The University at Buffalo offers 20 Division I intercollegiate sports that compete at the highest level of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The 20 sports are: football, baseball, softball, women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, wrestling, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, women's rowing and men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field. The University at Buffalo competes in the prestigious Mid-American Conference in all of those sports except for women's rowing, which is not sponsored by the conference.

UB plays its home football games, men's and women's soccer games and track and field events at UB Stadium (capacity 29,020), opened in 1993 in conjunction with the World University Games, and its basketball, wrestling and volleyball events at Alumni Arena, which has a capacity of 6,100 following renovations during the summer of 2004. The Alumni Arena Natatorium is home to the Bulls' swimming teams, while the tennis teams use the world-class University Tennis Center. The women's softball team competes at Nan Harvey Field adjacent to UB Stadium while the baseball team plays across the street at Amherst Audubon Field.

The University at Buffalo athletic department continues to show outstanding results in the Academic Progress Rate (APR), the annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) measure of eligibility, retention and graduation rates of all Division I teams.

The APR, in its sixth year of existence, is a four-year rolling rate, and the release of this year's results encompass the 2008-09 academic year. The APR focuses on each sport, not the institution’s overall performance. APR measures the retention and eligibility of student-athletes receiving athletic aid, and the eligibility measure is based on NCAA eligibility standards and UB eligibility standards.