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Sports Lighting: From Edison to LED

August 11, 2021
The history of stadium lighting

The evolution of Sports Lighting has been a long and arduous one. Sports contests held without daylight were once nearly impossible due to lack of visibility, but in just one year after Edison patented his carbon-filament incandescent lamp, the first baseball game was played at night. Early floodlights lacked the brightness of modern Sports Lighting, so inventors set out to find new ways to improve lighting technology for Sports events. The next innovation in Sports Lighting was Gilbert Reiling’s 1959 invention of the metal-halide lamp. White Light-emitting diodes (LED) lights did not come along until 1990.

The next generation of stadium lights

LED lighting has been used in sports stadium lighting projects for a while now, and this has been done to produce cleaner white light that matches other types of fill lights. Many stadiums with older metal halide fixtures using high-pressure sodium bulbs have been retrofitted using LEDs as replacements; the benefit of LED lighting over an HPS system (high pressure sodium) is long-term savings. Sure the intial cost may seem high, but the payoff is typically around 3.5 years.

In 1992, Charlotte Motor Speedway became the first track to install lighting and host night races. MLB partnered with NRDC in 2008 as part of their “Going Green” initiative by reducing their carbon footprint and working towards more sustainable sports arenas. In 2012, the Oncenter War Memorial Stadium in Syracuse contracted Eaton’s Ephesus lighting becoming the first professional hockey arena in America to do so.

A great fan experience

Now many college and high school stadiums are also paying closer attention to the sports lighting industry, as it becomes more important for them to work with designers who can address their particular needs while staying within budget constraints. Companies like ESL Vision offer lighting layouts with illuminance calculations and aiming diagrams for pin-point precision in creating the optimal lighting for any venue. With a 240° tilt range, a 110° orient range and the optional aiming laser, finding the exact orientation for each fixture is quick and easy. 

ElecTech, LLC is a family-owned company that has been in the business of sports lighting for over 10 years. With our extensive knowledge and experience, we can provide you with all your needs from design to installation. Contact us if you have any questions about how LED sports lights may work better than other types of light fixtures for your sporting venue.
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