PLD enables districtwide, citywide and campus-wide sports lighting upgrades without capital investment

First adopters include Syracuse City School District and the University of South Carolina

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NGU Sports Lighting, a leader in delivering digital lighting solutions to sports venues of all sizes, today announced the official launch of Performance Lighting Delivered (PLD), a new business unit and service model designed to transform how schools, municipalities, and colleges modernize sports lighting without the burden of upfront capital, ownership risk, or ongoing maintenance.

PLD introduces a lighting-as-a-service model that allows organizations to transition to state-of-the-art LED lighting at their sports venues through a predictable monthly fee, converting what has traditionally been a major capital project into a manageable operating expense. NGU owns, installs, maintains, and upgrades the lighting systems, while clients simply pay for the light being delivered.

The Syracuse City School District (SCSD) and the University of South Carolina became the first adopters of the PLD program, demonstrating how the model works in practice, and why it represents a breakthrough for public institutions.

A New Model for a Long-Standing Challenge

Across the country, schools and municipalities have long recognized the need to move away from outdated metal-halide lighting systems that are inefficient, expensive to maintain, and increasingly unreliable. Yet capital constraints, bond approvals, and multi-year funding cycles have historically delayed or prevented districtwide upgrades.

“Organizations don’t lack the vision to modernize, they lack a workable financial path,” said Mike Lorenz, CEO of NGU Sports Lighting. “We remove that barrier entirely, allowing communities to upgrade as many facilities as they choose at once, with no upfront capital and no ownership risk.”

SCSD leveraged the PLD program by modernizing ten athletic venues across five high schools last summer. Henninger High School received upgrades to its football field, baseball field, outdoor multi-purpose field, and gymnasium; Nottingham and Corcoran High Schools each saw their football fields and gymnasiums modernized; while Fowler High School and the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central (ITC), received LED lighting in their gymnasiums.

“Under traditional funding models, a project of this magnitude would have taken years and required repeated funding approvals,” said Rob DiFlorio, COO of the Syracuse City School District. “The ability to modernize all schools simultaneously ensured equity across the district and eliminated many of the political challenges that typically delay projects, allowing us to move forward with confidence.”

The program also helps communities with ambitious environmental and sustainability goals. By transitioning to high-efficiency LED lighting across all facilities, SCSD reduced energy consumption by approximately 75 percent and lowered annual CO₂ emissions by an estimated 173,000 kilograms.

At the University of South Carolina, PLD made it easy for the athletic department to make two important upgrades to the entertainment lighting systems at Williams–Brice Stadium and Colonial Life Arena without the need to procure the funding. Additionally, now that USC is established as a PLD client, they can easily add new lighting projects as their needs change.

How Performance Lighting Delivered Works

Developed by NGU’s leadership team—many of whom helped pioneer the introduction of LED sports lighting more than a decade ago as part of the Ephesus Lighting executive team, PLD is designed to scale seamlessly across K–12, collegiate, and municipal environments.

Under the PLD program, NGU:

Owns the lighting systems and controls
Installs and commissions all equipment
Monitors performance and guarantees light levels
Maintains, repairs, and replaces all components
Provides access to future technology upgrades

Clients pay a predictable monthly fee over 10 years, buying the light, not the fixtures, while NGU assumes all performance and lifecycle risk.

“Our mission is simple,” Lorenz said. “Every community should have access to world-class lighting without the burden of ownership. Through Performance Lighting Delivered, we take on all the risk—from installation to maintenance to upgrades—so our clients can focus on what matters most.”

About NGU Sports Lighting
NGU Sports Lighting is a national leader in LED sports lighting solutions for professional, collegiate, municipal, and K–12 facilities. Through its Performance Lighting Delivered (PLD) program, NGU provides turnkey lighting as a service, owning, maintaining, and guaranteeing performance without upfront capital costs. Learn more at https://dontbuysportslighting.com/.

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