Introduction

For any school, club, or cultural and sports center, building a new track and field stadium is an exciting project. When people hear the word “track,” many think of a standard athletic field, which typically includes a traditional 400-meter circular track. In Chinese school campuses, however, these fields usually incorporate a soccer field. In practice, the actual dimensions and shapes of athletic fields often vary depending on site conditions, competition levels, and usage requirements—for example, 200-meter or 300-meter tracks. This diversity means that lighting design (ZGSM lighting design solutions) must be flexible and adaptable rather than one-size-fits-all. In addition to determining the dimensions, athletic field lighting requires identifying the type of playing surface within the track area, which helps establish lighting requirements and, in turn, guide the lighting layout. This article will focus on lighting solutions for athletic fields of various sizes (lengths), and will also cover lighting for soccer fields and other types of playing surfaces within the facility. Athletic field lighting requirements and lighting layouts will also be discussed, with the aim of helping you create a safe, professional, and sustainable sports (lighting) environment for your venue.

Athletic field size – Running track dimensions

Before you begin building new running track facilities, be sure to familiarize yourself with the various types of running tracks and their dimensions. Let’s take a look at some of the most common types of running tracks so you can plan more effectively.

Athletic field with standard 400m running track

The standard 400-meter track in the athletic field is called “oval track”, but it is not a true ellipse in the mathematical sense, it is made of two parallel straight sections and two standard semicircles joined together. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) establishes the dimensions, which are the minimum size for official competitions. The straight sections are 84.39 meters long (extra length to accommodate the 100 meters sprint) and the radius of the curved sections is 36.5 meters. The track is 400 meters around and has eight lanes, each 1.22 meters (4 feet) wide. The first lane is 400 m long and the eighth lane is 453.7 m long because of the change in radius of the arc.  A standard 400-meter track covers an area of 14,594 m², with a length of 176.91 meters and a width of 92.52 meters. See the figure below for specific dimensions of athletic field with 400m running track.

Athletic field with 300m track for primary or high school

300-meter synthetic track surfaces are now increasingly common in primary and middle schools, as well as smaller educational institutions. The official track and field competitions are mainly 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter track specifications. 300-meter tracks are not suitable for professional competitions, and are mostly built on school campuses, where space is limited and it is not possible to install a standard 400-meter track. The entire track system covers an area of 10,305 square meters, which is 29% smaller than a standard 400 meter track, making it ideal for limited spaces.

The track is oval and has a constant lane width of 1.22 m. The total length of a track is 129.16 m and the width is 89.12 m. It’s only 40.04 meters long, so they’ve added an extension on one side of the track to accommodate 100-meter sprints. However, with its limited overall perimeter, it has several dedicated starting blocks, and can host a variety of sprint events from 200 meters to 400 meters. If venue space is limited and there is no need to host large-scale professional track and field competitions, opting for a athletic field with 300-meter track would be a highly practical solution.

Athletic field with track, soccer field or other sports fields

Track and field tracks are often used for other sports as well, which is quite common. Generally, the inner area of a 400-meter track can be used as a field for soccer, American football, or rugby. For example, a standard 400-meter single-curve track has a longitudinal clear dimension of approximately 109 meters and a lateral clear width of 73 meters, which is exactly large enough to accommodate a 105m × 68m international-standard 11-a-side soccer field (More about football pitch lighting), allowing the track and soccer fields to share the same space. In addition to standard 400-meter tracks with a single curvature, some tracks feature curves with two different radii—that is, two different curvature radii. Take a 400-meter track with radii of 51.543 m and 34.00 m as an example; its length and width are 169.63 meters and 99.52 meters, respectively. As we can see, this type of stadium has a more compact, squat profile and can also accommodate an American football field within its interior. Compared to dual-curvature irregular-shaped tracks, standard 400-meter tracks can host certified track and field events at all levels (it is generally believed that dual-curvature tracks are not conducive to setting new athletic records) while also meeting the needs of formal soccer training and intramural competitions, resulting in higher space utilization.

Athletic field lighting requirement

Non-televised athletic field lighting requirement

Athletic field lighting for events not televised primarily serves training sessions, club competitions, or domestic amateur events, with the core objective being to ensure athletes’ visual safety and basic competition functionality. The design focuses on meeting horizontal illuminance standards, while requirements for vertical illuminance are relatively less stringent. According to IAAF and EN12193 standards (More about EN12193 standards for sports lighting), the primary illuminance requirements are categorized based on the level of the event. According to the IAAF Handbook, recreational and training levels require an average horizontal illuminance of no less than 75lux (It’s 100lux as per EN12193 Class III); club competition level requires 200lux; and national and international competitions (non-televised) require 500lux. Other sources indicate that school or community track and field facilities are typically designed to meet a standard of 200lux. To ensure lighting quality, relevant standards also specify requirements for light uniformity and glare control, which ensure that athletes can clearly see the track and surrounding environment while avoiding the adverse effects of glare. For example, at the club competition level, the illuminance uniformity (U2, i.e., the ratio of minimum illuminance to average illuminance) should be no less than 0.6, and the glare rating (GR) should not exceed 50. In addition, the standards specify requirements for the color rendering properties of light sources, typically recommending a CRI greater than 70. For higher-level non-televised events, the standards recommend that the color rendering index (Ra, What’s CRI?) of the light source be no less than 80 and the color temperature be higher than 4000K to provide a favorable visual environment.

