Due to the technology developed, there was a massive improvement in the football stadium lighting in stadiums where it is difficult to clarify the day and night. Bright football stadium lights on for seniors are vital and necessary in stadium world. Today, let’s talk about everything about the standards of football stadium lights you need to know.
Section 1: What is football stadium lights?
Football sports is a very popular activity that need a particular skills and teams to participate and compete against each other for entertainment. To hold this sports game, there will be venues which are called football stadiums that should accommodate players and fans.
They can take place at any time and lighting plays an important role in marking stadium success. Therefore, Stadium lights mimic the natural lighting all way with the incorporation of artificial lighting in the stadium to ensure the continuity of the sports game.
Why are stadium lights on during the day? Why are stadium lights always on?
Any football or spring/fall baseball game starting after about 2pm is likely to be finishing in twilight, and trying to play during fading light is fairly difficult and the lights do get turned on fairly early — well before they’re really detectable on the field of play. Which is, obviously, the point – from the perspective of a player, you don’t need an extremely noticeable progress amongst sunshine and stadium light. Stadium lighting likewise dispenses with a great deal of odd shadows on the field, and adjusts for the variable splendor that happens when a diversion is played in for the most cloudy conditions, when the sun only occasionally peeks out from behind the clouds.
Section 2: 9 Standards of football stadium lighting you need to know (June 2022 UPDATE)
1)Football field lighting standards
Football field lighting standards have 3 general classifications: One is amateur stadium lighting; The second is semi-professional and the last is for professional stadium lighting. Several important factors that divide them are the average ground lux, the uniformity and whether they are televised or not.
a.Average ground lux
Class I – According to FIFA’s stadium lighting guide, the lowest standard of class I is for training and recreational use, which has around 75-200 lux horizontal illumination. Example: Some high school football grounds and high school sports lighting
Class II – This is a football field lighting standard and regulation for semi-professional stadiums, the Eav is around 500lx-700lx. Example: Leagues and football club
Class III -Stadiums are for national games and international games, it need at least 1000lx. Example: FIFA Word Cup
b.Uniformity
Another important parameter is lighting uniformity of the stadium. The value is range from 0-1 and reflecting the distribution of lumen across the football stadium. The higher the uniformity, the better the lighting effect will be.
Class I- Uniformity is at least 0.5
Class II-uniformity is at least 0.6
Class III-uniformity is at least 0.7
c.Non TV, TV or HDTV Broadcasting
Class I and Class II usually are not used for televised events, while for Class III, it need equipped with TV or HDTV broadcasting, so the lux level and uniformity is higher than class I and Class II.
For international football stadium, the are several position where camera fixed. A best lighting effect can ensure the camera capture the wonderful moments or slow motion when in football games.
2)Glare control to improve player performance
What is glare?
Glare is lighting that enters your eyes and interferes with your vision.Glare on the football sports field can make it difficult for players to see their opponents, field markings, and any other aspect of the sport. This can hinder their performance for both players and spectators alike.
Examples of wrong cases
The standard glare of entire football stadium must be <50. Mecree is specialized in Led stadium lighting industry for nearly 10 years, Led stadium lights have been specially designed to make the glare limited. These glare-free luminaires have a UGR of less than 19 (UGR<19), which is about the same as mild indoor lighting. This means less light spillage and sky glow and better focusing of the light exactly where it needs to be, all while improving visual comfort.
3)Color temperature standard
Color temperature explains how warm or how cool the football lights look like throughout the human eye,and that’s expressed from the unit named Kelvin (K). It generally scales from 1000 to 10, 000 K. For the standards for the football stadiums, the overall color temperature need to be greater than 4,000 k for all classes. But, it’s suggested that cool white lights (from 5,000 K to 6,000 K) would be the most acceptable option since they’re more invigorating and provide much better lighting effect for players in addition to audiences.
