San José State University Extends Aspire Partnership with an Expanded Scope of Work

ATLANTA, GA – San José State University (SJSU) and The Aspire Group have announced a multi-year contract extension, adding stand-alone donations to Aspire’s scope of work with the school.

Marie Tuite, SJSU director of athletics, said, “We are excited to announce a continuation of our partnership with The Aspire Group. In a short time period, Aspire, through the leadership of Director of Ticket Sales and Service Ted Lopez, has grown our base of ticket-purchasing prospects, created new ticketing plans with revenue generation in mind, and deepened customer relationships with our fans. San José State Athletics looks forward to continuing its partnership with Aspire.”

“In the last two and a half years, The Aspire Group has done a good job in building a solid foundation of a successful ticket sales program for our department. San José State is located in the very competitive Bay Area market for the sports and entertainment dollar,” explained Blake Sasaki, SJSU’s senior associate athletics director for external relations. “Ted Lopez and Aspire have proposed and executed successful ticket-buying promotions and events. The results are leading to new interest in Spartan Athletics to grow our fan base in several of our ticketed sports programs throughout the school year.”

Ted Lopez, a graduate of SJSU, has served as the university’s Fan Relationship Management Center (FRMC) director of sales and service since its inception in 2017, overseeing all efforts across new business, account renewals, and special events. Aspire’s VP of Training, Mike Boswell, has led instruction of FRMC staff on-site, and SJSU has also taken advantage of Aspire’s Strategic Consulting & Research department, partnering to conduct in-depth football pricing and packaging work.

Lopez mentioned, “Over the last 2.5 years at San Jose State University it has been my absolute pleasure working with such a talented and innovative group of individuals that allows us to push the envelope and create new and unique ideas to better serve our customer’s needs.”

Bill Duffy, Aspire’s vice chairman, said, “San José State has been a strong partner to Aspire as we innovate together to bring the fans the experience and service they deserve. We are excited to extend this relationship and expand our scope of work to provide Spartan fans outstanding service and connectivity to SJSU Athletics.”

 “We are thrilled to extend the relationship between San José State and Aspire.” remarked Chad Cardinal, Aspire’s vice president of Fan Relationship Management, “Marie, Blake, and Darren have been welcoming of new ideas and share our desire to conduct business in a sustainable way with the fan front and center. While we are proud of the joint accomplishments to date, we look forward to and are excited for what lies ahead.”

Moving forward, Aspire will continue to manage new and renewed ticket sales, on-site training, and consulting work, and will also gain responsibility for driving standalone donations to SJSU’s “Spartan Athletics Fund”.

About San José State University

San José State University sponsors 22 (nine men’s and 13 women’s) NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports programs. The Spartans primarily compete as members of the  Mountain West with select teams in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Western Athletic Conference (WAC), and Golden Coast Conference (GCC). SJSU student-athletes have won 10 team championships and 50 individual titles to date.

About The Aspire Group

The Aspire Group is a sports and entertainment marketing firm that is globally recognized for innovative consulting, research, and ticket sales 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 the past decade, more than 230 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 and best-in-industry fan relationship management.

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