. Light in sport, does it consume a lot?
About 200 projectors, each charged with 2000 watts of electricity just for the pitch, to which must be added the security lights, those of the passageways, the car park, the shop… The large sports infrastructures are energy-intensive.
For the most imposing, occupied by professional clubs, “we are almost in a small town in terms of lighting”, affirms the director of the Sarese design office Maxime Van der Ham, who deals in particular with stadium construction sites.
“But the bulk of (national) consumption is not there at all (…). The big stadiums are not very numerous” and operate at full capacity only on match days or during exceptional events, such as a concert, he adds.
Especially since the sector has already made “25% to a third of savings” by switching to LED lighting in the mid-2010s. Almost all of the Ligue 1 and 2 speakers are thus equipped with it.
The government could nevertheless ask for an additional effort from the ecosystem by prohibiting night meetings, as part of a “plan for adapting sports practice to climate change”. Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra opened this door on July 26 on Franceinfo.
. What would be the ecological effect of such a measure?
“The energy base is almost non-existent”, insofar as consumption is not limited to the only time of a meeting, indicates Maxime Van der Ham. “The broadcasting of matches requires a lot of adjustments and therefore switching on (the projectors) well in advance” to provide the cameras with a uniform and fixed brightness that is impossible to obtain without artificial light, he says.
The floodlights thus operate at maximum capacity from the afternoon and the ban on night matches would not make it possible to save on the lighting of the pitches.
It would rather be a question of “moving” the peak of consumption in the middle of the day when the risk of deficiencies, especially in winter, is lower.
At the same time, solutions exist to reduce the bill, such as dimming the light intensity. Do not light during the day, little in the evening, fully at night… This is achievable thanks to LEDs, but concessions on the quality of television images would be necessary.
. What are the challenges for the leagues and their broadcasters?
The producers of the meetings (the leagues) and the broadcasters (the channels) should review their specifications and adapt to the upheaval of the calendars. With evening posters to be organized earlier in the day or on another day of the week, the question of media exposure arises.
The National Rugby League reacted in the daily L’Equipe, calling on the Ministries of Sports and Ecological Transition to respect the “economic balance and organization of competitions, of which evening matches are a very important element”.
In Ligue 1, “the three slots that would be affected (Friday and Saturday 9:00 p.m., Sunday 8:45 p.m.) are the best” with Saturday 5:00 p.m. in terms of audiences, underlines Richard Bouigue, of the Sports Observatory.
“The contractual value of TV rights would take a hit,” says sports economics specialist Pierre Rondeau. But “one could suppose that the meetings in the afternoon become prime time for the Asian public and make it possible to increase international TV rights…”.
“Not enough” to make up for a possible loss of night matches, retorts Richard Bouigue, even as the president of the Professional Football League (LFP), Vincent Labrune, hopes to see the value of the annual television rights of the L1 climb by 550 million euros in 2021/22 to “1.8 billion by 2028”.
Asked, the LFP declined to comment.
. What about amateur sports?
Be careful “not to limit (this possibility) to professional sport”, warns Christophe Lepetit, of the Center for Sports Law and Economics (CDES).
“Every weekend, a lot of night matches take place everywhere in France, from the smallest departmental competitions to the highest levels,” he continues.
In addition, amateurs, who often have a job during the day, must also train in the evening, unlike professionals who practice more in daylight.
“The (amateur) stadiums consume much less but are extremely more numerous, plus all other sports”, recalls Maxime Van der Ham. And the municipal enclosures of lower divisions are less equipped with LEDs.
By prohibiting matches at night, “we would condemn an entire ecosystem where pro and amateur sport intertwine”, warns Pierre Rondeau, however, who calls not to resort to “a diktat”.
