Energy use in sports stadiums: What happens behind the floodlights?

Extended occuancy outwith events

Stadiums are also used outside match days. Many venues include offices, club administration space, shops, hospitality suites, conference rooms, gyms, restaurants, museums and community facilities that operate throughout the week. This creates a mixed-use energy profile: some zones behave like conventional offices or retail units, while others experience intense event-driven peaks.

Where is energy used in a stadium?

Floodlighting is usually the most visible energy use. Modern sports lighting has to provide good visibility for players, spectators and broadcast cameras, and this can create a significant electrical load. LED floodlighting can reduce consumption compared with older systems, but expectations for high-quality lighting, large screens and digital displays mean that electricity demand remains an important part of stadium operation.

Heating, cooling and ventilation can also be significant. Open-air stadiums may have limited conditioning to the spectator seating areas, but the enclosed parts of the building still require building services. Changing rooms, offices, hospitality suites, kitchens, retail areas, medical rooms, media rooms, toilets and circulation spaces may all need heating, ventilation, domestic hot water, and cooling.

Hot water demand can also peak sharply, particularly where the venue includes changing facilities, hospitality areas, kitchens and large numbers of toilets.

Broadcast, media and event systems add further complexity. Commentary positions, control rooms, temporary power supplies, data networks, security systems, public address systems, screens, turnstiles and specialist lighting can all contribute to the event-day load.

Open-air, covered & enclosed stadiums

The energy profile of a stadium depends heavily on its form. A traditional open-air stadium may have limited conditioning to the spectator seating areas, with the main building-services demand concentrated in enclosed accommodation such as offices, changing rooms, hospitality suites, retail areas, catering facilities, toilets and concourses.

Covered stadiums are more complex. A roof can improve spectator comfort by providing shelter from rain, wind and direct sunlight, but it can also affect how heat and air move through the building. A large roof may reduce solar exposure to seating areas, but it can also trap warm air, alter natural ventilation paths and increase the importance of mechanical ventilation in enclosed or semi-enclosed spaces.

Retractable-roof and fully enclosed stadiums are more energy-intensive again. Once a roof is closed, the stadium begins to behave more like an indoor arena than an outdoor structure. The building may need to manage temperature, humidity, air movement, condensation risk, internal heat gains, crowd comfort and sometimes pitch conditions. The energy demand is therefore not simply from lighting and catering, but from controlling a very large internal environment.

The Houston Astrodome, opened in 1965, is a landmark example of a fully enclosed, air-conditioned stadium. Toronto’s Rogers Centre, originally SkyDome, opened in 1989 and became one of the best-known examples of a large retractable-roof stadium. These types of venues changed the role of the stadium from a spectator structure into a controlled internal environment.

What happens when a roof closes?

A retractable roof gives a stadium flexibility. In good conditions, the building may operate more like an open-air venue, benefiting from natural ventilation and reduced mechanical cooling demand. In poor weather, extreme heat, high humidity or for certain event requirements, the roof can be closed to create a more controlled environment.

However, closing the roof changes the energy balance. Heat from spectators, lighting, screens, catering, equipment and solar gains has to be removed or controlled. Moisture from people, catering and outside air may need to be managed. Air movement also becomes more important because large still volumes can feel uncomfortable even where the air temperature is acceptable.

In some enclosed stadiums, the HVAC strategy may also support the playing surface. Natural grass can be difficult to maintain inside a covered or partially enclosed venue, particularly where daylight and natural airflow are restricted. This can lead to additional energy use from grow lights, ventilation, irrigation, drainage and environmental control.

EPCs, LEED & stadium energy performance

In the UK, many stadium buildings will also fall within the Energy Performance Certificate regime. An EPC is normally required when a qualifying building is constructed, sold or let, and it provides an asset rating based on the building fabric and fixed building services. For a stadium, this is most likely to apply to the permanently enclosed and serviced parts of the venue.

