Penn State Athletics fan ‘Elevate’ experience

Article posted by Coliseum, August 15^th, 2024

Image: Beaver Stadium, Quintin3265, CC BY-SA 3.0

Elevate, an award-winning, full-service consulting firm supporting high-performing organizations in sports and beyond, has been selected to lead fan engagement, ticketing and premium seating and experiences strategy for Penn State Athletics (US).

‘gopsusports.com’ stated that revitalizations to Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, which commenced in the Spring of 2024 and will continue through the Summer of 2027, will feature dynamic renovations and improvements to enhance the gameday experience for the Nittany Lion fans. Notably, Elevate will drive the strategy, sales and service for diverse, new premium hospitality opportunities associated with these significant improvements.

Elevate is an award-winning, full-service consulting firm supporting high-performing organizations in sports and beyond with innovative, data-driven, revenue-generating solutions. Elevate’s unparalleled combination of agency and operating experience, along with proprietary technology solutions, data sources, and software products, maximizes efficiencies in Consumer Insights, Research, Strategy and Analytics Brand Representation and Activation Partnership Sales and Consulting, Executive Talent Strategy, Recruitment, Performance, and Organizational Optimization, Creative Consultancy and Experiential Design, Property, Premium Hospitality, and Ticketing Strategy and Sales, Feasibility and Revenue Consultation for New and Renovated Venues, and more.

Established in 2018 with the goal of providing comprehensive solutions to organizations across the global sports and entertainment ecosystem, today, the agency supports over 1,000 of the world’s most ambitious organizations across sports, entertainment, media, technology, gaming, lifestyle, and consumer sectors.

Under the leadership of the Vice-President for Intercollegiate Athletics Patrick Kraft, Penn State has one of the nation’s (United States) most comprehensive and successful athletic programs featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men’s, 15 women’s). The Nittany Lions’ 31 programs are tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution.

The Penn State student-athletes earned a record 93 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and 12 programs earned perfect 100 percent ratings in the 2023 report. This is the seventh consecutive year the Nittany Lions have posted a record or record-tying performance in the classroom. Penn State is one of only six schools that have won at least 10 NCAA Championships since 2013.

The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University (Pennsylvania, US) in college football. The Nittany Lions compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference which they joined in 1993 after playing as an Independent from 1892 to 1992.

The 106,572-capacity Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University in Penn State University Park. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference since 1960 though some parts of the stadium date back to 1909.

The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State and sometimes by the acronym PSU, is a public State-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania, US.

Indianapolis (US)-based the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States and one in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of the colleges and helps over 500,000 college student-athletes who compete annually in college sports.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as the Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. As of the 2024 season, there are 10 Conferences and 134 schools in the FBS.

The Big Ten Conference is the oldest NCAA Division I collegiate athletic Conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates the founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA. It is based in the Chicago area in Rosemont, Illinois.

‘gopsusports.com’ further stated that via the more than decade-long partnership, Elevate will concurrently support ticketing strategy, sales and service across all ticketed Penn State Athletics events, including men’s and women’s basketball, men’s ice hockey, women’s volleyball and wrestling. Elevate Marketplace, the agency’s dynamic pricing strategy division, has supported Penn State Athletics for over four years.

With the goal of generating a gameday engagement, ticketing and premium seating and experiences strategy reflective of the passionate Nittany Lion fan base’s priorities, preferences and needs, Elevate’s Insights Division developed and executed a comprehensive survey for the Penn State fans nationwide, including the students, the alumni, the donors, the partners, and the stakeholders.

Elevate analyzed survey results from the participants across critical fan engagement and gameday experience disciplines, including seating and ticketed offerings, premium hospitality spaces and opportunities, stadium operations, food and beverage (F&B) preferences, pre-game events and tailgating experiences, and more.

The fan-driven data and findings from this survey and anticipated continued polling will empower Elevate and the Penn State to develop and implement new initiatives, offerings, processes, experiences, and opportunities for the gameday attendees to maximize engagement, enjoyment and efficiencies at the Beaver Stadium.

Maintained Al Guido, head honcho-cum-Chairman, Elevate, “Elevate is proud to enter into a partnership that will see the Penn State and our agency bound together to generate a strategy to serve one of the world’s most notable sports brands through the next decade of excellence – and against the backdrop of the most significant venue renovation in the history of modern college sports. We are honored to work alongside Dr. Pat Kraft and the University Athletics Department as they take a truly significant step forward in the storied history of Penn State Athletics.”

Added Dr. Patrick Kraft, Vice-President of Intercollegiate Athletics, “Our partnership with Elevate will take our seating and experiences strategy to the next level. One of the premier agencies in the country, Elevate brings unparalleled expertise that will help us maximize our premium seating and experiences in a renovated Beaver Stadium by enhancing the gameday with unmatched customer service and fan experiences. Elevate will also play a critical role in driving revenue growth that will support all the 31 athletics programs through well executed ticketing strategies.”

Concluded Flavil Hampsten, Elevate President of Property Sales, “This landmark partnership – one that will amplify Penn State’s best-in-class fan experience while generating new revenues to support Penn State’s Athletics Programs – maximizes Elevate’s expertise in ticketing, dynamic pricing, premium seating and experiences sales, strategic planning, creative, and more.”

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