To mark 50 years of Athletic Business, we polled hundreds of readers from each of our main vertical markets — college athletics, college recreation, community recreation, high school athletics, health and fitness, aquatics and architecture — to gauge the current state of the industry. What follows is a comprehensive analysis of our readers’ perspectives on the verticals they serve. To begin, we asked each of these groups about their operating budgets and deferred maintenance. Despite finding consensus on several topics, the budgetary changes across these verticals varied greatly. Respondents found far greater common ground when describing their deferred maintenance status, with a clear majority reporting less than $2 million of maintenance to be completed at their facilities.
Find your industry segment in the following pages — or get the lay of the land from your colleagues across other industries — to compare your experiences to those of other loyal AB readers. From fan behavior and emerging sports to renovations and staffing challenges, there is no shortage of topics to dive into.
Many challenges facing today’s high school athletics departments have been building to a crescendo for years. Most notably, zero survey takers indicate a surplus of officials or referees in their area. In fact, 30% say they have canceled games due to referee shortages, and 65% say they’ve experienced poor sportsmanship from both student-athletes and fans in the past academic year — the latter no doubt begetting the former. Despite these developments, 40% of respondents suggest relatively stable student athletics participation, with 55% reporting only small participation fluctuations (6% to 25%). While high school NIL and transgender student-athlete rules dominate the news cycle, a clear majority (90%) state that their student-athletes are not engaging in NIL deals, and 72% report not being aware of any transgender athletes on their prep teams or opposing teams.
Mike Lorenz
CEO, NGU Sports Lighting
You’ve been involved in sports lighting innovation for more than a decade, dating back to your time helping pioneer LED sports lighting at Ephesus. How has the industry evolved?
When we first introduced LED sports lighting at Ephesus, the focus was primarily on professional venues. Teams and operators wanted dynamic light shows, enhanced broadcasts, instant on/off capabilities and a more exciting fan experience. Those benefits justified the investment. But when we began speaking with colleges, high schools and municipalities, we realized those same benefits didn’t resonate nearly as much. Athletics directors and parks departments care more about budgets, maintenance costs, reliability and safety. That’s where the industry hit a wall. While LED technology was proven, the traditional purchasing model made adoption difficult. Many organizations couldn’t absorb the upfront capital costs or navigate lengthy approval and bond processes. As a result, while most professional venues have transitioned to LED, we estimate nearly 80% of high school and municipal sports fields still have not. That realization led us to create NGU Sports Lighting’s “Performance Lighting Delivered” model.
What exactly is Performance Lighting Delivered, and how is it different?
PLD is the future of sports and recreation lighting. It’s simple. You get the best of what you need: defined light levels, guaranteed energy savings/consumption and customized controllability, all for a fixed cost, guaranteed. What you don’t get is risk, confusing technology, the need to navigate complicated product warranties or the fear of the unknown. You get what you need, when you need it, how you need it — every month, or you simply do not pay.
Why do you believe this model is particularly important right now for schools and municipalities?
Communities are demanding more from their sports facilities than ever before. Fields are being used year-round for school athletics, youth leagues, tournaments and community events. Yet many facilities still operate with outdated systems that are inefficient, unreliable and expensive to maintain. At the same time, budgets are tighter than ever. PLD allows organizations to modernize immediately instead of delaying projects for years while trying to secure funding. We often say this isn’t really a lighting problem, it’s a process problem.
Can you share a real-world example of how PLD works?
A great example is the Syracuse City School District project, where we upgraded lighting across 10 athletics venues at five high schools, district-wide, over a single summer.
Traditionally, a project of that scale would have taken years and required multiple funding phases. Instead, the district was able to modernize all 10 facilities at once. That’s when people really understand the power of the PLD model.
NGU’s “Don’t BUY Sports Lighting” campaign is a bold message in an industry built around selling equipment. What’s the thinking behind it?
The campaign is intentionally provocative because it forces people to rethink the traditional model. We wanted to cut through the clutter of ads showcasing beautifully lit fields that did not address all the hurdles required to get there. Once we have your attention, our message is simple: there’s a smarter way. “Don’t BUY Sports Lighting” doesn’t mean don’t modernize your facilities. It means don’t get trapped by an outdated purchasing process that slows projects down, strains budgets and leaves communities waiting years for upgrades. Most projects don’t stall because people don’t want better lighting. They stall because the funding and procurement process becomes overwhelming. Once customers understand they can get guaranteed performance, future technology upgrades, maintenance support and predictable costs without the risks of ownership, the conversation changes completely.
