University of Northern Iowa and Playfly Aspire Agree to Second Multi-Year Extension

ATLANTA, GA – The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) and Playfly Aspire have agreed to a second multi-year extension to their partnership. As part of the extension, Playfly Aspire has added ticket office operation responsibilities to the scope of their on-site fan relationship management center (FRMC). The FRMC has been in charge of ticket sales and service across Panther Athletics since 2018.

Playfly Aspire and UNI Athletics’ partnership is rooted in flexibility and holistic support. During the COVID-19 pandemic, UNI utilized Playfly Aspire’s National Sales Center (NSC), which took just two days to begin providing the Panthers with remote sales support from trained professionals. Playfly Aspire has also called upon its Strategy, Analytics, and Marketing (SAM) team to perform fan research for UNI, surveying over 1,200 current and former season ticket holders to understand drivers of attendance, barriers to purchase, and amplify win-back campaign efficiency.

“Becoming more involved with the day-to-day revenue operations of the Panther Athletic department is quite an honor,” said Playfly Aspire SVP of Strategy and Operations Chad Cardinal. “We are energized to connect with even more fans through the stewardship of the box office and our ticket operations duties and are filled with gratitude to extend our partnership with UNI Athletics. Fun and rewarding times are ahead.”

“We are excited about the extension and expanded partnership with Playfly Aspire to run our ticketing operations,” said UNI Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs, Jamar Thompson. “This partnership will allow us to better serve our fans day in and day out with excellent customer service while helping increase attendance at our athletics events.”

About University of Northern Iowa

The University of Northern Iowa is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and serves a student body of nearly 9,000. UNI Athletics sponsors 17 NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports programs, who compete as the “Panthers” in the Missouri Valley Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference . UNI’s decorated Wrestling team, which competes as an affiliate member of the Big 12 Conference, has won three team national championships, captured more than a dozen individual championships, and produced multiple Olympic medalists.

About Playfly Aspire

Playfly Aspire is an award winning sports and entertainment marketing firm, named as a top employer in the industry by both Forbes and Front Office Sports. Globally recognized for innovative consulting, ticket sales, and partnership services, Playfly Aspire created the outsourced ticket sales niche, revolutionizing with its first Fan Relationship Management Center (FRMC) at Georgia Tech in 2009. Over the past 15 years, more than 300 collegiate and professional sports properties have trusted Playfly Aspire to drive revenue, attendance, and enterprise-value growth through the combination of strategic consulting and research, sales and service training, and best-in-industry fan relationship management.

For more information about Playfly Aspire visit: www.theaspiregroupinc.com and follow us on Twitter @theaspire_group

For project and partnership inquiries, contact A.J. Smith at aj.smith@theaspiregroupinc.com or Joe Kronander at joe.kronander@theaspiregroupinc.com