The all-encompassing answer, as it turns out, is that it’s complicated.
The time of year, the local environment, the stadium’s age, size, number of seats, lighting, maintenance operations, offices, how much climate-controlled space is required, does the stadium have a dome, is the dome retractable, and does it generate its own energy are all factors to consider. While stadiums may appear to be nothing more than large buildings, each one is purposefully designed to be distinctive to its community and purpose. Baseball and football stadiums, regardless of whether they are created to handle both sports, are all designed to stand out from the crowd in their respective cities. The same can be said for almost any sports venue complex anywhere on the planet.
What is the cost of powering a stadium?
A kilowatt per hour costs 12 cents on average in the United States. If we wish to run the stadium lights for 4 hours per evening for 15 evenings per month, the equation for metal halide lamps is 70,000 * 0.12 / 1000 and for LED bulbs it is 35,000 * 0.12 / 1000. Metal halide lamps would cost $8.4 per hour to run, while LED lamps would cost $4.2 per hour. If you use your lights for 6 hours per evening for 15 evenings per month, metal halide bulbs will cost $756 per month and LED lamps will cost $378 per month.
How do football stadiums get their funding?
And, as far as New York Governor Kathy Hochul is concerned, it’s a no-brainer.
Hochul didn’t mention the $850 million in taxpayer monies that would be routed to the Bills in a Monday announcement, despite the fact that it is thought to be the largest public investment ever made to create an NFL football facility. Neither on the additional $280 million for maintenance and enhancements, which will bring the total public commitment to well than $1 billion.
Hochul, on the other hand, emphasized the 10,000 construction jobs that will be produced, claiming that the team’s economic benefit will cover “more than 100 percent” of taxpayers’ investment.
Hochul told reporters, “I’m incredibly proud to have negotiated such a wonderful agreement for the state and our many, many fans.”
Some state politicians questioned why Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, who are worth an estimated $5.8 billion, couldn’t just pay for it themselves.
“Economists have had a hard time understanding this,” said J.C. Bradbury, an economics professor at Kennesaw State University and an opponent of public stadium financing.
He and other experts say it’s turned into a strange loop. Local and state governments have been using taxpayer money to help build new sports stadiums for their hometown teams for decades, sometimes with the promise that the venues will have a significant economic impact. Experts have researched those arrangements for decades and discovered that the expected economic benefits did not materialize.
According to Bradbury, governments are not spending less money on stadiums as the amount of research rises and the consensus grows.
“It simply goes to demonstrate,” he continued, “that policy decisions don’t seem to be related to actual understanding.”
For example, the Bills’ new stadium will be the 19th NFL arena built since 2000, and the eighth in a row to cost more than $1 billion. According to numbers obtained by The Buffalo News, just three of those facilities, Gillette Stadium, MetLife Stadium, and SoFi Stadium, were built without any public assistance.
When adjusted for inflation, the other 16 have received a total of $7.3 billion from taxpayers.
“A lot of it has to do with politics, in the sense that no one wants to be the mayor who lost the club because they didn’t sign the funding package,” said Nola Agha, an associate professor of sport management at the University of San Francisco.
Rich local business leaders typically serve as the catalysts for these purchases, according to Bradbury, who recently co-authored a report combining the findings of more than 120 research on the problem dating back 30 years. CEOs who are most likely to entertain customers in a brand-new luxury suite.
How much does it cost to run stadium lights?
The following study will focus on the classic instance of a high school stadium in order to make the headache data easier to interpret. In general, the total electricity bill for a project is the most straightforward to compute. High school football stadium lighting (typical size 105m x 70m) is less demanding than professional games, requiring only 300 to 400lux lighting. Metal halide lamps were originally utilized in the area, which required a total power of 72,000w. Because LED lights are more energy efficient, only roughly 22,500w is required to illuminate the playing field and audience seats after replacing with IP65/IP66 LED lights. The average electricity bill in the United States is $ 0.15 kW/hour, according to popular belief. That is, the operational costs of sports lighting are around 22,500 * 0.15 / 1000 = $ 2.7 / hour for led lights and 72,000 * 0.15 / 1000 = $ 10.8 / hour for fluorescent lights (MH light). The daily cost is $ 21.6 and $ 86.4, respectively, while the monthly cost is $ 432 and $ 1728 if they work 8 hours per day and 20 days per month. We could immediately save 1728-432 = $ 1296 per month in energy costs if we replaced the flood lights with LED flood lights. It’s no surprise that the electrical system manager stated that the operating price is far lower than some people’s expectations. Lighting a football field costs around $ 100 per night, according to George Bates, manager of the electrical system of TCU’s physical plant.
What is the cost of heating a stadium?
Steam is used to heat the building, which is substantially less expensive than natural gas. Talty claims that because hot air rises, they are able to trap the heat.
“We store the heat up there, then bring that warm air back down into the air ducts and push it out again,” he explained.
There are 30 air handling units positioned one floor below street level throughout the stadium. During the winter, the air is continually moving.
They prefer to keep the stadium at 70 degrees, but will lower the temperature to 65 to 66 degrees before a concert or Vikings game because 66,000 people will likely elevate the temperature by several degrees.
“We take advantage of free air conditioning in the fall and spring,” Talty remarked. “So we take the night air and really pump it into the building, lowering the temperature to 66, 64 degrees, and allowing it to increase during the day.”
And what about those sweltering blasts from above the visitor doors? They form an air barrier to keep the cold air out while allowing thawing Vikings fans to enter.