Sports Centers and Habitat Loss
When most people think of habitat destruction, agriculture, urbanization, fishing, and fracking come to mind. However, a big contributor to global habitat loss that is often unspoken about is the creation of sporting centers. Sports are, and always have been, a central part of entertainment in America and the rest of the world. Every season, Americans gather in massive stadiums to watch NFL, NBA, MLB , and other professional sport games. The United States has 917 sports stadiums, more than any other country, and there are 2,198 stadiums with a 10,000 person capacity or more in the world. As the threat of climate change grows, so do concerns about the negative environmental impacts of these large sports stadiums.
Firstly, building sports stadiums requires the transportation of massive amounts of materials, resulting in high carbon emissions. Many of these materials end up being discarded instead of used. Furthermore, carbon emissions from sports stadiums do not level off after a stadium is built. A study done at Cardiff University found that the average attendee of a football game creates a carbon footprint seven times larger than they would on a normal day. Just a single football game with 10,000 people can have a significant environmental impact. This year, the World Cup games have released a projected 2.72 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a majority of these emissions coming from transportation and electricity usage.
Sports stadiums are also rarely energy efficient. The largest NFL stadium, the AT&T stadium in Dallas, Texas, uses approximately 10 megawatts of electricity each time it hosts a game. This is enough electricity to power 3,600 homes. Needless to say, if the energy used to produce this electricity is not renewably sourced, that one game can have a massive impact on the environment.
Outdoor sports centers also pose environmental risks because they are often built on fragile ecosystems and can have unwanted effects on the wildlife in the surrounding area. Golf courses require pesticides to be upkept, and when these pesticides seep into the ground/surrounding water sources, they cause disease and genetic mutation in wildlife. A 2004 study found a link between certain pesticides used on golf courses and cancer in animals as well as humans. Ski slopes require trees to be cut down in order to make trails, which creates division in natural habitats and can harm wildlife in delicate ecosystems. This kind of habitat fragmentation reduces biodiversity by up to 75 percent in certain regions. In addition, air pollution and noise pollution from resort lodges and ski lifts can cause generational changes in animal behavior.
Sports centers pose many environmental risks, but luckily, there are measures that can be taken to reduce these risks. Many sports stadiums have made efforts to increase energy efficiency and become less wasteful. For example, Washington Nationals Park, an MLB stadium, was constructed with 95 percent recycled steel and has invested in energy saving light fixtures that have reduced the stadium’s energy consumption by 21 percent. LED lighting has become a popular alternative to fluorescent lighting due to the fact that it uses less energy. As far as outdoor sports centers go, many ski resorts have launched initiatives to become more sustainable. Avoriaz, a ski resort in the French Alps, has created numerous projects to revegetate its slopes and reduce its carbon emissions. In recent years, there has been a push for stricter regulations dictating where ski slopes can and cannot be built in order to ensure that ski resorts can coexist with their surrounding ecosystems. It is important that efforts such as these continue to be made so that humans can coexist with the natural world.
