Modern day sports in and of themselves carry a relatively light impact on the environment. However, the industry of sports – stadiums, games, fans, merchandise, etc. – are causing major environmental harm.
According to the The United Nations Environment Programme: “Building and managing a sport facility and operating an event uses energy and can contribute to air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation, as well as to ozone-layer depletion, habitat and biodiversity loss, soil erosion and water pollution.” The impacts — which are common in large public organizations, and hardly limited to sports — include damage to fragile ecosystems, noise and light pollution, energy use and emissions, soil and water pollution and waste generation.