UTEP and Playfly Aspire Agree to Multi-Year Partnership Extension

ATLANTA, GA – The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and The Aspire Group (Aspire), recently acquired by Playfly Sports, have agreed to a multi-year extension of their partnership. Playfly Aspire first created a fan relationship management center (FRMC) on the El Paso campus in 2020 to sell and service all UTEP ticketed sports and drive donations to the Miner Athletic Club. Since its inception, the FRMC has generated $5.7 million in revenue, producing nearly $100 for every outbound call made.

Playfly Aspire and UTEP Athletics have developed a true partnership centered around flexibility and a full-service menu. Alongside the dedicated sales and service staff, a database manager has helped to maximize the FRMC’s efficiency using intelligent Miner fanbase segmentation and marketing efforts. Playfly Aspire’s strategy, analytics, and marketing (SAM) team has conducted pricing benchmark studies for UTEP’s football and men’s basketball programs to optimize both season ticket packages and dynamic single game offerings.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Playfly Aspire’s uniquely agile National Sales Center (NSC) stepped in to support UTEP Athletics remotely. Four sales and service professionals drove new business, managed a football reseating campaign, and fielded questions from fans who were concerned about return to play protocols. 

“We love being Miners and are ecstatic to formally extend the partnership with UTEP,” said Senior Vice President, Strategy & Operations, Chad Cardinal. “Jim Senter (Vice President, Director of Athletics) and Charley Thrash (Senior Associate Athletic Director, Revenue Generation) are not only great to work alongside and care about the relationship being mutually beneficial, but they are also trusted friends. We are proud of the collective attendance and revenue achievements to date and are equally excited about what lies ahead.”

“We look forward to continuing our relationship with Playfly Aspire,” Senter said. “They have been a valuable partner over the last three years. Most recently, their team played a critical role in helping us sell out a football game in the Sun Bowl for the first time in 14 years, and generating our biggest crowd for a men’s basketball home game in 6 years. Overall, we had an increase of nearly 10,000 fans in our ticketed sports from the 2021-22 athletic year to 2022-23, with men’s basketball leading Conference USA in attendance and volleyball finishing second. We are excited about continuing to grow our fan base with their (Playfly Aspire’s) help and expertise.”  

“Playfly Aspire has helped UTEP Athletics enhance the customer experience greatly over the last three years,” Thrash said. “We are appreciative of their partnership, and look forward to growing as a collective unit.”

About UTEP

The UTEP Miners sponsor 17 NCAA Division I sports programs and compete in Conference USA. Miner programs have won a total of 21 NCAA Division I national championships. Competing as Texas Western, the men’s basketball team won the historic 1966 national championship led by Hall of Famer Don Haskins, who became the first coach to start five black players in the title game. The team and coach Don Haskins are enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The 1965-1966 season was immortalized in the book and film, Glory Road, for its role in the desegregation of college athletics.

About The Aspire Group, a Playfly Sports Company

The Aspire Group, a Playfly Sports Company, 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, 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 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 The Aspire Group 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