Tobacco-Free Stadia Guidance from Healthy Stadia

Why Tobacco-free Stadia?

Sports clubs and sports facilities have a lot to gain from adopting and enforcing a tobacco free stadia policy prohibiting the use, sale and promotion of any type of tobacco product within a stadium environment. A well enforced tobacco control policy protects fans, staff, players and guests from the acute health hazards of exposure to second-hand smoke, as well as guarding against potential fire hazards, lowering cleaning costs and de-normalising any remaining association between sport and tobacco.

Although the benefits of a tobacco-free stadium policy are now well acknowledged, many clubs and stadium operators are disempowered by a lack of robust national legislation preventing smoking in enclosed and semi-enclosed spaces. However, even if counties have relatively weak tobacco control laws that do not apply to stadium setting, stadium operators still have the right to go beyond legislation by integrating a strict smoke-free or tobacco-free policy into a stadium’s ground regulations.

Tobacco Free Stadia Guidance

The primary reason for adopting a tobacco free stadia policy is to protect stadium users and staff from the acute dangers of second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure. Adopting and enforcing a policy eliminating second-hand smoke and prohibiting the use, sale and promotion of tobacco products at your stadium is one of the most important steps you can take to protect the health and safety of fans and members of staff within the stadium environment.

To assist clubs and stadium operators in the development of a tobacco control policy Healthy Stadia worked with World Heart Federation and UEFA’s Football and Social Responsibility Unit to publish Tobacco-Free Stadia Guidance in 2016 which were use as a template to implement a no smoking policy at UEFA’s EURO 2016 tournament in France.

The guidance document is free to access and provides sports clubs and stadium operators with a step-by-step framework for adopting a Tobacco Free Stadia policy at sports stadia. The guidance includes information on how to define, communicate, enforce and monitor an effective No Smoking policy.