Football vs. the environment: the eco-friendly debate

We all know how important the whole eco-friendly aspect has become in the trades industry recently, with companies and people everywhere trying to find more energy-efficient ways to live. Recently there has been the trend of football stadiums trying to be more environmentally friendly, ranging from the uber-rich like Manchester City, to the less-prestigious clubs like Dartford. Now a stadium has been built in Mexico that typifies the words “eco-friendly.”

Estadio Omnilife is home to Mexican giants Chivas Guadalajara and aims to integrate the stadium with nature, as it is close in proximity to a forest area. Designed by French architects Jean-Marie Massaud and Daniel Pouzet, the stadium is based on the idea of a cloud on top of a volcano, with sloped sides all around, which are overgrown by grass and different types of plants to capture rainwater.

The 45,000 seater stadium opened at the end of July and saw the visit of Manchester United in a pre-season game, who they sold star striker Javier Hernandez to this summer.

Football stadiums are traditionally damaging to the environment, as they require regular watering of the pitch, under-pitch heating to prevent freezing in the winter months and the use of floodlights, scoreboards and video screens, which require a lot of electricity. Combine this with the pollution from thousands of cars travelling to each game, the amount of rubbish created by thousands of fans every game and the sheer amount of carbon dioxide and football stadium are bad for the environment.

Some clubs have begun to get more eco-friendly though. Manchester City, with all their billions from the Abu Dhabi United Group, encourage fans to walk to the ground and cut down on pollution. City also plan to generate their own electricity at the stadium by installing a wind turbine, although this has currently been put on hold. Dartford are another club which has tried to make its 4,000 seater stadium more environmentally-friendly, with a “living roof” of plants to provide a natural air filtration system, solar panels to heat water for the toilets and the use of gray water from two big ponds near the stadium.

What do you think? Should all football stadiums become more eco-friendly? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below…

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