More Athletes Than Ever. Same Budget as Last Year.

High school athletics participation just hit an all-time record: 8,266,244 student-athletes in 2024–25, up 203,942 from the prior year and more than 645,000 since the post-pandemic recovery began. That's a lot of athletes who need gear, uniforms, and safe equipment.

Here's the problem. According to the 2025 Athletic Business Purchasing Survey, 56.1% of athletic department budgets stayed flat compared to the previous year, and 13.4% actually shrank. Participation is booming, but funding hasn't kept pace.

Add in brand-new budget line items — girls flag football (up 60% to 68,847 participants) and girls wrestling (topping 74,000 for the first time) — and ADs are being asked to fund programs that didn't exist two years ago with zero existing allocation.

This guide isn't a cost-cutting checklist. It's an "earn more, spend smarter" framework for athletic directors who refuse to compromise athlete safety or gear quality. Cutting corners on gear isn't a budget strategy; it's a liability.

Key takeaways

• Participation is up and funding is not. High school athletics hit a record 8,266,244 student-athletes in 2024–25, up 203,942 in a year, while 56.1% of athletic department budgets stayed flat and 13.4% shrank.
• Tier your spending before you cut anything. Safety-critical gear such as helmets and pads is never deferred, operationally necessary items like uniforms and balls have timing flexibility, and enhancement items can be phased in or funded from supplemental revenue.
• Build a multi-year replacement calendar. Football helmets last 5 to 7 years, basketball and soccer uniforms 3 to 5 years, and track and field equipment 8 to 10 years, so nothing arrives as a budget shock.
• Cooperative buying returns 20 to 30%. Informal groups of 5 to 8 regional schools combining orders save $10,000 to $15,000 on a $50,000 combined purchase.
• Spirit wear out-earns every traditional fundraiser. Merchandise fundraising yields roughly $375 per volunteer hour against about $40 for a car wash and $25 for candy sales.
• An always-open team store is passive income. Keeping the store live year-round earns $250 to $750 per quarter, or $1,000 to $3,000 annually, with no inventory risk because items print on demand.

Prioritize Spending With a Three-Tier Framework

Before you can stretch a budget, you need to know where every dollar goes and which dollars are non-negotiable. A simple three-tier model gives you a defensible structure for making those calls.

Tier 1: Safety-Critical. Helmets, pads, protective gear. These items are never deferred, regardless of budget pressure. This is both a safety obligation and a liability issue. If a helmet is past its certification window, it gets replaced. Period.

Tier 2: Operationally Necessary. Game uniforms, balls, timing systems, nets, goals. These are the items your programs can't function without, but they have more flexibility in timing and sourcing.

Tier 3: Enhancement. Warm-ups, spirit gear, facility upgrades, sideline accessories. Important for program identity and morale, but these can be phased in strategically or funded through supplemental revenue (more on that below).

Once every line item is mapped to a tier, budget conversations with administrators and school boards become much more productive. You're not defending vague requests; you're presenting a prioritized plan backed by safety requirements and operational needs.

The next step is building a multi-year replacement calendar. Football helmets last 5 to 7 years. Basketball and soccer uniforms hold up for 3 to 5 years. Track and field equipment can go 8 to 10 years. When you know what's coming due and when, you avoid budget shocks and create opportunities to plan bulk purchases well in advance, which unlocks better pricing.

Combine Orders to Unlock Volume Discounts

One of the most underutilized strategies in athletic procurement is the purchasing cooperative. The concept is straightforward: athletic directors in the same region form informal buying groups of 5 to 8 schools and combine their uniform, equipment, and supply orders into a single purchase.

The payoff is significant. Volume purchasing cooperatives consistently generate 20 to 30% savings. On a combined order of $50,000, that's $10,000 to $15,000 back in program budgets across the group. For a single school contributing $8,000 to that order, the savings alone could cover a full set of practice jerseys or a season's worth of game balls.

