Systems guide
Facilities: which upgrade pays for itself, and in what order
Six facilities, five levels each, and a weekly bill that never stops arriving. What a level buys, what maxing everything really costs across a season, and the order that pays for itself fastest.
Facilities are the only purchase in Backcourt that keeps working after you have made it. A transfer fee is paid once and the player can still be wrong. A gym level makes every training week for the rest of the save slightly better.
They are also the easiest way to quietly bankrupt a club, because every level you buy adds a bill that arrives every single week, forever.
What the six facilities actually do
All six run from level 1 to level 5. Level 2 is roughly the neutral setting — the point where a club is neither helped nor punished.
| Facility | What a level buys | Level 1 → level 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Gym | Training gains for the entire squad | +20% per level: 1.2× up to 2.0× |
| Medical | Faster recovery from injury, and a lower chance of picking one up in training | Healing +14% per level; training injury risk down to about 40% |
| Recovery | How much energy returns between fixtures | +8% per level (medical adds a further +4% per level) |
| Academy | The quality of the annual youth intake | Gem chance about 4% up to 10%; the whole crop rises with it |
| Arena | Matchday income and fan mood | Income 0.94× up to 1.18× |
| Analytics | How many players your scouts watch each week, and what a paid report costs | About 2.5 players a week up to 6.9; reports 30% cheaper |
The price list, including the part nobody reads
| Facility | 2 → 3 | 3 → 4 | 4 → 5 | 2 → 5 total | Upkeep at level 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analytics | $12.4M | $19.2M | $29.8M | $61.4M | $0.15M / week |
| Recovery | $14.2M | $22.5M | $35.5M | $72.2M | $0.20M / week |
| Gym | $14.6M | $23.6M | $38.3M | $76.5M | $0.21M / week |
| Medical | $16.0M | $25.6M | $41.0M | $82.6M | $0.24M / week |
| Academy | $17.8M | $28.9M | $46.8M | $93.5M | $0.18M / week |
| Arena | $23.8M | $40.5M | $68.8M | $133.1M | $0.29M / week |
The upkeep trap. Six facilities at level 2 cost roughly $0.50M a week — about $23M across a 45-week season. The same six at level 5 cost $1.26M a week, or about $57M a season. So maxing everything is not a $519M decision. It is a $519M decision plus $34M a season, for as long as the save lasts.
That recurring cost is exactly the kind of drift the club finances guide describes: clubs rarely go broke on a transfer, they go broke on the bills they stopped noticing.
Which one first
The honest answer is that it depends on which problem is costing you the most. Name the problem, then buy the facility that fixes it.
| If your actual problem is… | Upgrade | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Young squad that is not improving fast enough | Gym | Multiplies every training week for every player; cheap for what it returns |
| Players keep getting hurt, or hurt in training | Medical | Shorter absences and a much lower training risk, which is what lets you run high intensity |
| Legs are dead by the trade deadline | Recovery | More energy back every week, which is worth more than another rotation body |
| No cash, and every move needs some | Arena | The only facility that pays you back in money rather than performance — but the most expensive to raise |
| Drafting blind, or rebuilding | Analytics | Cheapest upgrade in the game, and it narrows the potential ranges you are betting on |
| Building a dynasty from youth | Academy | Compounds over many seasons; the slowest payback of the six |
If you want a default order rather than a diagnosis: analytics, gym, recovery, medical, then arena or academy depending on whether your problem is money or a pipeline. That order front-loads the cheap upgrades whose benefit lands every week, and delays the two that only pay across seasons.
A three-season plan that does not break the bank
Concrete version, for a club whose income is ordinary. Season one: analytics from 2 to 3 ($12.4M) and the gym from 2 to 3 ($14.6M). That is $27M of building and about $0.07M a week of new upkeep, and from roughly week five it buys narrower scouting ranges plus 20% more training for every player on the roster.
Season two: gym 3 to 4 ($23.6M) and recovery 2 to 3 ($14.2M). Your training multiplier is now 1.8 against the 1.4 you started with, and legs come back faster between fixtures.
Season three: medical 2 to 4, which is two builds and $41.6M, if injuries have been costing you games. If the treasury is the bottleneck instead, the arena goes first.
End of the third season you are carrying roughly $0.75M a week in upkeep — about $34M across a 45-week season — for a squad that trains faster, recovers faster and misses fewer games. Compare that with spending $68.8M on a single arena upgrade from 4 to 5, which buys about 5% more matchday income and nothing else at all.
Three practical rules
- Check your starting levels before you spend. A new career does not hand every club a tidy row of twos, and the gap between your worst facility and your best is usually the cheapest fix available.
- Never start a long build in a tight month. One project runs at a time, and a level-5 arena or academy build takes five weeks. That is five weeks of nothing else improving.
- Stop at level 3 or 4 on anything you do not need. The jump from 4 to 5 is the most expensive step on every facility and adds the most upkeep, for the same 20% or 14% as every other level.
Facilities are the part of the game that rewards patience the way the rest of it does not. The rebuild guide is where they matter most: a lost season is the cheapest time in a save to be paying for buildings rather than wins.
Frequently asked
Which facility should I upgrade first in Backcourt?
For most clubs the gym, because it multiplies every training gain for the whole squad every week and is one of the cheaper upgrades. If injuries are costing you availability, medical comes first instead; if you are rebuilding through the draft, analytics is the cheapest useful level you can buy.
How much does it cost to max out every facility?
Taking all six from level 2 to level 5 costs about $519M in build fees, and it raises weekly upkeep from roughly $0.50M to $1.26M — about $34M more per season, every season.
Do facilities have running costs?
Yes. Each level of each facility adds a weekly upkeep charge. This is the part that catches managers out: the build fee is paid once, the upkeep is charged every week for the rest of the save.
How long does a facility upgrade take?
Two to three weeks at the lower levels, plus one extra week from level 3 and two extra from level 4. Only one project runs at a time, so the build queue is itself a resource.
Is the academy worth upgrading?
Only if you intend to use youth. It raises the quality of the annual intake and roughly doubles the chance of an academy gem between level 1 and level 5 — real value over many seasons, close to nothing in the season you buy it.
Can I upgrade two facilities at once?
No. One project at a time, which is why the order matters as much as the choice. A five-week arena build is five weeks during which nothing else improves.
Try it on your own club tonight
Backcourt is free on iOS and Android. Career mode works offline, and there is nothing to buy that makes your squad stronger.