This is an important distinction. A simple open spectator stand may not be assessed in the same way as an enclosed commercial building, but the rooms and spaces within a stadium that are heated, cooled or mechanically ventilated can still be relevant for EPC purposes. In practice, a stadium may contain several different types of space, each with different operating hours, occupancy patterns and building-services requirements.

Internationally, many stadiums also use voluntary green-building certification schemes such as LEED. LEED is broader than an EPC because it considers issues such as energy, water, materials, waste, indoor environmental quality, transport and operational management. An EPC is primarily a regulatory energy-performance certificate, while LEED is a wider sustainability rating.

This difference is useful when looking at stadiums. A LEED-certified stadium may demonstrate that sustainability has been considered across design, construction or operation, while an EPC focuses more specifically on the energy performance of the building and its fixed services. Both approaches can provide useful information, but neither should be viewed in isolation. The real energy performance of a stadium still depends heavily on how the venue is used, controlled and maintained.

Examples of stadiums with recognised green-building certification include Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, which achieved LEED Platinum, U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, which achieved LEED Platinum for operations and maintenance, and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which has achieved LEED Gold. These examples show that large, complex sports venues can pursue recognised sustainability standards.

What type of HVAC systems are used in stadiums?

The HVAC systems used in sports stadiums vary widely depending on the size, age, location and design of the venue. A small open-air stand may only require local heating and ventilation to changing rooms, toilets, offices and hospitality areas. A large enclosed stadium may require a central plant and extensive air distribution systems serving many different zones.

Chilled-water systems may be used where large volumes of air need to be cooled. Heating may be provided by boilers, heat pumps, district heating, radiant systems or local equipment, depending on the age and arrangement of the building.

There are interesting systems in stadiums throughout the world. SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles (home to NFL LA Rams and LA Chargers) is described by its project engineers as having a passively ventilated seating bowl beneath a roof canopy, rather than being a fully enclosed, air-conditioned stadium. Arthur Ashe Stadium, a tennis stadium in New York, added a retractable roof with HVAC systems for cooling, air movement and humidity control. Syracuse University’s JMA Dome, a multi-purpose stadium, added air-conditioning as part of a major roof and stadium renovation. 

The Spotify Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona uses an underpitch system to maintain the grass at a constant temperature oreventing freezing in the winter and promoting growth.

Renewable opportunities

The most effective energy-efficiency measures will depend on the design and use of the stadium, but common opportunities include LED lighting upgrades, improved lighting controls, efficient boilers or heat pumps, variable-speed fans and pumps, demand-controlled ventilation, improved BMS settings, better time schedules, heat recovery, insulation improvements to enclosed areas and more detailed sub-metering.

Large stadium roofs can also provide opportunities for solar PV. The suitability of PV will depend on the roof structure, orientation, shading, access, grid connection, ownership arrangements and the match between generation and on-site demand. Stadiums often have large roof areas, but they also have unusual load profiles, with major peaks during events and lower demand at other times.

Several stadiums around the world show how renewables can be integrated into sports venues.

• The Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam (home of Ajax FC) uses rooftop solar panels and battery storage to help manage electricity demand.
• Kaohsiung National Stadium in Taiwan is well known for its extensive solar roof.
• Rams Park, Galatasaray’s stadium in Istanbul, Turkey has also been widely recognised for a large roof-mounted solar installation.
• Spotify Camp Nou, FC Barcelona's stadium, has a 360 degree solar PV installation with an estimated 3.2 MWh.

Due to their expansive size stadium roofs can be useful energy assets. 

Conclusion

Sports stadiums are exciting buildings, but from an energy perspective, they are also complex, high-load commercial buildings. 

For building owners, operators and occupiers, the key lesson is simple: understand where the energy is being used, separate the different operating modes, and make sure the building services respond to real occupancy rather than running as if every day is match day.

This article is an independent energy-efficiency commentary. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any sports body, venue operator, club, event organiser or commercial partner. Any named stadium examples are included for general illustrative purposes only.