4)High color rendering index (Provide a lifelike game experience)
Color rendering is the way to measure if a light source can display object colors sensibly and obviously or not. A high CRI means that objects colors seen under that light are very close to the color as it would be seen under ideal or natural light.
The CRI of football stadium lighting should be at least 70+. Mecree provides Led stadium floodlights with high CRI>80, ensure the ture-to-life color. The high CRI combined with Glare-Free design create better visual for sports fans. While also improving player’s performance and security on the field.
5)Flickering free (Improving the quality of broadcasting)
Flicker and color rendering index (CRI) of the football stadium lights are the two factors that affect the effect on TV or HDTV broadcasting. So flick free is very important for football stadiums.
led stadium lights from MECREE adopted with high-quality Meanwell drivers which will not produce any visible stroboscopic effects thus the clear vision is possible of flick free in a high-definition broadcasting stadium.
6)Light pollution (Light up your field not your neighbor’s house)
The lights are not all in the right place but there is useless light wasted in the sky, and affects neighbors. That is lighting pollution.
To solve this issue, MECREE stadium lights come with anti-glare and precise optical system that direct the lights onto the designated areas to reduce light loss. Besides, Mecree can use the floodlights with smaller beam angle, so the lights become more concentrated.
7)Number of high Masts or light Poles on a Project
a.Four Corners Lighting Guidelines
Four corners lighting means the high masts are located in four corners of the stadium. Light beams cover from the four corners to the centre of football ground. Based on professional stadium lighting, the height of masts should be as high as possible, in order to allow enough room for the stadium lights to travel to the center of football pitch,and create a good anti-glare and uniformity effect.
If the light poles are too low, then the light can’t light too far, thus the stadium is not bright and uniform enough . So around at least 30m( 90 feet) is required in a Class I stadium, to ensure enough quality projection.
b.Four Poles in Center
There are also four poles in the center of the two sides. So we need to take the four corners into consideration when do lighting design. For the pole height, it’s better to be as high as possible. But it not need to be that high as the four corner lighting poles (Based on the same standard).
c.Six to Eight Pole Distribution
Sometimes we may need to install 6 or 8 poles. In this case, the height of the pole don’t need to be very high and can reach a better lighting uniformity and distribution. Usually around 12m for training football court, high school football pitch. The 6 or 8 poles should be installed in equal distance.
The more the light poles, the easier light solution can be designed. Maybe you will think that the cost will be higher because of so many poles– but this is not always the case as lower masts tend to be cheaper than tall ones.
Section 3：Stadium Lighting Questions & Answers
1)Why replace metal halides with Led stadium lights?
The price of metal halides is cheaper than Led stadium lighting, why more than 85% people still replace Metal Halides with Led stadium lights? However, actually, Led football stadium lights not only can create better lighting effect but also will save 80% energy and cost for you in the long term.
Let’s check the table, you will find the reason more intuitively.
| Topic | Metal Halide Lamp | Led Football Stadium Lights | Winner |
| Warm-up Time | 15-20 minutes | No warm-up time. | Led |
| Lifespan | Within 8,000hrs | >8,0000hrs | Led |
|
CRI
|
<50 | 80+/90+ | Led |
| Light Efficiency (lm/w) | 65-85lm/w | 150-200lm/w | Led |
|
Heat Sink
|
>100℃ | <75℃ | Led |
| Lifetime Costs | High maintenance cost of frequently repairing each year | No maintenance cost | Led |
| Optical design | >40% spilled lighting wasted in the sky | >98% lighting is made full use to the field | Led |
| Energy Saving | 2000w MH lamp is 130,000-170,000lm | Led 1000w has 150,000lm, | Led |
| Warranty | <2 years | >5 -10 years | Led |
2)How to choose the best type of football stadium lighting?
Because Led football stadium lighting is flickering free, with higher CRI 80+, anti-glare and light pollution, it has been the main trend for stadium lighting market.
