ELEVATION: Beaver Stadium, shown here during the Penn State spring football game in April, is a major focus for Elevate Sports Ventures after signing a 10-year ticketing deal with the Big 10 school. (Getty Images)
Agreement covers 31 sports on campus
Penn State University has signed Elevate Sports Ventures to a comprehensive ticketing deal tied to major renovations at Beaver Stadium that could potentially generate up to $1 billion in long-term revenue over the course of the 10-year deal, according to sources familiar with the project.
The sales agency will sell tickets for all 31 sports at Penn State, most notably Nittany Lions football, men’s and women’s basketball, ice hockey and women’s volleyball. Elevate officials said it’s too early to discuss revenue projections.
Football is the primary focus in State College, Pennsylvania. Elevate is working closely with Penn State officials, project architect Populous, the general contractor team of Barton Malow, AECOM Hunt and Alexander, and owner’s representative The Nations Group to determine the right premium seat mix connected to the $700 expansion of Beaver Stadium’s west side.
Early estimates call for more than 50 suites and several thousand club seats to be built on the west side, local outlets reported.
Project officials said there are also premium seat and general admission options in development for future upgrades to the north, east and south sides of the 106,572-seat building, which stands as college football’s second biggest venue.
To date, the total inventory is a fluid process among the new suites, club seats and loge box products planned as part of the stadium overhaul, said Flavil Hampsten, Elevate’s president of property sales. The plan is to start notifying Penn State football season-ticket holders and other ticket buyers by the end of this year to get them involved in the project. Construction started last spring and is expected to be completed for the 2027 season, Hampsten said.
“I’m confident in saying there will be new premium offerings that haven’t have in place before at Penn State,” he said. “There will also be (new) general seating options for everyday fans outside of premium on the lower and upper levels.”
Elevate and Penn State are in discussions now about forming a marketing plan that could include a preview center on campus to showcase premium seating. Much of it will be incorporated into a digital presentation, Hampsten said.
“Our intent is to have a physical space, but it’s too early to say where it’s going to be and when it will open,” he said.
Jamie Brandt, Elevate executive vice president, will serve as general manager on campus, supervising a group of 20-plus sales representatives that have been working in-house at Penn State and will move over to become Elevate employees.
Brandt was been with Elevate for five years, working on multiple MLS stadium projects and XFL ticket sales. He has more than 20 years of sales experience in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Elevate could potentially hire more sales reps as the stadium renovation comes into greater focus, and as needed for the school’s other sports programs.
Elevate’s relationship with Penn State started four years ago when the school signed a deal with the agency’s Marketplace group, its dynamic pricing division, to sell single-game football tickets on the secondary market.
Midway through 2023, Elevate expanded its role in teaming the stadium development team surrounding revenue and fan experience. Penn State issued a proposal for ticketing and Elevate won the business, Hampsten said.
For Elevate Sports Ventures, the magnitude of the Penn State deal is its biggest to date among its 80 college clients that include Alabama, Notre Dame, USC, Stanford, Florida and Illinois, in addition to multiple college bowls.
“It’s the first of its kind for Elevate in this scope, and our goal is that this is one of many to come,” Hampsten said.
Elevate’s ticketing deal follows another landmark agreement Penn State recently signed with OVG Hospitality to run the food at Beaver Stadium and other sports venues on campus.
Oak View Group, parent company of OVG Hospitality and VenuesNow, has an ownership stake in Elevate, along with the San Francisco 49ers, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, Ticketmaster, Live Nation and Arctos Sports Partners, which acquired an interest in the agency in 2022.
