What Are the Lighting Requirements of Basketball Court

Appropriate lighting is critical for the safety and gratifying experience of participants on the basketball court. Basketball players would like to enjoy the game while spectators would like to watch the game with clear vision. Basketball court operators, however, want a cost-effective and energy-saving lighting system with sufficient lighting.

Generally, the basketball court is 28 m long and 15 m wide. But not all basketball courts are of the same size. For example, the size of the NBA (National Basketball Association) court is 28.7 m long and 15.2 m wide. In addition to the size, lighting standards are also different in diverse areas. The lighting requirements of basketball courts vary from country to country. IES provides criteria for sports facilities called “Recommended Practice for Sport and Recreation Area Lighting”. Though the criteria only establish the minimum requirements of basketball court lighting, it does help us to meet the needs of all participants with a safer and more effective lighting system.

LED is becoming the preferred option for lighting systems because of its long lifespan, energy efficiency, and low maintenance. AGC is the ideal LED fixture manufacturer for your basketball courts. We would like to talk about the requirements of basketball courts in this post. First, we will talk about the common lighting requirements of the basketball court. Next, the classification of basketball events will be displayed. At last, we will show you the specific requirements for outdoor basketball courts and indoor basketball courts.

Common lighting requirements

Proper Illumination

With proper illumination, the audience will have a more pleasant experience as they are clear about how wonderful the game is. Players can judge the height and landing point of the ball more accurately to improve their game performance. Referees are able to make more accurate judgments and improve the fairness and impartiality of the game. Professional competitions often have higher requirements for illumination.

Visual comfort

Visual comfort is relevant to glare and flicker. Glare is one of the most important factors in evaluating the quality of lighting, which is related to the installation method of the fixtures, the installation height, the number of fixtures, and the lighting distribution, etc. Flicker can lead to hazy vision in athletes. When observing the movement of the basketball, you may see a relatively blurred shadow in low resolution.

Lighting uniformity

In the basketball courts, over the large power of a single fixture, unreasonable emission of the fixture shade and incorrect installation height and spacing will lead to uneven light distribution. However, the human visual field space will be converted with the conversion of the viewing angle, and the uneven distribution of light will cause blurred vision as sudden too bright or too dark lighting.

Basketball event classification

Competition level

Basketball matches are simply classified in amateur and professional one. For further lighting guidance, basketball events are classified into three classes according to the competition level, including top-level competition, mid-level competition and low-level competition.

• Class I: Top-level competition, including national and international competitions. A large number of spectators may watch the game from a long distance in this class. Top-level training is also involved in this class.
• Class II: Mid-level competition, including regional or local competitions. A medium size spectators watch a game from a medium viewing distance. High level training is also involved in this class
• Class III: Low-level competition, including local and small club competitions. General training, recreational activities, and school sports (physical education) are also included in this class. However, there are nearly no spectators in low-level competitions generally.

Televised or non-televised

Another important factor in basketball events is whether the events are televised. Lighting recommendations for televised and non-televised events are varied. Basketball is a fast-moving and dynamic sport. Broadcasts would like to offer consistent, clear and colorful images for spectators. Televised basketball activities required sufficient vertical lighting for the camera. The average maintained vertical illuminance levels are recommended at 1.5 m above the competition area surface. Illuminance and uniformity should be also taken into account. For television broadcasting, when the camera shoots a panoramic view of the playing area, the greatly varied illumination will cause camera exposure. The lighting should remain uniformity and limitation of obtrusive light on the track area, both sides of the pole, cross projection, as well as eliminate shadows, to meet the requirement of HD camera shooting. Glare control is significant for smooth broadcasts. Not all fixtures have glare control function, consult the lighting manufacturer and select the fixture with high glare control performance.

The lighting recommendations for basketball televised events are as follows:

• Major events

 

• National events

 

Outdoor basketball court

For outdoor basketball courts, fixtures are faced with harsh environments, such as rain, dust, and wind. The fixtures should be dust-proof and water-proof. Lighting pollution may occur in outdoors without glare control. Reducing light pollution is also important for protecting the health of people.

Minimize light pollution

Most outdoor sports places are located near the residential area, so strict requirements of lighting angles and coverage are presented to protect people around from disturbing as over brightness would be harmful to eyes. In addition, light pollution may cause people feel anxiety, lack of concentration and bad sleeping experience. It would cause serious insomnia and headaches even worse.

Waterproof & dust-proof

To indicate the degree of protection of electrical equipment enclosures against the intrusion of foreign objects, IP (Ingress Protection) is generated as the scale. The LED light rated with high IP value means it is not only dust-proof but also able to withstand high pressure and steam cleaning. The higher the IP rate of the fixtures, the better the effect of dust and water resistance.

The lighting recommendations for outdoor non-televised basketball events are as follows:

 

Indoor basketball court

Indoor basketball courts have higher requirements of CRI and brightness ratio. Different from the harsh environment of outdoor basketball courts, indoor basketball courts are not likely to suffer rain and strong winds.

High CRI

CRI (Color Rendering Index) is the ability to reflect the true color of the item. The closer the color rendering index is to 100, the more natural the colors of the product will appear. Lighting with high CRI can not only promote accuracy for players to judge the track of the flying ball, the location of themselves and the surrounding environment, but also offer a clearer vision for spectators.

Brightness ratio

Brightness ratio is the difference of the color of the object and the background. The brighter object and the slightly darker background will be great for the vision affect. Conversely, if the background is brighter than the objects, visibility will be significantly reduced. The poor lighting conditions, especially the lack of luminance difference, it may cause false visual phenomena.

The lighting recommendations for indoor non-televised basketball events are as follows:

 

Want professional, high-quality, but also cost-effective basketball lighting? Just contact us.

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