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Football Field Lighting

High School & College LED Lighting Solutions

Football Lighting – LED Lighting for Football Fields Made Easy

If you’ve got a high school or college football field or stadium to light, Access Fixtures has all the resources you need to do it. Introducing all new football field lighting packages, layouts, and solutions for any level of play. These package and custom solutions will provide incredible lighting for your football field, often at a fraction of the cost of other lighting manufacturers.

Access Fixtures’ football lighting solutions are backed by years of sports lighting experience. Access Fixtures’ sports lights are the perfect solution to dull, uneven, or just plain awful football lighting. When the heart of the game depends on making that perfect catch, great lighting with appropriate horizontal and vertical footcandles is of paramount importance.

Working with an Access Fixtures lighting specialist makes it easy. The lighting specialist will work with you to determine all your requirements. Structural engineers will design the poles to meet the wind and weight requirements for the lighting. A lighting engineer will plan the lighting and then model the plan, providing you with a photometric study. The lighting specialist will review all reports with you and answer every question. Then, when you are ready, your poles and lighting will be manufactured and shipped to you. 

The lighting standards for high school and college football leagues below.

 

High School vs. College Field Measurements

The crux of the gameplay of American football involves gaining yardage towards the other team’s end zone. Therefore, all football fields are 120 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide. The playing field is 100 yards long and each end zone is 10 yards deep. These standard measurements apply to high school and college football fields and even professional NFL fields.

The sizing difference between different levels of play lies in the space between the two sets of hash marks that traverse the field. To the right, there is a diagram of a typical high school football field layout with all of the relevant markings. The difference in the width of the hash marks from high school level to NFL level is shown below.

  • High School —  53 feet, 4 inches
  • College — 40 feet
  • NFL — 18 feet, 6 inches

Pole Placement and Lighting Standards

The diagram to the right shows how football field lighting poles can vary in both layout and quantity. The most typical setup for poles is 4 poles, but 6-pole and 8-pole setups are also common. When dealing with large stadiums, poles may be placed between bleachers or stands. 

Lighting standards for football fields do vary depending on level of play. IES, or Illuminating Engineering Society, recommends the following footcandle minimums for differing levels of play:

  • Recreational (Limited or no spectators): 20fc
  • High School (Up to 2,000 spectators): 30fc
  • High School (Up to 5,000 spectators): 50fc
  • College: 100-150fc

As you can see, the level of light needed to illuminate a football field depends largely on the amount of spectators the field is built to accommodate. College football is generally a major event and is often televised, which means that there are often over tens of thousands of spectators. A large stadium and an equally large crowd increases the recommended amount of footcandles substantially. 

Max/min ratios for lighting a football field also vary depending on level of play. A max/min ratio measures how even the lighting in a given space is. It is calculated by dividing the maximum amount of footcandles present in an area by the lowest amount of footcandles present in the same area.  A max/min ratio of under 3.0 is generally considered to be even lighting with no hot spots or shadowy spots on the lit surface. For high school level and below, a max/min ratio of 2.5 or below is acceptable. For college and higher, a ratio of 2.0 or below is necessary. 

 Football Lighting and the Environment 

Today, all communities are concerned about the environment. Access Fixtures is concerned too. Access Fixtures LED light fixtures do not contain Mercury and the vast majority of the components including the poles are recycle-able. The newest trend in football field lighting is dark sky compliant football field lighting. Access Fixtures lighting engineers can design and build football field lighting that is dark sky compliant. 

 APTI: The Best Football Field Lighting Fixture

Access Fixtures’ APTI sports lighter is the best option to light any football field regardless of level of play. These high-powered fixtures get the job done.

The APTI is an energy-efficient luminaire that emits 125+ luminaire lumens per watt. It is available in multiple wattages and different combinations of these wattages may be used to create a perfectly even lighting solution for a football field.  APTI luminaires feature custom optics, finish, and color temperature, though 5000-5600K is most commonly seen in football lighting.

APTI fixtures are IP67 rated, rendering them submersible, dustproof, corrosion-proof, and bug-proof. Their modular design means that they are field-reparable and incredibly easy to replace. APTI fixtures are guaranteed with an Access Fixtures warranty for five years after the purchase date.

The APTI fixtures can be mounted several different ways on different pole styles. Access Fixtures carries steel, aluminum, and fiberglass poles with a large assortment of mounting options. Mounting equipment and hardware are included with any purchase of a football field lighting package. Depending on the location, customer preference, and amount of fixtures, customers might choose one type of pole over another. Generally, questions of design are up to the customer’s discretion. Please note that football field lighting should only be installed by a licensed electrician!

Great Lighting is Our Goal

Football field lighting just became simpler than ever. Any high school or college football field can be lit with long-lasting and efficient LED sports lighters. To fast-track your football field lighting experience, request a photometric analysis from Access Fixtures. A photometric analysis will take all the dimensions, playing surface, and other factors of your football field into account and generate a computerized report of the lighting on your field with the best available optics and luminaires. This will provide the most accurate and even lighting for your project. Feel free to ask our lighting specialists any questions you may have regarding your football field lighting project or any other project.

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