News & Insights
Photo courtesy of: Greg Land
Insights from the 2026 Stadium Managers Association Annual Seminar panel discussion
In the stadium business, competitiveness rarely erodes overnight. It slips away quietly, through moments that are easy to dismiss: a concourse that feels dated, a premium space that no longer commands a premium, or operations that struggle to keep pace with what fans now expect as standard.
In today’s sports and entertainment landscape, standing still is the fastest way to fall behind. Fans, artists, leagues, and partners all have rising expectations, and first-class stadiums are now judged not only by what they are today, but by how deliberately they are preparing for what comes next.
As a result, capital planning has shifted from a periodic facilities exercise to a core leadership discipline. The question facing stadium owners and operators is no longer whether to invest, but how to invest wisely, continuously, and with purpose, without compromising financial sustainability.
This companion piece to our panel at the 2026 SMA Annual Seminar, “The Cost of Staying Competitive: Strategic Capital Planning for First Class Stadiums,” held earlier this month, explores how leading venues are approaching capital planning in a way that keeps them competitive, resilient, and relevant for decades to come.
Historically, capital planning in stadiums was episodic. Build, refresh, renovate, repeat was the prevailing rhythm. Today’s most successful venues are moving beyond isolated projects toward long-term capital platforms. These platforms align physical assets, fan experience, revenue growth, and operational efficiency into a single, evolving roadmap.
This shift requires leaders to consistently pressure-test capital decisions against a small set of strategic questions. Among the most common:
When capital planning is treated as a strategic system rather than a checklist, stadiums gain clarity on why they invest, not just what they build.
Fans now benchmark stadiums against premium hospitality, live entertainment, and digital-first experiences, not just other sports venues. The bar has moved, and it continues to rise. That shift has real and lasting capital implications.
Premium areas, in particular, demand more frequent refresh cycles to justify pricing. Technology infrastructure must support cashless transactions, mobile engagement, and data-driven operations. Back-of-house spaces increasingly need to support rapid conversions between sports, concerts, and special events.
These pressures show up in familiar ways:
What is changing is the cadence. Best-in-class venues are planning for continuous, modular upgrades rather than infrequent, disruptive overhauls. Flexibility has become a capital asset in its own right.
In an environment defined by inflation, supply chain uncertainty, and tighter public funding, capital planning and risk management are now inseparable.
Forward-thinking operators are embedding risk analysis directly into their capital strategies by:
This approach also requires confronting deferred maintenance honestly. What is not funded today often becomes more expensive tomorrow, financially, operationally, and reputationally.
One of the most consistent lessons across first-class stadiums is this: designing for adaptability consistently outperforms designing for perfection. No venue can fully predict how fan behavior, event programming, or technology will evolve over a 30- to 40-year building lifecycle. Capital plans that assume static use cases tend to age quickly, and venues that perform best over time typically share a few common traits:
Capital dollars spent on invisible flexibility frequently generate the strongest returns.
Successful capital planning depends on alignment among owners, operators, and designers. When these groups operate in silos, investments tend to drift toward short-term fixes or aspirational concepts that are difficult to sustain. High-performing venues establish clear frameworks for collaboration, including:
When capital planning is collaborative, decisions improve and execution risk declines.
Environmental performance is no longer just a values conversation. It is a capital planning imperative. Energy volatility, water constraints, and climate risk directly affect operating budgets, reliability, and insurability. As a result, leading venues are embedding resilience into capital plans through:
When planned correctly, sustainability strengthens both competitiveness and the balance sheet.
Ultimately, the cost of staying competitive is not defined by a single renovation or a single budget line item. It is defined by discipline. The discipline to plan holistically, invest consistently, and make informed trade-offs over time.
First-class stadiums are those that treat capital planning as an ongoing leadership responsibility, one that balances ambition with realism and innovation with execution.
The venues that win in the next decade will not necessarily be the newest. They will be the ones that planned best.
This article was written as a companion to the panel discussion moderated by B&D Vice President Bill Mykins, bringing together perspectives from stadium operations, design, and ownership. Mykins brings 25 years of experience in the design, construction and delivery of sports venues. Throughout his career, he has played a pivotal role in the planning and execution of new sports stadiums, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and to the highest standards. With a background as a design architect, he has helped shape iconic stadiums, including Nationals Park and PNC Park. He can be reached at wmykins@bdconnect.com.