Apart from them, we should take the following 5 aspects to choose the best type of football stadium lighting.
a.Quality LED chips and driver
Cree, Citizen, Bridgelux and lumileds etc are the leading brands of Led chips, Meanwell, Inventronics are the top brand of Led driver industry, the material of lights should be very reliable and comply with the safety
b.High luminous efficiency
This determines the extend of energy saving of your LED flood lights. “Lumen per watt” is the unit indicating the energy efficiency. For example, a LED with 150 lumens per watt, it means that 1W power generates 150 unit of light and brightness. And hence, you will know that the lights with 150 lm/W is more energy saving than 120lm/W.
c.Best lighting control
Beam angle and optical design is very important. With secondary optical design,ensuring 98% lighting can be used for lighting the centre of football ground. Reducing lighting pollution and improve the uniformity.
d.Good heat dissipation
Good heat dissipation avoids the LED flood light being damaged due to overheating. A good heat sink is made of pure aluminum with high heat conducting rate of 238 W/mk – The higher the value, the higher the conductivity rate. The die cast iron is only 54.4W/mk.
It is good that the temperature<75°C in high power Led floodlights, so the lifespan can be ensured longer. If temperature>100°C，it’s warning.
e.Longer lifespan
The long life of 100,000 hours of Led stadium lights is at least 10 times higher than that of metal halides and high pressure sodium lamps. The cost of long-term use of LEDs will be lower and lower.
f.Water-proof
Stadium lights are usually installed outdoors and exposed to moisture, rain, humidity, etc., which may cause damage to electronic equipment. Make sure that the protection level of the lights you buy is IP65 or higher to ensure that they can stand the test.
3)How many football stadium lights will be needed?
It depends on the size, the class level of the football stadium need. For your reference, the lux level of a standard high school football pitch is around 200lx (Class I), so 20pcs 1000w football stadium lights is ok. Please don’t worry, if you want to know the specifically layout and lighting solutions of your field, We offer free DIAlux analog lighting design, tailored to your football field LED lighting solution based on your size, environment and number of poles!
If you want to know how much do football stadium lights cost, click here.
Section 4: Conclusion
Thank you very much for your patience to see here. Hopefully it brings lots of useful idea for you. Mecree is a professional manufacturer of Led stadium lighting for nearly 10 years, if you are still wondering how to meet your standard and whats is greatest football lighting, please feel free to contact info@mecree.com.
Table of Contents
MECREE are committed to offer the right solution for every sport field including to football, baseball, cricket, hockey and professional stadium.
MECREE has launched the following series of LED Sport Stadium Lighting:
MECREE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED PLC (PRECISE LIGHT CONTROL) TO MEET THE NEEDS OF SUCH USERS, POLARIZED LIGHT 73°DEFINED AS P73 SERIES PRODUCTS, P73 SERIES PRODUCTS TO BRING YOU AN UNPRECEDENTED VISUAL FEAST.
Our precisely engineered optics of polarized light aim light directly onto the field of play, to shine uniformly and to minimize glare. Outdoor venues benefit from spill light control, no more skyglow and no more complaints from the neighbors.
1. Such light shield is useless,just misleading customers.
2. As tested it will cause 30% reduction of light output
3. While 70% still have high overflow
4. Unbearable strong glare
5. Waste energy,outdated reflective technology
The power supply and lamp body can be mounted separately, reducing the withstand weight of the lamp pole and facilitating maintenance.
Customized crossarms are available to meet all your existing old poles without replacing the main rod, crossarms bolt directly to light pole, easy and accurate installation saves time, ensures performance, safety and reliability,also lower the budget.
We are not only a manufacturer of high-power LEDs, More professional services are also included:
Provide the most suitable solution through light simulation calculation. Design of Lighthouse, parameters required for building foundation, (axial force, shear force, bending force). High power generator set supporting,circuit design service,cable supply. We are your best supply chain manager! One stop service for you! Of course, lighting solutions for other fields are also included. Save you time,unnecessary costs and greater benefits.
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