The challenge has always been logistics. Coordinating orders across multiple schools, managing separate invoices, and dealing with different vendors makes the process cumbersome. Working with a single-source vendor who carries 50+ brands on one invoice changes the equation: one quote, one purchase order, one delivery. No chasing down separate accounts or reconciling multiple invoices.

For K-12 programs, the procurement workflow matters just as much as the pricing. Purchase order acceptance with no credit card required and tax-exempt billing kept on file means cooperative orders stay clean and compliant with district purchasing policies. And when quotes come back within one business day, ADs can move quickly when cooperative buying windows open.

If you're not already talking to neighboring ADs about combining orders, start the conversation. The savings are real and immediately actionable.

Turn Your Team Store Into a Revenue Engine

Most athletic departments think of a team store as a convenience, a way for parents to buy a hoodie with the school logo. A well-run custom team store is a legitimate supplemental revenue stream that directly offsets equipment and uniform costs.

Consider the ROI comparison. Merchandise fundraising yields approximately $375 per volunteer hour. A car wash? About $40 per hour. Candy sales? Roughly $25 per hour. Spirit wear isn't just more profitable; it's in a completely different category.

The Two-Week Campaign Model

Here's a concrete example. A two-week spirit wear campaign promoted to 65 families, with each family averaging $91 in purchases, generates $5,915 in total sales. At a 10% program margin, that's $591 back to the athletic department. No inventory to manage. No volunteer hours spent sorting orders or making change. The store runs online, and items are printed on demand only when purchased.

The Always-Open Model

Programs that keep their online store open year-round take it a step further. An always-open team store earns $250 to $750 per quarter in passive rebates without any additional effort from coaches or staff. That's $1,000 to $3,000 annually, generated while you focus on running your programs.

Funding New Programs Without Touching Existing Budgets

This is where team store revenue becomes especially powerful. Girls flag football startup gear, new wrestling uniforms, first-year program equipment: these costs can be funded through team store revenue without pulling a single dollar from the existing athletic budget. When your administration asks how you plan to fund a new sport, "the team store will cover it" is a concrete, credible answer.

On-demand printing eliminates the biggest risk of traditional spirit wear sales: over-ordering. No boxes of unsold hoodies sitting in a storage closet eating into your budget. Items are produced only when a parent or fan places an order.

It's also worth noting that 77.1% of high school programs rely on booster clubs as their primary fundraising entity, with coaches and ADs also playing significant roles. A single unified team store supports all three groups simultaneously, giving boosters, coaches, and athletic directors one platform to rally around instead of running competing fundraisers.

Treat your team store as a permanent budget line item, not a one-time fundraiser. The programs generating the most revenue keep their stores open year-round and promote them at the start of each season.

What to Look for in a Vendor Partner (Not Just a Vendor)

Athletic directors stretched across 15 sports, dozens of coaches, and constant budget pressure don't have time to manage multiple vendor relationships, chase quotes, or sit in a ticket queue waiting for a response. The difference between a transactional vendor and a true program partner shows up every day in how much time and money you save.

Here's what actually moves the needle for budget-conscious programs:

• Tax-exempt billing on file so every order processes correctly without extra paperwork
• Purchase order acceptance with no credit card required, keeping procurement aligned with district policies
• Free shipping thresholds (like free shipping on orders over $299) that reduce per-order costs
• Fast fulfillment so gear arrives when your season calendar demands it
• A dedicated account rep who knows your program, your sports calendar, and your budget cycle — not a chatbot or a generic support line

For custom team stores, look for no minimums and no inventory risk. Smaller programs and first-year sports can't guarantee order volumes. A partner who removes that barrier makes team store revenue accessible to every program in your department, not just football and basketball.

When one vendor covers 50+ brands on a single invoice, you eliminate the administrative burden of managing multiple accounts. For understaffed athletic departments, that's a real time and cost savings that compounds over every ordering cycle.

Frequently asked questions

How can an athletic director stretch a flat athletic budget?

Work three levers at once rather than cutting gear quality. First, tier every line item so safety-critical equipment is protected and enhancement purchases can be phased, which also makes budget conversations with administrators far more defensible. Second, combine orders with neighboring schools into a purchasing cooperative, which consistently returns 20 to 30% savings. Third, run a year-round custom team store so spirit wear sales generate supplemental revenue that offsets equipment and uniform costs.

