For more than 10 years, Josh Lawrence, associate athletic director of facilities and operations at the University of San Diego (USD), has overseen nearly every event that falls within USD’s multiple venues. In his role, he’s faced a variety of unique opportunities and challenges that include hosting 11 different graduation ceremonies from May to June, conducting a NCAA national championship at USD’s Jenny Craig Pavilion, hosting the Dalai Lama and renovating USD’s premier baseball venue, Fowler Park – to name a few.
USD’s beautiful facilities and unbeatable San Diego backdrop make it an ideal setting for a variety of different events, and Lawrence is committed to allocating the resources necessary to ensure that the school’s programs continue to be recognized at a national level. But he also realizes that having top-notch venues are only part of the equation. He needed more to deliver USD’s community of fans and visitors the best experience possible.
“As our venues continue to expand and grow, we recognize that it’s time to complement them with ticketing technology and tools that can help us better connect with our audience,” said Lawrence. “We partnered with Veritix [now AXS] because their platform will help us provide our fans with a seamless ticket buying experience and superior customer service.”
USD will launch the AXS Ticketing platform for the upcoming 2015-16 athletic year. While the official start of the fall sports season is still a few weeks away, Lawrence noted that he’s excited to leverage the AXS Ticketing platform to accomplish his goals. These include:
- Selling tickets online in a USD-branded interface
- Capturing insights about the ticket purchase habits of students, alumni and the general public
- Creating cross-selling opportunities between athletics, campus events and fundraising
- Monitoring all ticketing activities, including access control, financials, fulfillment, payment and sales/marketing, through the platform’s suite of reports and venue configuration tools
“Veritix [now AXS] provides us with the additional muscle we need to move the USD brand experience forward,” said Lawrence. “Not only will we be better positioned to sell tickets to fans today, but we’ll earn their support for the events and years to come.”