How Climate Change Is Affecting the NFL
Rising temperatures can be dangerous at NFL training camps.Getty Images
By Jeffrey KlugerFebruary 7, 2025 7:00 AM EST
If you were among the 68,500 fans in the stands to watch the National Football League’s (NFL) San Francisco 49ers host the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 6, 2024, you could be forgiven for forgetting that football is a fall and winter sport. Temperatures at game time that day peaked at 98°F—hot enough that the 49ers swapped out their uniforms, switching from red jerseys and gold pants to red jerseys and white pants, to reflect more heat away. “Hopefully [that] helps a little,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan told ESPN before the game.
The two teams got through the day without serious injury, but athletic exertion in extreme heat can be dangerous—even deadly. Players are at risk of heat exhaustion, characterized by symptoms including faintness, dizziness, fatigue, weak or rapid pulse, and low blood pressure; and heat stroke, with symptoms including high core body temperature, change in mental or emotional state, racing heart rate, rapid breathing, nausea, and headache. In extreme cases, excessive heat can lead to organ damage, heart failure, and death.
The league’s Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles won’t face anything like that punishment during this Sunday’s Super Bowl, which will take place in New Orleans, where the forecast high for game day is 75°F. And, in any case, the game will be played in an indoor stadium. Either way, there is no escaping the fact that the world is steadily—and dangerously—heating up. This year was the first to see the planet register average temperatures 1.5°C (2.7°F) higher than pre-industrial levels, the benchmark established by the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, which seeks to limit future warming to well below 2°C in the 21st century, with a preferred target no higher than 1.5°C. The NFL might seem like an afterthought in an existential crisis like climate change, but the league is, all the same, feeling the pain.
https://time.com/7213399/how-climate-change-is-affecting-the-nfl/
