IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i6p5568-d1104037.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Sporting Events on Air Pollution: An Empirical Examination of National Football League Games

Author

Listed:
  • Nicholas Watanabe

    (Department of Sport and Entertainment Management, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
    College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha 34110, Qatar)

  • Grace Yan

    (Department of Sport and Entertainment Management, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA)

  • Christopher McLeod

    (Department of Sport Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA)

Abstract

(1) Background: Prior research has found that large-scale sporting events may potentially impose negative consequences on the environment, thus impeding the sustainability goals of the sport industry. Along these lines, the current study extends the literature by examining the impact that National Football League (NFL) games have on local-area air pollution. (2) Methods: Air Quality Index (AQI) data measuring six major forms of air pollution were gathered from air monitors positioned close to NFL stadiums and matched with the number of attendees at games. From this, multiple regression analysis was utilized to estimate whether the number of fans was related to changes in air pollution. (3) Results: The regression models found that Ozone and Nitrogen Dioxide levels increased as more individuals attended NFL games. Additional robustness checks and falsification tests suggest that the average NFL event results in an approximately two-percent increase in Ozone levels. (4) Conclusions: The findings from this study contribute to the literature by providing evidence that highly attended sporting events increase pollution levels in the areas near stadiums. Thus, governments and sport organizations should consider low-emission methods to get fans to travel to games in order to reduce their environmental impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas Watanabe & Grace Yan & Christopher McLeod, 2023. "The Impact of Sporting Events on Air Pollution: An Empirical Examination of National Football League Games," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-13, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5568-:d:1104037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5568/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5568/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chard, Chris & Mallen, Cheryl, 2012. "Examining the linkages between automobile use and carbon impacts of community-based ice hockey," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 476-484.
    2. James Archsmith & Anthony Heyes & Soodeh Saberian, 2018. "Air Quality and Error Quantity: Pollution and Performance in a High-Skilled, Quality-Focused Occupation," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(4), pages 827-863.
    3. Greene, William, 2011. "Fixed Effects Vector Decomposition: A Magical Solution to the Problem of Time-Invariant Variables in Fixed Effects Models?," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 135-146, April.
    4. Stephen L. Locke, 2019. "Estimating The Impact Of Major League Baseball Games On Local Air Pollution," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(2), pages 236-244, April.
    5. Phillips, Pamm & Turner, Paul, 2014. "Water management in sport," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 376-389.
    6. Daniela Dias & Oxana Tchepel, 2018. "Spatial and Temporal Dynamics in Air Pollution Exposure Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, March.
    7. Pamm Phillips & Paul Turner, 2014. "Water management in sport," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 376-389, July.
    8. Stavros Triantafyllidis & Robert J. Ries & Kyriaki (Kiki) Kaplanidou, 2018. "Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Spectators’ Transportation in Collegiate Sporting Events: Comparing On-Campus and Off-Campus Stadium Locations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Fairley, Sheranne & Ruhanen, Lisa & Lovegrove, Hannah, 2015. "On frozen ponds: The impact of climate change on hosting pond hockey tournaments," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 618-626.
    10. J. Lelieveld & J. S. Evans & M. Fnais & D. Giannadaki & A. Pozzer, 2015. "The contribution of outdoor air pollution sources to premature mortality on a global scale," Nature, Nature, vol. 525(7569), pages 367-371, September.
    11. Sheranne Fairley & Lisa Ruhanen & Hannah Lovegrove, 2015. "On frozen ponds: The impact of climate change on hosting pond hockey tournaments," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 618-626, October.
    12. Kyle S. Bunds & Christopher M. McLeod & Martin Barrett & Joshua I. Newman & Joerg Koenigstorfer, 2019. "The Object-Oriented Politics of Stadium Sustainability: A Case Study of SC Freiburg," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, November.