How often do football helmets and team uniforms need to be replaced?

Football helmets last 5 to 7 years, basketball and soccer uniforms last 3 to 5 years, and track and field equipment can run 8 to 10 years. Mapping those cycles into a multi-year replacement calendar lets you plan bulk purchases in advance, which unlocks better pricing and prevents a whole sport coming due at once. Helmets past their certification window are replaced regardless of budget pressure, since that is a liability issue rather than a budgeting one.

What is a school purchasing cooperative and how much does it save?

A purchasing cooperative is an informal buying group of roughly 5 to 8 schools in the same region that combine their uniform, equipment and supply orders into a single purchase. Volume cooperatives consistently generate 20 to 30% savings, so a $50,000 combined order returns $10,000 to $15,000 across the group. For a school contributing $8,000, that saving alone can cover a full set of practice jerseys or a season of game balls. The logistics get much easier when the group uses one vendor that can issue a single quote, purchase order and delivery.

How much money can a school team store actually raise?

A two-week spirit wear campaign promoted to 65 families averaging $91 per family produces $5,915 in sales, which returns $591 to the department at a 10% program margin. Programs that keep the store open year-round instead earn $250 to $750 per quarter in passive rebates, or $1,000 to $3,000 annually, with no additional effort from coaches or staff. ST1 Sports pays those proceeds out daily by direct Stripe ACH transfer, or monthly by check.

How do you fund a brand-new sport with no budget allocation?

Team store revenue is the cleanest source, because it does not pull from existing allocations. Startup gear for girls flag football, new wrestling singlets and first-year program equipment can all be funded from spirit wear sales, which gives you a concrete answer when administration asks how a new sport will be paid for. This matters right now because girls flag football grew 60% to 68,847 participants and girls wrestling topped 74,000 for the first time, so many departments are being asked to fund programs that did not exist two years ago.

Is spirit wear a better fundraiser than a car wash or candy sale?

By a wide margin. Merchandise fundraising yields approximately $375 per volunteer hour, compared with about $40 per hour for a car wash and roughly $25 per hour for candy sales. Spirit wear also avoids the two hidden costs of traditional fundraisers: volunteer hours spent sorting orders and making change, and the risk of unsold inventory. With on-demand printing, items are produced only when someone places an order, so nothing sits in a storage closet.

Can schools buy sports equipment on a purchase order and stay tax-exempt?

Yes. Look for a vendor that accepts purchase orders with no credit card required and keeps tax-exempt billing on file, so every order processes correctly without repeated paperwork. That combination keeps cooperative and single-school orders compliant with district purchasing policies. It also speeds things up considerably when a buying window is short, especially if the vendor returns quotes within one business day.

Is there a minimum order to set up a custom team store?

Most custom items carry no minimum, which is what makes a team store viable for smaller programs and first-year sports that cannot guarantee volume. Some fully sublimated items do require a minimum because of how they are produced. There is no inventory risk either way, since store items are printed on demand when a parent or fan orders. Confirm the specific products you want with your rep before you plan around a quantity.

Build a Budget That Works Year After Year

The "earn more, spend smarter" framework comes down to three pillars. Tiered prioritization protects gear quality and athlete safety. Cooperative purchasing cuts costs through volume. Team store revenue supplements your budget passively, season after season.

Keep your team store open year-round. Promote it at the start of each season. Treat it as a permanent line item in your budget, not a one-off fundraiser you revisit when money gets tight.

Record participation numbers aren't slowing down. Programs that build these systems now will be better positioned as rosters continue to grow and new sports keep emerging. Smarter procurement isn't a luxury; it's a necessity.

Equipping athletes well is a commitment to your community. The tools to do it, without sacrificing quality, are available right now. Connect with a dedicated ST1 Sports rep to explore team store setup, cooperative purchasing options, or get your tax-exempt account started. We'll have a quote back to you within one business day.