Urban stair race economics across community climbs and marquee run-ups
What determines a stair race budget in a commercial tower
Stair races operate inside office towers and observation decks, so budgets are built around access, compliance, and throughput limits rather than sprawling road closures. The largest constraints are building availability, required certificates of insurance, and staffing for elevators, security, and medical standby. Because most US stair races are charity aligned, revenue often mixes registration fees, mandatory fundraising minimums, and sponsorship. Elite invitationals cap the field to meet evacuation and elevator capacities, which directly limits top line revenue even as brand value rises. The upshot is that scale changes the mix more than the totals, since headline events lean on sponsors while community climbs lean on participant volume.
Entry fees and fundraising: small events vs signature run-ups
Charity climbs in the US commonly use a modest registration fee plus a fundraising minimum. Hustle Chicago lists a $55 registration fee for the 94 floor option with a $150 minimum, while its half climb is $35 with a $100 minimum. Scale the STRAT in Las Vegas sets a $35 preregistration fee and a $200 fundraising minimum, reflecting the American Lung Association model. In London, Shelter's Vertical Rush has featured a £30 registration with a fundraising commitment. These pricing models stabilize revenue for community scale events without requiring large corporate sponsors.
Marquee invitationals use higher one time entry charges and selective access. The Empire State Building Run-Up cites a $175 participation cost for lottery accepted runners, with a separate charity pathway via Challenged Athletes Foundation that requires a $250 registration and a $2,500 fundraising minimum. Field sizes are intentionally small for safety and brand curation, so revenue emphasis shifts toward presenting sponsors and media rather than mass participation. This divergence explains why a high profile run-up can charge more per runner yet still depend on sponsorship to balance venue and staffing costs.
Insurance, permits, and building compliance obligations
Commercial towers typically require organizers to provide a certificate of insurance naming the owner or manager as additional insured, delivered on the ACORD 25 form. Special event liability for a single day is widely available, with published averages that cluster in the low hundreds of dollars for small events, and venue policies often specify at least a $1,000,000 per occurrence limit. Beyond liability, building and fire authorities govern temporary structures and operations, and organizers must follow local codes covering items like tent thresholds, egress, and operations management plans if any temporary structures are used. Even when a stair race is entirely indoors, fire department liaison, radio communications, and post event cleaning plans are standard review items. Nonprofits sometimes satisfy coverage via an endorsement on an existing package policy, but many purchase a standalone event policy tied to the date and premises.
The budget impact is not only premiums but everything insurance and compliance trigger. Buildings may require after hours services, and facilities frequently bill overtime for cleaning, security, and elevator technicians outside normal hours. Convention and public facilities publish schedules showing overtime multipliers for staffing after set hours, and federal guidance for leased facilities describes above standard services like janitorial and HVAC as separate line items. In practice, stair race budgets carry an allowance for building required staffing even when volunteers cover most course operations.
Venue and operations cost drivers that do not scale linearly
Professional chip timing is a fixed plus variable expense that scales by headcount, with published price sheets in the $2,000 range for a 401 to 500 runner event, or per runner add ons as participation climbs. Registration platforms charge per transaction fees and payment processing percentages, which means a higher entry fee increases absolute fee outflow even if rates do not change. Medical standby is commonly billed hourly with minimums, and many municipal EMS agencies publish rates for dedicated coverage.
Security staffing and building operations costs scale with hours and zones more than headcount, because the limiting factor is vertical circulation and egress rather than open course miles. For indoor tower events, course footprint is compact but contested elevator time, stairwell holds, and radio equipped staff are essential, so budgets prioritize qualified personnel over perimeter barricades. When races run outside normal business hours, facilities often apply time and a half rates to mandated roles, which is why marquee night races can cost more to operate than morning events. Because these charges are venue specific, early scoping with property management is the single biggest predictor of budget accuracy. Organizers that document required posts and turnover plans reduce variance and can negotiate predictable invoices year to year.
Sponsor categories that underwrite elite fields and community rosters
Healthcare and wellness brands are the most visible backers in stair racing. NYU Langone Health is the presenting sponsor of the 2025 Empire State Building Run-Up, aligning a hospital system with a high visibility urban icon. Hustle Chicago's materials identify Omron as sponsor of the full climb, reinforcing a long running pattern of device and health adjacent support. In Las Vegas, the American Lung Association's Scale the STRAT collaborates with timing and logistics companies publicly credited by organizers, illustrating a vendor sponsorship tier. Charity aligned climbs also attract employer teams and corporate partners who cover fees for employee teams, effectively converting HR and CSR budgets into event revenue.
