When Knight Eady first developed Elevate the Stage in 2015, the goal was to provide a championship-caliber event on a podium for college gymnasts and fans to experience during the regular season and prepare the gymnasts for postseason meets. Inevitably what started as a highly successful single-day, single-city event launched into a multi-day event that expanded across the nation.
Elevate the Stage capitalizes on the concept of a podium meet, which is usually exclusive to elite-level competitions such as the Olympics or the NCAA National Championship. The podium meets create a unique regular-season experience for the collegiate athletes and youth gymnasts who compete throughout the Elevate the Stage weekend.
By allowing youth gymnasts to compete on the podium, Elevate the Stage allows them to compete on the same stage as their NCAA idols. On-site, our team handles everything from media relations, event photography, videography, in-house motion graphics, ticket sales, event operations and more.
Developmental Program (DP) Gymnastics
Knight Eady is strategic when selecting cities for Elevate the Stage. Our goal is to bring the podium and college gymnastics meets to areas of the country that are starved for college sports but have a large youth gymnastics footprint. During the Elevate the Stage event season, over 3,000 youth gymnasts compete at our meets. Local Convention and Visitor Bureaus (CVB) support Elevate the Stage for the event it brings to their city and the number of parents, spectators and gymnasts who travel to the event. Participants and fans of Elevate the Stage are staying in local hotels, eating out at restaurants and contributing to the local economy.
NCAA
Staying true to the event’s original conception, Elevate the Stage hosts NCAA meets during the event weekend. From recruiting the participating teams, organizing schedules, producing participant manuals, writing meet scripts and more, as soon as these teams set foot at Elevate the Stage, our goal is to provide a championship-caliber event for the student-athletes and their coaches.
To provide that championship-caliber environment, we need fans to come out and cheer on their favorite NCAA teams. The Elevate the Stage team runs digital and traditional ad campaigns in each market to generate awareness and drive ticket sales for the event. Additionally, to generate press coverage, we are constantly pitching to local media outlets about what fans can expect to see at the event and developing stories about the rising stars participating.
As a signature Knight Eady event, the Elevate the Stage team is responsible for curating sponsors for the event. Without sponsor support, the event would not be sustainable. After a sponsor has committed to supporting the event, the Elevate the Stage team creates in-venue and digital collateral to be used during the event and create value for the sponsor’s brand.
Vendors
We know the ins and outs of gymnastics and how to run a meet, which is partly due to some of our partners. We utilize experts like ProScore to score all meets and vendors like The Equipment Guys to provide the gymnastics equipment. To run and operate a youth gymnastics meet, our team must provide personnel with several certifications from USAG, including certified meet directors and Safe Sport certifications. It is crucial that our teams are compliant with Safe Sport regulations, as we never want an athlete's safety and well-being to be in jeopardy.
The Look
What’s an elevated event without an elevated brand? Our creative team continues to redefine and develop the look for Elevate the Stage year after year. Our team recently refined a smoky neon look to carry the Elevate brand into the most recent gymnastics season.
