sport
Berlin's College Sports Infrastructure Gets a Playbook Upgrade as Venue Demand Soars
From Tempelhofer Feld to the new Uber Arena annex, the city's amateur and collegiate athletes are seeing facility investments that match their growing ambitions.
How we reported this
Berlin's college sports scene is getting a infrastructure facelift. With student-athlete participation up roughly 15 percent over the past three years across the city's universities and technical colleges, the demand for training and competition venues has never been higher. The Humboldt University, Freie Universität Berlin, and the Berlin University of the Arts are among those now renting dedicated slots at the newly renovated Sportforum Hohenschönhausen and the revamped track facility at Mommsenstadion.
New turf, longer hours
The city's university sports office, Allgemeiner Hochschulsportverband Berlin (AHSB), has been negotiating extended access to public sports grounds since winter 2025. AHSB director Klara Weissmann told local media that the breakthrough came when the district of Mitte agreed to keep the Poststadion floodlights on until 22:30 on weeknights starting this term. The change unlocks an additional 14 hours of pitch time per week for college teams, especially for football and rugby clubs that previously trained under portable lights.
At Tempelhofer Feld, the city's iconic former airfield, the Senate Department for Sport has set aside three dedicated zones for university athletics from 07:00 to 09:00 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The early-morning slots were carved out after a petition by the Freie Universität’s track-and-field club gathered 850 signatures last March. Those sessions are now booked solid through the winter semester.
Crowded courts, creative solutions
Indoor venues remain the biggest pinch point. The Uber Arena, Berlin's largest multi-purpose hall, underwent a €45-million annex expansion completed in June 2026 that added two full-size basketball courts and a dedicated strength-and-conditioning suite. The AHSB secured a block-booking contract for Tuesday and Thursday evenings until 21:00, a deal that now serves five university basketball teams and three volleyball squads who previously bounced between school gyms in Neukölln and Charlottenburg.
The annex also features a 200-metre indoor running track with hydraulic banked curves, the first of its kind in Berlin outside of a commercial fitness chain. University sports officials say the track is especially vital for winter training when the outdoor oval at Olympiapark Berlin is frozen or under maintenance.
Still, money is tight. The Berlin state budget for 2026 allocated €4.2 million for university sports development, a figure that matches the 2025 allocation but falls roughly €800,000 short of what AHSB requested for full maintenance upgrades at five ageing gymnasiums, including the Hans-Otto-Theater annex in Prenzlauer Berg.
Looking ahead, the city's 2026-2028 Sports Infrastructure Plan includes a commitment to evaluate three more public secondary-school halls for dual-use booking by university clubs. A decision is expected by March 2027. Until then, Berlin’s student-athletes will keep battling for floor time, but at least now, when they get it, the lights stay on longer.