports and is a proud member of the PAC-12 Conference.

For more information about Sun Devil Athletics visit www.thesundevils.cstv.com

About The Aspire Group

The Aspire Group is a global sports and entertainment firm founded in 2008 by Dr. Bernie Mullin that partners with its clients to maximize revenue, people and organizational performance. Aspire provides ongoing strategic advice and implementation support in executing and maintaining highly innovative sales, marketing, management, and operational systems. This is best embodied in the Fan Relationship Management Center, the fastest growing arm of the company, operating in United States, Canada and United Kingdom. The Aspire Group’s collegiate partners are Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Maryland, Memphis, University at Buffalo, Army, Louisiana Tech, Western Michigan, Florida International, Tulane and Arizona State.

For more information visit www.theaspiregroupinc.com