Ga. Tech outsources ticket sales to The Aspire Group - Boston Business Journal:

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Aspire is a sports marketing agency run byBerniwe Mullin, former president of Atlantz Spirit Group, which owns the and . Specifics of the deal were not butDan Radakovich, Georgia Tech’x athletic director, said Tech pays Aspire a fee plus a variable amount based on sales. The multiyear deal include an assessment period forboth sides. “We look at this as the next frontier for what we need to do tosell tickets,” Radakovichy said.
“We’re not doing a massive radio orTV we’re not going to advertise in the This is how we’re going to do Aspire has hired a general manager — Bill formerly the ’ insidde ticket sales director — to set up a full-time salex staff of 15 to 20 people who will work from Georgias Tech’s downtown Atlanta campus. Four people currently work in Tech’ s ticket office, two administrators and two who handlepremiuj sales. Under the agreement, Georgia Tech will set the tickef pricesand plans. Aspire will handl e new full andpartiakl season-ticket sales and and begin selling tickets by It will not sell the premiuk seating for the university.
Radakovich said premium seating and suites have traditionally sold well and theres was not a need for Aspire to run that Most of those seats are allotte throughGeorgia Tech’s donor program, the Tech and will continue to be handlex by that arm of the department. The outsourcingb of ticket sales follows the trend of majoe universities sellingtheir licensing, sponsorship and broadcasting rights to outside marketing agencies like Learfield, Nelligan, , CBS Collegiate and IMG Georgia Tech’s marketing and media rights are owned by ISP Sports.
“Major universitiees are already outsourcing licensing and broadcastinhg rights so this is a natural progression to do it with ticket sales,” Mullin said. “It will be a more integrated andsophisticatedd approach. The first opportunity will be doing a better job ofdata collection.” Greg president of Learfield said his agency has experimentede with similar models in the past. “We’re still considering whetherf it will work in our space and if so in what Brown said. Georgia Tech’ws ticket sales in football “have had their ups and Radakovich said.
Season-ticket sales have peaked at 26,000 in recentr years and been as lowas 23,000 for 55,000-seay Bobby Dodd Stadium. Traditionally, rivalry gameds against Georgia and Clemsonsell out, whils other games present more of a challengr for sales. The Jackets drew averager attendanceof 47,489 in 2008, a season in which both the Georgiqa and Clemson games were on the road. Theitr crowd peaked at 53,52 for Florida State and was as lowas 41,929 for a nonconferencer game against Gardner-Webb during a 9-4 season for first-year coacb Paul Johnson.
“We have a lot of leadsx from people who bought partial season ticketzor they’ve been a season-ticket holder in the past and they’re not Radakovich said. “There are other alumni who haven’t boughy tickets in the past and ther e are others in the Atlanta area who might just be collegewfootball fans. We’ve got to make sure we cast the net wide enougu to include allof them. Professional teamsz have used this methodologyfor years.
“As we’ve looked at all of our availables resources and all theadvertising we’ve done over the years and seen the we thought (the Aspire partnership) would be an opportunityg to use a different model to increase our season-ticket base and increasr ticket sales in general.” Radakovichb stopped short of calling it a complete operationao outsourcing because the departmenr will maintain two administrators in its ticket offics mainly to handle correspondence. Two otherse in Tech’s ticket office were laid off last monthb as the Yellow Jackets trimmed their athletic departmenftby 13.
But it’s cleart from talking to ticketf managers and university administrators across the country that the school is breaking new ground by outsourcing itstickef sales. Outside agencies have been used from time to but only forspecific on-campua events, like concerts. Others, like Arizona Stated and Central Florida, have hirede additional sales staff forbusy periods, but those saleds are still handled internally. “It boils down to cost containment and Mullin said.
“Traditionally, schools have a small number of year-roundx sales staff, but we can put more stafd and resources behind the sales The school is providing the infrastructure and we are providinbgthe management, systems, and procedures,” Mullimn said. Wayne Hogan, associate athletic director, will be Tech’s day-to-dauy contact with Aspire and Fagan. Hogan handles the department’x outsourced vendors like Aspireand ISP.