Leading college sports marketer Learfield has acquired Paciolan, Spectra’s ticketing and marketing division, as it seeks to broaden its offering to major schools in North America.
Learfield also announced that its acquisition, a leader in providing ticketing, fundraising, marketing and analytics solutions to athletic and entertainment events, will be rebranded from Spectra’s Ticketing & Fan Engagement back to the name it was given when founded in 1980, Paciolan.
Paciolan has deals with 500 live entertainment organisations and more than 120 colleges throughout North America, including eight of the 13 schools in the American Athletic Conference.
Learfield manages the multimedia and sponsorship rights for 125 collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas, and supports athletic departments.
Learfield said the addition of Paciolan is a continuation of its strategy to add services and expertise important to collegiate athletic departments and other entertainment operators.
“We have long admired Paciolan,” said Learfield president and chief executive Greg Brown. “Not only is it a great service with a number of segment-leading products, the reputation of its people, beginning with its founders and current management, is without peer. We couldn’t be happier and look forward to having Paciolan as part of the Learfield family.”
Perfect strategic fit
As well as its reach in college sports, Paciolan’s ticketing platform and related fan engagement services are used by 75 performing arts venues and more than 100 professional sports and arenas clients.
Its system processes the sale of over 120 million tickets per year, while it also offers fundraising, marketing and customer analytics.
Kim Damron will continue to lead Paciolan in her role as president, while Dave Butler will remain as chief executive.
“We are incredibly excited to join the Learfield family,” said Damron. “Learfield is an exceptional company, with incredible leadership and an extensive client footprint in college athletics and live entertainment. It is the perfect strategic fit to help Paciolan deliver industry leading solutions for our entire client community.”
Image: Brian Reading
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