Televised athletic field lighting requirement

The lighting requirements for television broadcasts are much more stringent; they must not only meet the athletes’ needs but also provide high-quality footage for the cameras. This requires the system to deliver sufficient and uniform vertical illuminance, as well as meet higher standards for light color. Vertical illuminance requirements are the core metric for broadcast lighting. For national and international competitions, the vertical illuminance requirement for the main camera is 1,000lux; for major international events such as the Olympics and World Championships, the vertical illuminance requirement for fixed cameras is greater than 1,400 lux, while for slow-motion cameras, it increases to 1,800lux. In addition, the uniformity requirements have been raised from U1>0.4 and U>0.6 for national-level competitions to U1>0.5 and U>0.7 for international-level competitions, representing extremely high uniformity (What’s light uniformity and how to improve it?). Since both national and international competitions are televised, the requirements for light sources are extremely high to ensure color accuracy in the broadcast footage. For international competitions, the color rendering index (Ra) must be no less than 90, the color temperature must exceed 5,500K, and corresponding requirements for TLCI are also specified. Finally, the uniformity gradient (UG and what’s uniformity gradient?) is a specialized uniformity metric that must be considered in this application scenario. Unlike conventional illuminance uniformity, it measures the difference in illuminance between a test point and the four surrounding points, reflecting the rate of illuminance decay. The IAAF requires that UG≤20%. The higher this value, the more drastic the changes in illuminance across the field, which can cause visual speed distortion of fast-moving balls and interfere with athletes’ judgment.

Athletic field lighting layout and lighting design

Traditional stadiums typically use a four-tower lighting layout, as shown in the figure below. A comparison of the two lighting schemes clearly illustrates the differences in athletic field lighting design approaches: The first lighting scheme provides complete coverage of both the outer circular track and the inner soccer field, offering comprehensive track and athletic field lighting that accommodates the needs of the track. It creates a continuous and uniform illuminance distribution across the track area, suitable for speed training and competitive events; The second layout concentrates lighting on the inner soccer field, ensuring illuminance only within that area, while illuminance on the outer track drops off rapidly, making it unsuitable for independent running training on the track. For the four-tower layout near the end line, we can combine symmetrical and asymmetrical light distributions (More about symmetric or asymmetric lighting distribution) to meet the overall athletic lighting requirements. Asymmetric light distribution can effectively cover the track lighting, while symmetrical, narrow-beam field lights can better illuminate the central soccer field.

What if your athletic field doesn’t use four tall light poles? The ideal approach is to install additional light poles at the bends to ensure adequate lighting. This is because shorter light poles have a reduced illumination range, and since they are farther from the bends, increasing the tilt angle would cause severe glare (What’s glare and how to reduce it?). In this case, a 6- or 8-pole lighting configuration is more appropriate. To save costs, we recommend a 6-pole layout, with two poles positioned along the extension of the centerline and the other four at the four corners, providing illumination for both the apex of the curve and the goal area. Of course, if your budget allows, an 8-pole layout is preferable, as it offers better control over glare and improves lighting uniformity. The figure shows the lighting results of the 6-pole layout athletic field lighting with running track. Additionally, please note: unless there are no building restrictions at either end of the field, it is not recommended to place light poles at the apex of the curve, as this practice would significantly reduce the field’s land utilization efficiency.

For enclosed arenas with a roof, when using a “roof rim arrangement” lighting layout, it is generally easier to meet the horizontal illuminance requirements for the track; however, the design should not stop at meeting horizontal illuminance standards alone. In the context of event broadcasts, vertical illuminance, uniformity gradient (UG), and flicker factor are key factors in ensuring stable camera footage and visual comfort for athletes. At the same time, it is essential to strictly control light source color-rendering parameters, paying close attention to CRI and TLCI (Television lighting consistency index and what’s TLCI?), to meet the stringent color reproduction requirements of both the audience and high-definition television broadcasts. Furthermore, given the significant height difference between the overhead fixtures and the track surface, if stadium lights with symmetrical light distribution are used to concentrate the light beam, we must also assess the risk of glare. Therefore, it is equally necessary to incorporate asymmetrical light distribution to ensure that our running track lighting fully meets the competition standards for professional multi-purpose athletic facilities (athletic field lighting).

ZGSM sports lighting solutions

Summary

This article systematically outlines the methods and key considerations for running track and athletic field lighting design, emphasizing the need for flexible adaptation to venue dimensions, track types, and the specific sports played there. The article first categorizes three common types of track and field facilities: the standard 400-meter track (as specified by the IAAF, consisting of two straight sections and two semicircular curves, capable of accommodating an 11-a-side soccer field within its perimeter); the 300-meter track suitable for elementary and secondary schools (reducing land requirements by approximately 29% and featuring a 100-meter extension zone); and the double-curvature irregular-shaped track (capable of accommodating American football and other sports). It also identifies the fundamental constraints on the lighting environment imposed by these different configurations. It then clarifies the tiered lighting requirements: when there is no television broadcast, illuminance ranges from 75 lux (training) to 500 lux (national-level non-broadcast events), with a focus on ensuring horizontal illuminance, uniformity (U2≥0.6), and glare control (GR≤50); For televised broadcasts (Difference in televised and non-televised sports lighting), vertical illuminance must be significantly increased (main camera ≥1,000lux, slow-motion ≥1,800lux, Olympic-level ≥1,400–2,000lux), with strict requirements for color rendering index (Ra≥90), color temperature (>5,500K), and illuminance uniformity gradient (UG≤20%) to ensure image quality. Regarding lighting layout strategies, the paper compares the advantages and disadvantages of configurations using four high poles, six poles, eight poles, and roof-edge arrangements. It points out that additional light poles or asymmetric light distribution must be used in the curve sections to balance track and infield lighting while controlling glare and shadows. The full text concludes that successful track and field lighting is a comprehensive balance of geometric dimensions, usage classification, light source performance, and lighting layout (Lighting layout – take soccer field lighting for example), requiring the search for an optimal solution that balances visual safety, competition functionality, and operational economy.

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