Colby Fackler joined Vancouver Whitecaps FC in February 2012 as Director, Corporate Partnerships, bringing a wide range of sponsorship and sports industry experience to the club. In August 2012, Fackler moved over to lead the club's sales teams as Director, Sales & Service. In January 2017, he was promoted to Vice President, Sales & Service.
Fackler oversees the Sales & Service departments for Vancouver Whitecaps FC, which include Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS), all premium hospitality and the National Whitecaps FC skills camps across the country. As Vice President, Fackler has 6 direct reports and manages a team of 25 Sales & Service staff. The Sales & Service team has significantly grown from 13 staff when Fackler first stepped into the Director role in 2012.
Under Fackler's leadership since 2012, the Sales & Service team has achieved a notable 36% growth in full-season ticket memberships for Vancouver Whitecaps FC. In that time, total MLS regular season ticket revenue has increased 18.7% and average match paid tickets has increased by 27.6%. Fackler has also seen success by focusing on building positive fan relationships and providing exceptional fan service.
In recognition of his outstanding achievements, Major League Soccer (MLS) named Fackler the MLS Ticketing Sales Executive of the Year in 2014. Under his guidance, the club set new records with 11 sellouts, as well as for total ticket sales, group sales, and renewals. Fackler and his team achieved 295% growth year-after-year and with his existing sales representatives tripled sales revenue. For these accomplishments, Fackler's sales team was selected by MLS for the Presidents Club as one of the top sales teams in the league.
In the same year, the Whitecaps FC sales team received the award for Best in Class Sales Innovation for the club's “12%ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¯â€ ï† sales campaign. Introduced in 2013, the highly successful campaign gives Whitecaps FC fans a 12% discount on season tickets for 12 days. The campaign has proven to drive new and repeat season ticket sales each year. The club currently has 15,500 season ticket members.
With an increase in season ticket memberships and overall ticket sales, Fackler successfully increased Whitecaps FC regular season stadium capacity to 22,120 in 2016 (up from 21,000 between 2011 to 2015). The club also had three regular season matches opened to 25,000 capacity for the first time in 2016. At the club's first MLS Cup playoff match at BC Place, there was a record 27,837 fans in attendance.
Fackler has been an exceptionally innovative leader at Whitecaps FC. He was the first to introduce the auto-renew season ticket subscription model in Canada and the second in all of North American pro sports. He was also the first to introduce an all-digital ticketing system in pro sports in Canada.
Prior to joining Whitecaps FC, Fackler worked in sales and partnerships for over a decade. He was the Senior Director of Corporate Sales with Comcast Spectacor's FrontRow Marketing, providing commercial rights management for Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre.
Previous positions also include Director of Corporate Partnerships at Sport BC, Account Executive at Vancouver Canucks (NHL), and Inventa Promotions. He also held a teaching position at Vancouver Film School in the Entertainment Business Program, teaching a course focusing on the Business of Sport.
Fackler has also volunteered with a number of notable organizations. For over 11 years, Fackler was a member of the executive committee and board of trustees for the BC Sports Hall of Fame. During the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, he was a volunteer team lead at Canada Hockey Place during the Olympic hockey tournament. He also volunteered with TEDxVancouver as Senior Manager of Sponsorship.