30 May What is a Healthy Stadia Assessment?
Performing Healthy Stadia Assessments is a core component of our programme of work. Ahead of the UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday and the UEFA Nations League Finals in early June, we take an in-depth look at the Healthy Stadia Assessment process and how clubs and stadia can benefit from supporting the health of their fans and their staff.
Millions of people across Europe attend a sports stadium every week to watch their team, to work, to volunteer or to use a stadium’s facilities. And stadiums are often located in inner-city, urban areas that experience higher levels of deprivation and health inequalities. This means that the communities surrounding stadia and indeed the fans that attend on a matchday are more likely to suffer poor mental and physical health than the national average.
Using a settings-based approach, Healthy Stadia work with clubs, stadia, league operators and national governing bodies to maximise opportunities for people of all ages to have a positive healthy experience playing or watching sport.
Whilst we have expertise in stadium operations and coordinating community programmes, for a club or stadium that is new to the concept of “Healthy Stadia” it can be quite the challenge to fully appreciate how your operations are affecting the health of your stadium’s users and what opportunities there might be to have a positive impact.
Assessment Process
That’s where the Healthy Stadia Assessment process comes in. Healthy Stadia has developed a robust and flexible assessment framework to help clubs and stadium operators benchmark current policies and practices that relate to public health outcomes.
From a matchday operations perspective, we look at the existing No Smoking policy in relation to national tobacco control laws in stadia, current provision of walking and cycling for both fans and staff and also concessions catering. We also look at the community profile of a club and associated trusts or foundations and whether or not they are positively impacting their local communities from a public health perspective. Finally, we also look at commercial relationships and support for local, national and international health campaigns.
The Healthy Stadia Assessment consists of a three step process, usually completed over a 6-8 week period and analyses matchday operations, community and fan interventions and workforce wellness. The process is as follows:
- Tenant club(s) and / or stadia to complete a baseline survey providing an initial benchmark of current health promoting policies and practices
- Healthy Stadia will undertake a site inspection and stakeholder meeting with key representatives, including facilities management, community/CSR staff and any key partners
- Development of a final report, including guidance, a set of key recommendations and milestones for stadia operators and tenant clubs.
So whether you have 5,000 or 95,000 seater stadium based in London or Lithuania we can help you to have a positive impact on the health of your fans and your staff. Beyond that, the Healthy Stadia Assessment process can help to build a positive corporate profile, nurture new partnerships, uncover further business opportunities and even help to secure additional sources of funding.
UEFA Partnership
Healthy Stadia is an associate partner within UEFA’s Football and Social Responsibility portfolio and part of our programme of work with UEFA involves performing Healthy Stadia Assessments at selected UEFA competition venues. Healthy Stadia currently assesses the UEFA Champions League Final, UEFA Women’s Champions League Final, UEFA Europa League Final and UEFA Super Cup Final host venues on an annual basis.
This year, we have also undertaken Healthy Stadia assessments at the two UEFA Nations League Final venues in Guimarães and Porto and have been working hard behind the scenes preparing stadia for UEFA EURO 2020. To date we have assessed the following stadia on behalf of UEFA.
If you would like to learn more about the Healthy Stadia Assessment process or are interested in commissioning Healthy Stadia to undertake an assessment at your stadia, please email: michael.viggars@healthystadia.eu
