Comparative Analysis of Carbon Footprints from Away and Home Matches: A Study on Leading Basketball and Football Teams in Türkiye

Problem: Basketball and football teams in Türkiye have the capacity to travel hundreds of kilometres for league matches. In general, such major leagues and leading teams travelling from Türkiye have not been sufficiently researched in the context of Türkiye’s leading leagues and teams. In this context, the aim of this study is to assess and compare the carbon footprint of the transport activities of basketball and football teams in Türkiye for their home and away matches for the 2023–2024 season. Methods: The research is based on EN 16258 and ICAO carbon emissions methodologies. This study aims to calculate and compare the carbon footprint of different transport methods, including bus and plane, used by five basketball and football teams in Türkiye. Results: The findings show that there are significant differences between the teams in terms of travelling distances and carbon footprints. Trabzonspor from the Black Sea region released the highest CO2 emissions from air travel with a total of 91,667.1 kgCO2e, while Fenerbahçe Beko had the lowest CO2 emissions with 5316.72 kgCO2e. In terms of bus travel, Gaziantep FK led the CO2 emissions with 4356.45 kgCO2e, while Türk Telekom was the team with the lowest CO2 emissions with 1233.225 kgCO2e. The findings also reveal a notable difference in the number of trees teams need to plant to offset their carbon emissions. Because of their travel patterns, Antalyaspor would need to plant 3481 trees, whereas Fenerbahçe Beko would only need to plant 348 trees. Conclusions: Air travel is emerging as the dominant source of CO2 emissions and has a greater impact on the environmental impact of teams that rely heavily on airplanes. In this study, the league structure and duration play a critical role in shaping the carbon footprint of sports teams. The football season, which is longer compared to basketball, requires more frequent travel, especially for teams in more remote regions, resulting in higher carbon emissions than basketball. The dominance of Marmara region teams in basketball has a negative impact on the carbon footprint since these teams generally have shorter travel distances.