Objective: To examine the association between school sports environment and exercise habits among college students, and to test the mediating role of weight management intention in the relationship, so as to provide empirical evidence for promoting exercise habit formation of college students. Methods: A multi stage cluster sampling survey was conducted from April 15 to May 15, 2025, among 2 687 undergraduates from 8 colleges in Beijing, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China. School Sports Environment Characteristics Questionnaire, Weight Management Behavioral Intention Questionnaire and College Students Exercise Habit Scale were used for evaluation. Pearson correlation analysis was applied to examine the correlations among the three variables. A structural equation model (SEM) was constructed using AMOS 26.0, and the mediating effect was tested using the Bootstrap method. Results: The score for school sports environment was (3.72±0.57), with scores of (3.68±0.61) for physical environment and (3.74±0.59) for social environment; the scores for weight management intention and the total exercise habit were (4.21±0.46) and (3.94±0.51). School sports environment was positively correlated with weight management intention ( r =0.56) and exercise habits ( r =0.57), and weight management intention was positively correlated with exercise habits ( r =0.71) (all P <0.01). The SEM showed that school sports environment exerted positive impact on weight management intention ( β =0.50) and exercise habits ( β =0.29), weight management intention had a significant positive path to exercise habits ( β =0.52) (all P <0.01). Weight management intention of college students played a partial mediating role in the association between school sports environment and exercise habits, with an indirect effect of 0.259, accounting for 47.01% of the total effect. Conclusions The school sports environment is positively correlated with college students exercise habits, and might indirectly facilitate habit cultivation by improving weight management intention. While optimizing the physical and social environments of school sports in colleges, colleges should place a strong emphasis on stimulating college students weight management intention to promote the formation of their exercise habits.