College sports departments keep building facilities in 2026 even as new revenue remains limited

College athletics facility teams are still pouring concrete in 2026. New Athletic Business survey results point to continued construction and renovation activity, even as many athletics leaders say newer revenue categories have yet to become the main support for budgets.

In Athletic Business’s 2026 State of the Industry survey of college athletics readers, 45% of respondents said a facilities project is underway or will break ground this year. The same survey package found that 83% said “non-traditional sources” including digital media, corporate partnerships and special events account for less than 25% of department revenue, according to Athletic Business.

Capital projects stay active, even when new revenue is thin

The 45% project figure is not a construction forecast, but it is a practical procurement signal. It suggests a meaningful share of departments are already committed to multi-year scopes that will require bids, integrators, commissioning and long-term service plans, even as many departments are not yet counting on big upside from newer commercial lines.

That tension shapes what gets funded inside the project: systems that reduce operating variability. If a department can’t confidently grow corporate partnership inventory or special events into a larger revenue line, the CFO case tends to lean harder on measurable OPEX reductions, reliability and lifecycle maintenance rather than on optimistic pro formas.

Athletic Business also reported that, across its vertical markets, most respondents put deferred maintenance at under $2 million. That is still a meaningful sum for a campus, but it also suggests many operators are working with a backlog they can plan around, rather than being forced into an all-consuming catch-up cycle.

The economics that pull spending upward do not look like pro sports

Athletic Director U provided a useful explanation for why facilities and salaries keep climbing in college sports even when leaders publicly emphasize sustainability. In an analysis by Dr. Kevin Blue, the UC Davis athletics director argued that the non-profit structure of athletics departments, paired with zero-sum competition, tends to push spending up toward the level that top revenue earners can support.

Blue also pointed to past revenue acceleration. He cited inflation-adjusted median revenue growth of 67% for Division I FBS athletics programs from 2006 to 2015, and wrote that this growth outpaced other non-profit sectors over the same period, according to Athletic Director U.

For operators, the takeaway is not ideological. It’s mechanical. When budgets expand in a non-profit environment, there is less structural pressure to protect operating margin, and more pressure to reinvest in competitive outcomes. That tends to keep facility standards rising, especially in public-facing venues where recruiting, fan experience and event delivery are all judged in one glance.

Venue tech is being bought as “experience” and as code-driven safety

Two vendor perspectives in the Athletic Business survey series indicate where specifications are getting more demanding. In the college athletics survey, Biamp senior product manager Chris Barrow said departments are rethinking sound systems, moving beyond baseline infrastructure and toward an operator-managed experience layer. He also connected audio planning to emergency communications, citing NFPA 72 mass notification requirements in venue design, as reported by Athletic Business.

In procurement, combining needs into one project can turn what were separate line items into a single purchase. A PA refresh that also meets intelligibility and coverage requirements for emergency messaging is easier to justify in budget meetings than an “experience” upgrade by itself, especially when staffing is already tight. Athletic Business noted that college respondents flagged recruiting and retaining specialized staff, including athletic trainers and strength coaches, among their key challenges.

On the high school side, NGU Sports Lighting CEO Mike Lorenz told Athletic Business that LED sports lighting’s value proposition shifts as you move down-market. He said pro venues can justify upgrades tied to shows and broadcast features, while schools and municipalities focus on budgets, maintenance, reliability and safety. Lorenz estimated that close to 80% of high school and municipal sports fields still have not made the switch to LED, and he described NGU’s “Performance Lighting Delivered” approach as a fixed-cost model with guaranteed results, according to Athletic Business.

High schools are flagging constraints that spill into shared venues

The high school survey adds an operations constraint that college departments will recognize, especially where campuses share officials, tournaments, or regional facilities: staffing the games themselves. Athletic Business reported that no high school respondents indicated a surplus of referees, 30% said they have canceled games due to referee shortages, and 65% reported poor sportsmanship from student-athletes and fans in the past academic year.

Those numbers don’t just describe culture. They can change how facilities are scheduled, secured and supervised. More cancellations and rescheduling compress use into fewer dates, which can concentrate staffing needs, increase wear on playing surfaces, and raise the value of systems that make rapid changeovers easier, such as lighting controls that support different field layouts or audio presets for different event types.

Meanwhile, Athletic Business reported that high school respondents said their student-athletes are largely not engaging in NIL deals. Whatever the national conversation is focusing on, the day-to-day operational frictions many schools are reporting are still basics: people, scheduling and safe, repeatable event delivery.

One underused program area is visible online, and it’s measurable

Another operational signal for college athletics appears in how programs describe inclusive participation options. A 2024 study in the Disability and Health Journal, hosted on ScienceDirect, reviewed Division I universities’ public-facing materials and found only 20.4% (73 of 358) promoted adaptive sport opportunities, while 3.9% (11 of 358) acknowledged intercollegiate adaptive sport programs.

That is not a facilities mandate. But it is a measurable gap between what many campuses may offer in practice and what they communicate and operationalize across web, recreation and athletics. For universities already planning venue and recreation upgrades, it raises a practical coordination question: whether accessibility, storage, transport and scheduling for adaptive programming are being designed into projects early enough to avoid retrofits later.

Questions to include in 2026 bid packages for athletics venues

• For facility projects already underway: which systems are being specified for multi-use changeovers (graduation, fundraising, sport) with operator presets and minimal specialist labor, and what training is included in the integrator scope? The Athletic Business college survey comments point to flexibility as a frequent gap in audio investments.
• For audio and life safety: does the PA design meet intelligibility expectations for mass notification and align with the campus emergency communications approach, so the department is not paying for parallel systems? Athletic Business cited NFPA 72 mass notification as part of the planning case.
• For lighting: if LED retrofits are being delayed due to capital approval cycles, are there service or fixed-cost models that fit district procurement rules while still guaranteeing light levels and energy use, as described by NGU Sports Lighting in Athletic Business?
• For shared-use scheduling: if referee shortages are causing cancellations and compressed calendars at the regional level, what does that do to staffing models, security coverage and maintenance windows at venues that host tournaments or rentals? Athletic Business reported 30% of high school respondents have canceled games due to officiating shortages.