Carbon Footprint of Your Entertainment! Part II – Sports

The Carbon Footprint of Entertainment! Part I – Movies, Television & the Stage.

Sports come in all shapes and sizes. From football to corn-hole, college to the pros, there is almost no limit to find something available to watch 24 hours a day. Several critics label these events as unsustainable, but this is simply not true. When a large carbon footprint of an event is spread over the viewership it can fit into our everyday lives.

A rule of thumb: The more popular the sport (in viewing numbers), the lower the carbon footprint. Watching sports will use around 10% of your daily emissions, with the college variety slightly lower. Indoor sports can be larger due to the climate control of indoor stadiums. The highest footprint comes from motor sports not only due to the race themselves but transporting of large equipment between events. But let us delve into the numbers.

The number one sports in the US is football. The smaller leagues will use less energy to run their stadiums and travel shorter distances for games when compared to the pros and college teams, but they also have a lot less viewers. In 2019, the Superbowl had its lowest audience for more than a decade at 98.2 million viewers. Even so the enormous Carbon Footprint of the stadium, pyrotechnics, TV coverage, and team travel was offset by the smaller audience.

Even when football broadens its appeal by sending a team to London or Mexico city, the emissions are still within a sustainable limit. But we do need to compare the carbon footprint of a whole season and compare it with the average audience.

Ultimately the biggest factor in determining the sporting events carbon footprint is the reach of the audience. Games that are only shown to a regional audience are much higher while marquee matchups, finals and holiday games are much lower.

Although some of the sports can have low attendance figures when a team is playing poorly or ‘tanking’, when looking at a league of many teams over a full season, these games can be negated.

International events such as the Olympics are sustainable just for the sheer volume of the audience reach. While the schedule goes for several weeks and contains some less watched events, when we spread the carbon footprint across the total amount of spectator viewing it sits around 10% of your sustainable footprint per hour watched.

Motor sports have one of the worst carbon footprints of all. It is no surprise that a fuel based around fossil fuels is in this category, but it isn’t only because of fuel used in races. In between each of the races there is a huge amount of carbon emitted from the high transport

More good news for fans of both sports and sustainability, many leagues are now looking into reducing their emissions. The NHL has been reducing both their energy consumption and stadium waste, and offsetting carbon emissions from team travel. While not yet completely carbon neutral, they are making great progress. A sport that relies on cold weather and the production of ice understands the urgency required.

Finally, for those of you who swear by the live experience, the carbon footprint of each event will be the same as a TV viewer except don’t forget to include your transportation method. Most of your emissions will be attributed to the commute so try to remember to use mass transit or carpool to the event.

So relax and unwind watching your favorite sport knowing that you can fit it into your sustainable lifestyle.