The sporting industry is “playing against the clock” and faces major disruptions because of climate change, a new report is warning.
Summer and Winter Olympics, top-tier football leagues, tennis, athletics, golf and cricket are all already impacted by changing meteorological patterns but the worse is yet to come, the report from the Rapid Transition Alliance states.
It warns that within the next three decades, one-quarter of English league football grounds will be at risk of flooding every season, one in three British Open golf course will be damaged by rising sea levels, and half of previous Winter Olympic cities will be unreliable hosts of winter sports.
It highlighted that several high-profile sporting events have already been disrupted because of climate change.
Unprecedented pacific typhoons led to some matches being cancelled during the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan; the New York triathlon, as well as multiple horse races, were also cancelled in 2019 because of a heatwave in the Northern hemisphere.
During the 2014 Australian tennis Open — when four days of above 41C temperatures were recorded — more than 1,000 fans were treated for heat exhaustion, Caroline Wozniacki’s plastic bottle melted as did Wilfred Tsonga’s shoes.