    13. Chris Chard & Cheryl Mallen, 2012. "Examining the linkages between automobile use and carbon impacts of community-based ice hockey," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 476-484, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michal Varmus & Milan Kubina & Martin Mičiak & Michal Šarlák & Ivan Greguška, 2023. "Sustainable Management of the Public Financial Model for Sports Support in Slovakia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-27, July.
    2. Arif Cetin & Aydın Pekel & Cemal Ozman & Beyhan Ozgur & Ayse Demir, 2024. "Comparative Analysis of Carbon Footprints from Away and Home Matches: A Study on Leading Basketball and Football Teams in Türkiye," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-14, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Orr, Madeleine & Inoue, Yuhei, 2019. "Sport versus climate: Introducing the climate vulnerability of sport organizations framework," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 452-463.
    2. Ricardo Roseira Cayolla & Joana A. Quintela & Teresa Santos, 2022. "“If You Don’t Know Me by Now”—The Importance of Sustainability Initiative Awareness for Stakeholders of Professional Sports Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Laurent Castaignède & Frederic Veny & Johnathan Edwards & Véronique Billat, 2021. "The Carbon Footprint of Marathon Runners: Training and Racing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-10, March.
    4. Wicker, Pamela, 2019. "The carbon footprint of active sport participants," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 513-526.
    5. Dalia Perkumienė & Ahmet Atalay & Biruta Švagždienė, 2023. "Carbon Footprint Stemming from Ice Sports on the Turkey and Lithuanian Scale," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-18, February.
    6. Jianglong Li & Shiqiang Sun & Mun Sing Ho, 2024. "Immediate Impacts of Air Pollution on the Performance of Football Players," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 25(6), pages 753-776, August.
    7. Stavros Triantafyllidis & Robert J. Ries & Kyriaki (Kiki) Kaplanidou, 2018. "Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Spectators’ Transportation in Collegiate Sporting Events: Comparing On-Campus and Off-Campus Stadium Locations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, January.
    8. Wenyu Yi & Qian Yang, 2024. "The Influence of ESG Performance on Corporate Value: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese A-Share Listed Sports Companies," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, May.
    9. Christopher Hautbois & Michel Desbordes, 2023. "Sustainability in Sport: Sport, Part of the Problem … and of the Solution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, August.
    10. Cheryl Mallen & Greg Dingle, 2021. "Organizing Sport for Climate Related Adaptations: Lessons from the Water and Forestry Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-14, September.
    11. Soo Hong Chew & Haoming Liu & Alberto Salvo, 2021. "Adversity-hope hypothesis: Air pollution raises lottery demand in China," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 247-280, June.
    12. Gord Watkin & Cheryl Mallen & Craig Hyatt, 2021. "Management Perspectives on Plastics Free Sport Facilities’ Beverage Service," Journal of Management and Sustainability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(1), pages 1-1, June.
    13. Manav Khanna & Tiberio Daddi & Federico Merlo & Fabio Iraldo, 2024. "An Assessment on the Carbon Footprint of a Football Club—an Action Research from Theory to Practice," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 1587-1612, June.
    14. Ricardo Roseira Cayolla & Teresa Santos & Joana A. Quintela, 2021. "Sustainable Initiatives in Sports Organizations—Analysis of a Group of Stakeholders in Pandemic Times," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    15. Lohmann, Paul M. & Gsottbauer, Elisabeth & You, Jing & Kontoleon, Andreas, 2023. "Air pollution and anti-social behaviour: Evidence from a randomised lab-in-the-field experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    16. Chris Chard & Cheryl Mallen, 2013. "Renewable Energy Initiatives at Canadian Sport Stadiums: A Content Analysis of Web-Site Communications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(12), pages 1-16, November.
    17. Mo, Jiawei & Wu, Zenan & Yuan, Ye, 2023. "Air pollution kills competition: Evidence from eSports," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    18. Régis BRETON & Sébastien GALANTI & Christophe HURLIN & Anne-Gaël VAUBOURG, 2011. "Does the firm-analyst relationship matter in explaining analysts' earnings forecast errors?," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 469, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    19. McDonald, Rebecca & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2018. "The Shadow Prices of Voluntary Caregiving: Using Panel Data of Well-Being to Estimate the Cost of Informal Care," IZA Discussion Papers 11545, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Su, Yuandong & Lu, Xinjie & Zeng, Qing & Huang, Dengshi, 2022. "Good air quality and stock market returns," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:6:p:5568-:d:1104037. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.