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.
If you’ve flipped through the pages of the Athletic Business Architectural Showcase in the past few years, it should come as no surprise that 48% of architects report that community and college recreation facilities make up the bulk of their revenue opportunities. Several years out from the supply chain chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, 59% of respondents indicate a stable project pipeline and zero respondents indicate a significant decrease in projects. While project work continues to pile up, 62% of architects still identify client budget constraints as their greatest challenge, while citing a moderate (41%) or significant (34%) impact from construction inflation and labor shortages. One set of particularly surprising responses came from our sustainability line of inquiry. While community recreation leaders noted an interest in solar panels, rainwater retention and geothermal heat pumps, 64% of architects report that less than 50% of current projects incorporate sustainability goals, and not a single responding architect tabbed sustainability as the trend most influencing clients.
