HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – The Auburn Athletics Department was named the Paciolan Star of the Year at PACnet '26 this week during the annual convention of Paciolan clients in Huntington Beach, California.
Auburn won the award among all 500+ Paciolan college partners and national live event organizations. The University of Nebraska, Virginia Athletics Foundation, Bowling Green State and the Oklahoma City Civic Center & Music Hall were the other finalists for Paciolan's most prestigious award. The annual Star of the Year Award recognizes outstanding achievement in revenue generation – ticketing, marketing and fundraising.
“I'm so proud Paciolan and peers across the industry have recognized the outstanding work of our Revenue Generation teams led by Daniel Watkins and Jacob Jordan in utilizing an incredibly innovative and creative approach to meet the demands of this ever-evolving enterprise,” said Rhett Hobart, Auburn’s Deputy Athletic Director and Chief Revenue Officer. “One of the marquee metrics recognized by Paciolan was the intentionality around the creation of new revenue generating events and opportunities – beyond traditional athletic events. Among all ticketing revenue derived thus far in the 2025-26 athletic year, 25% was generated through new events and opportunities – providing critical support as the revenue demands of the department grow.”
The award recognized Auburn Athletics’ work in driving innovation and revenue by launching five concerts and special events on Paciolan’s proprietary ticketing platform, PAC Live, introducing the innovative ShowPass concept to provide guaranteed concert seat locations for men’s basketball season ticket holders, and quickly creating wins through the rollout of Paciolan iQ – Paciolan’s data analytics platform.
“We’re proud to recognize Auburn Athletics as our PACnet ‘26 Star of the Year for their outstanding innovation and revenue generation accomplishments,” said Paciolan President Brendan Lynch. “Winning Star of the Year is a testament to their hard work, relentless pursuit of excellence and commitment to creating a world-class experience for Tigers fans. We are incredibly proud to partner with John Cohen, Rhett Hobart and their talented team and look forward to supporting their continued success.”
Additionally, Paciolan recognized Auburn’s work in modernizing the seat selection process for multiple sports with a new mobile-friendly platform powered by Ballena – providing Auburn fans with a more intuitive process for selecting their seats. The honor also recognized the work of the digital marketing team in cross-functional collaboration to execute renewals and a campaign around the hire of head football coach Alex Golesh, which delivered more than 56,000 new database accounts and thousands of seat deposit commitments.
Paciolan is an industry leader in ticketing, fundraising, marketing, analytics and technology solutions powering more than 500 live entertainment organizations that sell over 120 million tickets per year. It is the largest primary ticketing company in college athletics with more than 125 collegiate clients.