The Behind the Scenes of Sunday Night Football
American football season is an exciting time of year, but the stadiums are by no means environmentally friendly. Learn what steps have been taken and what you can do to make the games more environment safe!
The Behind the Scenes of Sunday Night Football
It’s officially American football season! With the first NFL game between the Ravens and Chiefs on September 5th kicking off the 18-week American football season, people around the US are scrambling to secure tickets to attend these thrilling games in person. Although football is exciting, all this enthusiasm comes with an environmental downside. Each stadium crowd averages 69,524 people, and the massive amount of waste that each person produces during these games is detrimental to the environment. To make matters worse, setting up the stadiums also causes a multitude of environmental issues because of their high usage of water, energy, etc. The transportation of attendees and the use of stadium-operated vehicles also contribute significantly to the carbon footprint. Despite some stadiums making sustainability efforts, the environmental impact of stadiums per game remains astronomical.
Energy Usage
Stadiums have to consider numerous factors to ensure an exceptional game-viewing experience. These include lighting, heating or cooling depending on the weather, broadcasting, security, and powering multiple caterers. The primary energy consumers in a stadium are the lighting and heating or cooling systems, with other operational needs also contributing to its overall energy requirements.
NFL football games are typically scheduled for the afternoon and evening, with Sunday games starting at 1 pm and a weekly 8:20 pm Sunday night game. The timing of these games, combined with the NFL regular season falling during Autumn to early Winter, often means that games are played in cold weather. In cold weather, stadiums keep fans comfortable using their heating systems. On the other hand, in warm-weather states, stadiums are equipped with air conditioning systems to keep fans comfortable. Heating and air conditioning systems ensure a pleasant viewing experience for fans by regulating the entire stadium’s temperature. While incredibly important, these systems use enormous amounts of energy.
In order for the thousands of people in the stadiums to actually see the football field, extremely powerful lights are installed around the arena that are capable of evenly illuminating the field while minimizing shadows and spill light. 1500–2000-watt stadium lights are commonly used around the arena, which is an extremely high wattage in comparison to a 60–100-watt household lightbulb.
The average professional sports stadium uses 10 megawatts of electricity – enough to power 10,000 households – during one event to meet the intense energy demand of the heating, conditioning, and lighting systems. In addition, some larger events consume even more electricity, such as the 2024 Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, which required approximately 28 megawatt hours to power. However, Allegiant Stadium made huge strides in reducing environmental damage by powering their entire event with 100% renewable energy from NV Energy. They were able to procure enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of the energy usage of approximately 46,000 homes for the Super Bowl event.
Overall, despite stadiums requiring massive amounts of power for their heating or cooling systems and light systems, it is possible to reduce the environmental impact of sports stadiums through renewable energy as shown through the 2024 Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium.
Water Usage
While it is quite obvious that tons of energy going into powering a stadium, it is not quite as obvious just how much water goes into running a stadium.
For one, football stadiums with natural turf use enormous amounts of water to maintain perfect green grass. About one inch of water per week is required to sustain these grass football fields. In an average NFL stadium, this means approximately 60,000 gallons of water per week. In drier climates, this number is further increased to 1–2 inches of water 1–3 times a week, or approximately 100,000 gallons of water per week. Stadiums with artificial turf are not safe from the copious amounts of water used to upkeep a football field, as artificial turf also requires sprays now and then to keep the fibers upright and clean. In maintaining a football field and the surrounding stadium lands through landscaping, significant amounts of water are utilized.
Water is also needed to run the stadium bathrooms and locker rooms. From sinks to toilets themselves, the bathrooms are used by thousands of fans for every game. On average, it is estimated that 160 people use a single urinal per game. For the massive amounts of toilets mandated for a stadium to have following strict bathroom regulation rules, thousands of people are flushing the toilet during a singular event. With most newer toilets using about 1.3–1.6 gallons of water per flush, and older toilets (which stadiums have an abundance of) using 5–7 gallons of water per flush, this hidden demand of water results in thousands of gallons of water usage per game. With hopefully everybody washing their hands after using the bathroom, and approximately 0.75 gallons of water being used for only 20 seconds of sink usage, thousands of gallons of water are also used to run the sinks of stadiums for a single event.
Another hidden usage of water is the water used to cool down an air conditioning system. Up to 48% of a building’s water usage can be attributed to the water used for cooling air conditioning systems. With some stadiums using a total of between 600,000–1,000,000 gallons of water per game, that 48% amount of water used to run an air conditioning system in a stadium is far too large.
Overall, as water is used by stadiums for maintenance, bathrooms, air conditioning, and more, inefficient systems result in millions of gallons of water being wasted. This wasted water could’ve been used for drinking, since much of the water that stadiums use is potable. Though some stadiums try to reduce their water usage through more water-efficient plumbing systems, water-efficient sprinkler systems, etc., the environmental impact of stadiums through water usage is undeniable.
Waste Production
While it isn’t surprising that tons of waste is created at each football game, it is difficult for most people to comprehend the sheer amount of waste produced per game. Any football fan who’s attended a game can attest to the waste strewn all over the floor at the conclusion of the game. With each attendee creating an estimated 1–2 pounds of waste each, approximately 35 tons of waste is produced in a single football game. This number is further increased during larger football games such as the Super Bowl. However, sports stadiums attempting to limit their environmental damage have found the most success in this department with recycling, composting, and reducing efforts. Waste diversion programs at Truist Park in Atlanta have prevented up to 75% of trash produced by sports stadiums from ending up in landfills. This movement of waste diversion is also seen in other stadiums as they too attempt to reduce their environmental impact.
What Can You Do?
Though many sports stadiums have attempted to “go green” in recent years, there are many stadiums that continue to use inefficient practices resulting in excessive energy usage, water usage, waste production, etc. With social media, it is important to promote stadiums that are partaking in more environmentally-friendly practices to encourage other stadiums to do the same. It’s been shown that it is possible to run a stadium with fully renewable energy, implement efficient plumbing systems to conserve water, and so on. Encouraging stadiums to become more sustainable will reduce the negative environmental impact of sports stadiums, especially around this exciting football season.
Recap
American football season is an exciting time of year with millions of spectators eager to watch a game in person. These stadiums, while a beacon of enthusiasm, are also incredibly environmentally harmful with their high energy usage, high water usage, and large waste production. These stadiums use enormous amounts of energy to power their lights and heating or cooling systems. Water is used to irrigate the football field, run the bathrooms and locker rooms, and cool the air conditioning systems. Waste production from the abundance of vendors and attendees results in tons of trash being produced per game. Though efforts to reduce the environmental impact of stadiums have occurred such as Allegiant Stadium powering the Super Bowl with 100% renewable energy, Truist Park diverting up to 75% of waste from landfills, and more, many stadiums continue to use inefficient systems which result in excessive environmental impact. Promoting stadiums that partake in environmentally-friendly practices is crucial in encouraging more stadiums to go green.