In Belgium, Stadium Lights Will Be On For Less Time

In Belgium, Stadium Lights Will Be On For Less Time

The stadium lights will be reduced in Jupiler Pro League and Challenger Pro League matches from next weekend (16-18 September). Together with rights holder Eleven Sports, Mediapro, the Professional Referee Department of the KBVB and technical partners Deltacast and Studiotech/EMG, the match protocols have been adjusted to allow the stadium lights to be on for a shorter time without negatively affecting match organisation or production. In this way, all parties involved want to contribute to a reduction in energy consumption.

“As a first step in mitigating the impact of the energy crisis, we will leave the stadium lights on for less time from next weekend. We will halve the time the stadium lights are on at full capacity outside match hours. Rising energy prices affect the whole of society, our families, businesses and also our clubs. So together we are looking at what further steps we can take to mitigate the budgetary impact and use energy more rationally.”

Lorin Parys, CEO of the Belgian Pro League

From standard 3 hours before the match, the lights will only come on 1.5 or 2 hours before the match in the Jupiler Pro League and 1h15 in the Challenger Pro League from next weekend. After the match, the standard time of 2h will be reduced to 30 minutes in the Challenger Pro League and 1h in the Jupiler Pro League.

Following the energy crisis, the Pro League rolled out a track to look for measures to analyse and, where possible, mitigate energy consumption in professional football. In addition to this first measure, the Pro League is investigating a number of additional avenues that can support clubs in a sustainable energy policy in the short and medium term.

“For example, energy audits are starting, we are looking at group purchases and we are investigating the further rollout of LED lighting.”

Lorin Parys, CEO of the Belgian Pro League