As home of the historic Drake Relays, more than 50 Missouri Valley Conference Championships, dozens of Academic All-Americans, multiple Women’s Basketball NCAA Tournament appearances in the last 14 years and more, Drake University (Drake) has established a strong on-the-field and academic reputation. And as a result of its recent partnership with AXS Ticketing, Drake is further complimenting its tradition of athletic excellence with an enhanced college ticketing platform and better fan experience.
“Our extensive sports history has driven fan loyalty for decades, but we’re always striving to do bigger and better things to meet their needs,” said Ryan Harris, assistant athletics director at Drake University. “Working with AXS Ticketing will help us match our Division I caliber-programming with a world-class ticketing solution that will improve the overall fan experience and enhance our customer service efforts.”
Drake launched AXS Ticketing for all of the university’s athletic events, including football, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball. The platform integrates Drake’s ticket sales, season ticket renewals and fundraising into one solution, and enables the university to sell the majority of its tickets online.
In addition, Drake will launch Flash Seats®, the AXS Ticketing platform’s digital, ID-based ticketing technology, giving fans the opportunity to transfer tickets to friends or family and enter events more easily without the hassles of traditional paper tickets. Fans, including Drake students, will simply swipe their ID at the venue gate or have the gate usher scan their Flash Seats mobile app when entering athletic events.
Flash Seats will be especially useful for the university’s iconic Drake Relays, which brings more than 40,000 attendees to Drake Stadium for one of the premier track and field events in the U.S. The event recently achieved its 50th consecutive Saturday sell-out and will hold its 107th edition in April 2016.
“Events like the Drake Relays have put the university on the map for some time, but Flash Seats puts us at the forefront of technology,” said Harris. “Not only will it provide fans with a positive buying and entry experience, but it helps us leverage valuable data that will allow us to engage fans in the years to come.”