Planning for the Campus Athletic Storage - Donnegan

Written by Sarah | May 27, 2025 10:00:02 PM

Space Planning Considerations for Athletic Centers

In our last blog post we discussed the various trends and challenges that are currently being seen throughout college libraries. This week we are going to focus on college and university Athletics and some of the challenges they typically see with regards to storage.

Athletic Storage: Keeping you Prepared on and off the Field

When it comes to a college or university the amount of athletic storage needed will be about parallel with how many teams or organizations the school has. Schools with more activities and sports teams will undoubtedly have more storage needs than those with less, simply because each sport or activity requires separate equipment, and all of that equipment requires unique storage. In this post we will start with talking about football storage, and then move on to some of the more prevalent sports before we finish by touching upon other considerations with regards to athletic center storage.

Football Storage: Everything in its Place

Football uniforms are complex, and a lot of the equipment is expensive. Keeping items stored properly is highly important in order to maintain quality standards for all equipment. With regards to football, items such as helmets, shoulder pads, cleats, and more are all shaped very differently and need to be stored very differently as well. One of the reasons we recommend High-Density Mobile Shelving for these areas of a college campus is because they allow you to store a variety of items all in the same unit. High-Density Mobile allows users to store double in the same amount of space, or it can reduce the storage space needed by half. By retrofitting each carriage to store a particular item or items, you can tailor each storage solution to every individual item in your inventory.

High-Density Mobile Shelving and Other Sports

High-Density Mobile Shelving has quickly become one of the best solutions for a campus looking to save space. Not only with regards to football storage specifically, but for all other sports equipment storage as well. Some sports have really large items that they need to store such as helmets, shoulder pads, golf bags, etc. Then there are some sports that have smaller items like golf balls or tape that are just as imperative to keep in good condition and to be able to locate in a moments notice. High-Density Mobile can help keep large and small inventory secure and organized for the best possible use of your space and time.

Sports Medicine and Other Storage Needs

Besides the typical uniform and equipment storage that is needed within an athletic center, there also needs to be storage for things such as medical supplies and athletic trainer storage. Depending on the school, this may take up a lot of space and is the most at risk for being disorganized since a lot of the inventory is small and can be easily lost or misplaced. Vertical bins that are interchangeable in size make the perfect solution for this area of campus. They can be added to a vertical wall space or even in your High-Density Mobile System to help keep small items organized. Use the same space for bulkier items such as crutches and really get the most out of your carriages!

Equipment Storage as Showroom Space

A trend that we have been seeing more and more in Colleges and University athletic centers is the use of the equipment room as a showroom. A lot of teams will now bring in recruits to have a look around and get them acclimated to the school. A large part of where athletes will spend their time is in the equipment room, so having a nicely organized and branded space can go a long way with helping to sell the school to these recruits. It shows them that these teams are prepared not only on the field but off the field as well.

Storage in Plain Sight

A final trend that we have been seeing within this market (and others for that matter) is the concept of storage in plain sight. A lot of colleges and universities are running out of space. When this happens and the option to expand isn’t a viable one, many schools look to use any and all space as storage space. This is an okay concept, as long as people aren’t aware that what they are looking at is storage. Storage as display has emerged as a trend trying to combat the challenge of space constraints and the athletic center is no exception. One of the ways we are seeing this implemented is in the use of High-Density Mobile Shelving with custom end panels that “hide” the shelving behind it while also working as an end panel display area. The image below is the perfect example of how one campus chose to do it. In the front carriage, you can see a softball display showing the team’s uniform and some of their equipment. Little do people know that as they pass the glass wall with the softball display, there are actually lines of shelving right behind the wall. This puts storage in plain sight, without making it look like a storage area and it can significantly improve space savings in any facility.

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