Less floodlights, no undersoil heating: football clubs in Berlin and Brandenburg are turning many screws to save energy. Professional clubs have it much easier than amateur clubs, as research by Friedrich Rößler has shown.
Suddenly it got dark in the Olympic Stadium. That had at Sunday home game on matchday 9 against SC Freiburg (2:2) but nothing to do with the way Hertha BSC played, but with the light. The more than 40,000 football fans were surprised in the second half when the spectator stands were no longer lit at all and the rest of the football temple, apart from the pitch, was only partially lit.
The pre-Christmas atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium turned out to be an experiment by the German Football League (DFL) in close coordination with Hertha BSC and the Olympiastadion GmbH. “In the course of the possibilities for energy-saving potential, we had already reduced the fundamentally required floodlights for 3:30 p.m. games. Now as a test also for a 5:30 p.m. game,” says Hertha spokesman Marcus Jung after an rbb |24 request.
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Always floodlights according to the television contract
The most important factor when dimming the brightness in the Olympic Stadium is the quality for the TV broadcast. “It was bright enough and there were no complaints,” reports Hertha spokesman Jung. You will evaluate everything and then make appropriate adjustments.
Floodlights switched on for all games, that’s what the television contract that all professional clubs in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga have signed stipulates. It is about a better resolution of the images and a uniform look for conference calls. If it is clear to cloudy in Berlin, overcast in Bremen and sunny in Munich, the differences would be annoying for the spectators.
In times of energy shortages and state-imposed cost-cutting measures, however, full-on lighting in the stadiums tends to be irritating. That is why the DFL and professional clubs are now acting and testing how energy costs can be further reduced.
Floodlight only a small proportion of energy consumption
The Berlin Olympic Stadium is already on the right track. A photovoltaic system has been installed on the roof since the beginning of the year, “which will in future produce twelve percent of the energy required on site over the course of a year”. That says Thomas Margraf, spokesman for the Olympiastadion Berlin GmbH.
In 2020, the owner of the football stadium where Hertha BSC plays its home games has upgraded all the lighting to LED technology. “As a result, we save 50 percent electricity compared to the previous system,” adds Margraf. In addition, the new system is easier to control. However, the proportion of floodlights only makes up a single-digit percentage when it comes to the total energy consumption on a Bundesliga match day. Further adjustment screws must therefore be turned.
SV Babelsberg demands abolition of the lawn heating
During the extended winter break from mid-November to January caused by the World Cup in Qatar, the plan is to completely switch off the turf heating in the Olympic Stadium and reduce the temperature in some areas of the stadium. In addition, the relaxation pools in the home and guest areas have been out of service for a few weeks. According to Hertha spokesman Jung, they are already working on a list of how energy can be saved in training.
The regional league club SV Babelsberg 03, on the other hand, insists on doing without the undersoil heating completely. “We consider the operation of this energy-intensive facility in times of burning forests and in view of climate change to be insane,” says board member Katharina Dahme when asked by rbb|24.
No undersoil heating planned in the Regionalliga Nordost
40,000 people have signed the online petition so far, but there has been no reaction from the associations. “But we have submitted an application to the Northeast German Football Association (NOFV) to discuss the matter at the upcoming association day and to decide on support,” says Dahme.
NOFV managing director Holger Fuchs confirmed this to rbb | 24 on the phone. Uwe Dietrich, game committee chairman at NOFV, writes: “In the Regionalliga Nordost, game operations using undersoil heating are not planned.” FC Energie Cottbus should also be happy about that, because its stadium of friendship has such a turf heating, in contrast to the Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion in Babelsberg.
“The operating costs are enormous. For example, we were only able to implement the mission in December 2021 before the top game against BFC Dynamo because several sponsors joined forces for it,” says energy spokesman Stefan Scharfenberg-Hecht. In Cottbus, the average cost of a match day is in the four-digit range, while SV Babelsberg has calculated around 60,000 euros per season. For comparison: Hertha BSC has to pay the landlord 300,000 euros per home game.
National associations offer help
Katharina Dahme predicts a sum of 220,000 to 260,000 euros for 2023 due to rising energy costs, and Scharfenberg-Hecht also expects a significant increase. The lawn heating will remain cold this season, “because with the increased prices it will hardly be possible.” This means that there will be game cancellations in the Regionalliga Nordost again.
In order to reduce energy costs for football clubs in the lower leagues, both the Berlin Football Association (BFV) and the Brandenburg Football Association (FLB) offer assistance for their amateur clubs. At the FLB, for example, the focus is on energy-saving measures for club buildings, game operations and floodlights.
In contrast to the professional sector, amateurs can only train or play after work. In winter the floodlights are on in the squares. The Hertha professionals, for example, can practice on the ball during the day and are paid for it. In lower-class football, the players often have to finance their training themselves through their membership fees.
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Supplementary budget for Berlin in preparation
Increasing energy costs are a big problem for the clubs. Anne Engel, managing director of the FLB, therefore speaks of “a good sign that rescue packages have been launched by the state government”. She hopes “that this will also arrive everywhere.”
Sabine Bieler, spokeswoman for the Berlin Senate Department for the Interior, Digitization and Sport, also gives the small clubs hope. “In order to cushion the massive increases in energy costs, the Senate is planning a Berlin relief package for households, companies and public institutions in addition to the planned federal relief package.” A supplementary budget is already being prepared, and the increased needs of sport have been registered accordingly.
Saving energy at FSV Luckenwalde
Marcel Hadel from FSV Luckenwalde reports what energy saving looks like in practice. For the past three weeks, only half of the space has been used during training and the exercises have been compressed accordingly. “That way we don’t have to do as much lighting,” reports the central defender, whose team consists only of amateur kickers.
The showers are short and no longer “as nice and hot as they used to be”, the relaxation pool and sauna are only used half as much as before the prescribed energy-saving measures. And in the hall, too, great care is taken to ensure that the light is switched off immediately where it is not needed.
“We’re used to playing on ice in winter. The floodlit games are always something very special for us players,” says the 33-year-old. In Luckenwalde they want to switch to LED lamps in the next few weeks in order to save even more energy. Football in Berlin and Brandenburg seems to be better prepared for the energy crisis than for the corona pandemic. However, it is still difficult to estimate the extent to which clubs, associations, states, municipalities and politicians will be challenged.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, October 12, 2022, 3:14 p.m
