Teams line up ahead of the Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Lecce at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Napoli, Italy, Wednesday August 31, 2022
The Italian soccer league announced a number of energy saving measures today, starting with reducing the number of hours stadiums are allowed to be illuminated.
The Lega Serie A said stadiums would only be allowed to be lit for a maximum of four hours.
For matches starting before 6pm, the league said the floodlights could only be fully turned on an hour before kickoff, instead of the 90 minutes previously allowed.
It estimates that both measures will cut the amount of time stadiums are illuminated by a quarter.
“It’s a first step, for now,” Lega Serie A president Lorenzo Casini said. “Stadium lights are fundamental … but we felt it was only right to reduce the illumination of facilities as much as possible, before and after matches, to significantly reduce consumption.”
The league’s governing body is also working on projects to make stadiums more energy efficient — such as installing solar panels and switching to LED lighting — and also to improve under soil heating usage with colder weather approaching.
