Sporting events like the World Cup, US Open must adapt to a hotter century

With year after year of record heat, "hot and muggy" seems like an inevitable part of this year's FIFA World Cup schedule (a UK study shows this could be the hottest World Cup ever). A May heatwave already challenged tennis players at the French Open, and media coverage around the World Cup has noted the serious health risks that fans, players and workers could face from extreme heat at the games, which just kicked off and run until mid-July. Whether you call it soccer, football or fútbol, extreme heat could trigger postponements of any of the matches, including the World Cup Final, scheduled for midafternoon on July 19 in an open-air stadium in New York.

Below, UCLA experts comment on:

• Adapting sporting events to prevent heat exhaustion and other health concerns, including asthma or even heart attacks
• Extreme heat's role as the deadliest weather condition
• The overlooked importance of increasing shade in cities, and new shade solutions debuting for the World Cup

Sporting events must adapt to the 21st century

Bharat Venkat

Venkat is a medical anthropologist and director of the UCLA Heat Lab. He is an associate professor at the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics, with joint appointments in the departments of history and anthropology.

He is available to comment on the physical risks that heat poses to athletes and spectators, and the environmental justice implications of health harms faced by lower-income workers.

Email: [email protected]

"The last 10 years have been the hottest in recorded human history. This summer promises more of the same. Whether you're a professional athlete, a parking lot attendant or a spectator, that heat is dangerous, and potentially lethal: exacerbating pulmonary issues like asthma, contributing to heart attacks, and leading to heat exhaustion and even heat stroke. Athletes are trained to regularly push themselves past their limits. This can make it even harder for them, and for their coaching team, to recognize when it's too hot. Moreover, their bodies are also generating heat, making it that much harder for them to cool down. Even though they're not on the field, heat-related illness is also an issue for spectators who have gathered to cheer on their favorite players, especially in the absence of shade or easy access to water. Sporting events cannot continue in the 21st century without accounting for the demands placed on the body by climate change."

Heat kills more people than any other extreme weather-related disaster

V. Kelly Turner

Turner, an expert on the effects of extreme heat, is a professor of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, co-author of the Luskin Center for Innovation's Heat Policy Brief Series, and associate director of the Luskin Center for Innovation's heat equity group. She regularly advises local and state officials on heat policy to protect playgrounds, neighborhoods and cities.

She can comment on the risks people face from prolonged exposure to heat and solutions to help cool down.

Email: [email protected]

"Heat kills more people than any other weather disaster, including hurricanes, floods or fires. Athletes are especially at risk in the heat because they are doing high-exertion activities. Physical activity, along with personal health and place, determines how hard the body has to work to cool down. Spectators also face risks if they are fully sun-exposed for long periods of time. Everyone - organizers and society, not just individuals - should focus on 'metabolically significant' cooling solutions like finding or offering air conditioning and shade that provide enough cooling to help the body cool down and not have to work so hard."

Shade is a slam dunk

Edith de Guzman

De Guzman is an expert on equitable heat mitigation, urban forestry and climate resilience at UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation and the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She is co-director of the USC- and UCLA-led ShadeLA campaign, which is testing heat policy solutions at some of the upcoming World Cup matches.

She can speak to the health risks of heat, the importance of simple solutions like shade, and the need to adapt cities and sporting events to growing heat risks.

Email: [email protected]

"In an increasingly hot era, mega-sporting events bring higher risks of heat-related illness and even death, whether at the FIFA World Cup this year, the Super Bowl next year, or the Olympics in 2028. Heat should concern fans, workers, volunteers and athletes. When it's hotter, we see spikes in the average number of daily deaths in Los Angeles County, sometimes as much as 30% higher, or up to 50 more people than would have died on a non-spike day. Shade is the slam-dunk way to create safer conditions.

"We know that the communities that most need relief from heat are often in shade deserts, and these are often the same neighborhoods near the stadiums at the focus of these mega-events. The ShadeLA campaign will debut the winning shade structure from our inaugural design competition at a Metro site in Inglewood on June 12. On June 27, ShadeLA is working to provide a large shade structure for fans watching the World Cup on a big screen in a City of Los Angeles community celebration site in South LA, in the hopes of demonstrating how to use temporary shade for such events."

Check out more UCLA World Cup expertise on everything from the economics to the fan diaspora.