Vanderbilt hires Aspire to boost athletic ticket sales

Vanderbilt University Athletics announced today a multi-year agreement with The Aspire Sport Marketing Group to outsource outbound and group ticket sales responsibilities. In conjunction with the Vanderbilt Ticket Office, Aspire’s Fan Relationship Management Center (FRMC) staff will concentrate on developing new ticket sales initiatives for football, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball.

The FRMC operation will be supplemented by on-going support from Aspire’s award-winning strategic consulting and research team, who will be conducting various custom projects for Vanderbilt.

“We live in a dynamic city and we see this as a great opportunity to team up with an award-winning company in The Aspire Group to identify new Vanderbilt fans and to improve upon our customer service level to our existing fans,” said Martin Salamone, Vanderbilt’s Senior Associate AD for External Affairs.

“Our fan-centric approach through the FRMC and customized research enables our staff to service fans while helping to build on the Vanderbilt fan base,” said Bill Fagan, Chief Operating Officer for Aspire. “Our staff is dedicated to providing fans unparalleled customer service while simultaneously increasing revenue and attendance for Vanderbilt Athletics.”

Tyler Shaker, a six-year Aspire veteran, will manage the on-site FRMC. Shaker comes to Nashville after a two-year stint as the Director of Ticket Sales & Service for the University of Connecticut FRMC. Prior to that, he served as a Team Leader for New Business Development at the University of Kansas FRMC.

The addition of Vanderbilt brings the number of Aspire’s outsourced ticket sales partners to 43 and the second Southeastern Conference member along with Auburn University. Tony Garrett, Vice President for Aspire’s FRMC operations, will be the liaison to Vanderbilt Athletics. 

 

About Vanderbilt University Athletics 

Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tenn. is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The university competes in 16 intercollegiate sports and the athletic department is under the direction of Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletics Director David Williams II. The mission statement that guides the members of the athletic department is “We prepare student-athletes to become leaders and champions in life by placing the highest values on integrity, character, sportsmanship and victory.” For more information, visit VUCommodores.com. 

About The Aspire Group 

The Aspire Group is a sports and entertainment marketing firm that is globally recognized for innovative consulting, ticketing and partnership services. Aspire created the outsourced ticket sales niche, revolutionizing Intercollegiate Athletics with the first Fan Relationship Management Center (FRMC) at Georgia Tech in 2009. Over 215 collegiate and professional sports properties have trusted Aspire to drive revenue, attendance and enterprise value growth through the combination of strategic consulting and research services, data insights and best-in-industry fan relationship management. 

For inquiries, contact A.J. Smith at 404-389-9100 or  aj.smith@theaspiregroupinc.com.