At the community tier, local fitness studios, regional health systems, and media outlets dominate the sponsor slate. Real estate and property management partners are often in kind contributors, especially when the building brand benefits from the event halo. Elite races benefit from airline, apparel, or hospitality tie ins and earned media that a charity climb may not secure. The common thread is category fit with health outcomes and urban lifestyle branding. Sponsors gain predictable impressions in a controlled environment, and organizers secure dollars that are not constrained by participant caps.
Participation and attendance since 2018
Peer reviewed analysis of tower running from 2014 to 2019 documented more than 28,000 performances globally, reflecting steady pre pandemic growth. The COVID 19 shock in 2020 and 2021 forced postponements and relocations, including Hustle Chicago's move outdoors to Soldier Field in 2021. In February 2020, Hustle Chicago still drew more than 4,000 climbers inside 875 N Michigan Avenue days before shutdowns began, a high water mark for that era. By 2023 and 2024, large charity climbs returned but with tempered numbers, and coverage in 2025 cited more than 2,000 participants for Hustle Chicago. Scale the STRAT reported 700 to 800 climbers and more than $215,000 to $230,000 raised in 2025 coverage, consistent with recovery but below mass participation road events.
Invitationals remained small by design, with the 2025 Empire State Building Run-Up field listed at roughly 225 runners via its lottery and special categories. The controlled field size preserves elevator and stairwell operations and simplifies safety planning. The governing body for elite stair racing continued to publish rankings and championship frameworks, maintaining a competitive spine even as event calendars fluctuated. Post 2022 calendars show that participation is shaped more by building partnerships and health charity calendars than by municipal road permitting cycles. Taken together, 2018 to 2025 shows resilience built on charity models and venue relationships rather than open course scale.
Organizer perspectives captured in news interviews
American Lung Association leaders in Nevada emphasized mission centric messaging when discussing Scale the STRAT, with quotes in local news highlighting breath and lung health to frame the climb. Coverage also credited contracted timing and logistics partners by name, a window into vendor relationships that underpin smooth operations. Chicago coverage focused on fundraising totals and the diversity of climbers, from firefighters in gear to health advocates. These public statements reflect a consistent communications strategy across charity climbs that makes sponsor and donor outcomes as visible as athlete outcomes.
Empire State Building Run-Up features recurring sponsor mentions and controlled media access rather than broad fundraising appeals. Organizers publish participation costs and very limited field sizes, using scarcity to maintain prestige for both elite athletes and celebrity teams. Where charity climbs seek volume within safety constraints, invitationals aim for brand elevation and predictable operations. Interviews and quotes across the space consistently reaffirm that venue partnership and sponsor fit are the two levers that make the budgets viable. The differences in tone mirror the underlying economics at each tier.
Sample P&L for a 500 participant urban stair race using published unit costs
Revenue assumptions grounded in current fee schedules
Assume a community style climb set at a $55 registration fee, matching the published full climb fee level at Hustle Chicago. With 500 paid participants, gross registration revenue is $27,500 before platform and processing fees. If the event adopted a charity minimum like Hustle Chicago's $150, the theoretical fundraising gross could reach $75,000, but actual realization varies by campaign and compliance rules. Invitationals like the Empire State Building Run-Up charge more per runner but cap the field, so this model deliberately mirrors a community charity price point to illustrate scale. Sponsorship is excluded from the base case to keep the calculation tied strictly to documented per unit costs.
Direct costs calculated from published vendor rates
Registration platform and processing: using a platform that charges $0.99 + 1% per paid registrant plus 2.9% + $0.30 for card processing yields $1.54 + $1.895 = $3.435 per entry. At 500 entries, that totals $1,717.50. Chip timing: a published schedule shows $2,150 for 401 to 500 runners, so budget $2,150 for professional timing with disposable tags. T shirts: a mainstream bulk supplier cites approximately $7.75 per basic printed shirt at 100 piece volume, and 500 units at this price point total $3,875, noting that higher volumes can secure small discounts. Finisher medals: a custom medal vendor lists $3.70 per unit at the 500 to 749 tier for a 3.25 inch medal, so 500 medals total $1,850. Event liability insurance: single day special event policies commonly price around the low $100s, so a conservative $200 is used to reflect published averages.
Overheads outside per unit math and the resulting margin
Medical standby: municipal and agency schedules commonly show rates around $240 per hour with minimums, so a 4 hour minimum yields $960 for one staffed unit on site. Summing the per unit and fixed items above produces $10,752.50 in direct costs before venue charges and security. Subtracting that from $27,500 leaves $16,747.50 to cover building required security, elevator and janitorial overtime, radios, signage, and contingency. Facilities commonly bill overtime for after hours posts, and published schedules indicate time and a half after specific hours, so the remainder is sensitive to start times and turnover windows. Sponsorship dollars and in kind support typically absorb a portion of these venue specific overheads, which is why sponsor fit is a primary strategic concern for organizers at all scales.