How Much Does it Cost to Run Football Stadium Lights?

When planning to purchase new stadium lights or replace existing HID lights, we may be curious about the cost of running the stadium lights. This is because this is the long term cost of the lights after they are purchased and installed. If you choose the wrong lighting equipment, you may have to pay more than 5 times to 10 times the cost of running football field lights. This is because different lights have their own luminous efficiency, or what is called energy efficiency. By understanding the different stadium lights, we can save on the cost of running the electricity for stadium lights.

How much do football stadium lights cost to run?

First, let’s look at an example of a typical recreational football stadium. Assuming average electricity usage of football field floodlights is around 16,000 watts, say 16 pcs of 1000 watt LED football floodlights. The cost of running the football field lights = 16,000 watts x 8 hours x $0.15 ÷ 1000 = $19.2/day. So if we run the lights on a recreational football or soccer field for 8 hours a day, the cost per day would be about $19.20, or $576 per month for electricity. Remember, this is the running cost of LED lights. If we use metal halide or halogen lights, the running costs will be much higher.

For example, we would need about 35,000 watts of metal halide lamps to produce the same brightness, so the cost to run the lighting in the football stadium becomes 35,000 watts x 8 hours x $0.15 ÷ 1000 = $42 per day, or $1,260 per month. Therefore, by replacing the football field lights with LEDs, we can save approximately $1,260 – $576 = $684 in monthly running costs, or $8,208 in annual running costs. Since LedsMaster’s LED lights will last at least 35 years, we can save up to $8,208 x 35 years = $287,280 in operating costs of football field lights.

Type of football fields	Daily running cost of LED football field lights	Monthly running cost (LED)	Annual running cost (LED)	Annual running cost (Metal halide)
Amateur or recreational football field	$19.2	$576	$6,900	$15,000
High school football stadium	$36	$1,080	$12,960	$28,300
Professional stadium (e.g. FIFA stadium)	$240	$7,200	$86,400	$189,000

From the table above, we can see that the extreme case is that the difference in running costs for football stadium lighting is about $100,000 per year. Since LED football lights are a very energy efficient light source, we can use less wattage to illuminate the entire stadium, resulting in significant savings in energy usage and the corresponding cost savings. Using LED lights is a better choice because we can save more money.

In addition to the price of stadium lighting, we may want to know the subsequent running costs as this will be the main cost of using football stadium lighting. Although metal halide lights are slightly cheaper than LED lights, we cannot ignore the fact that metal halide lights are much more expensive to run, thus adding a lot of burden to your stadium finances. While LED football floodlights are a bit expensive to purchase, they are much less expensive to run.

If you would like to know how much you can save by switching to LED lights for your own lighting project, please feel free to contact us. We offer free sports lighting design and consulting services.