British Sport Is Dangerously Under-Prepared for Climate Change, Report Warns as Floods, Heat and Drought Bite

LONDON — British sport is dangerously under-prepared for climate change, according to a new report that finds extreme weather damaged facilities, disrupted fixtures, raised costs and kept people away from sport across the country in 2026.

The report, by the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS), says every organisation it surveyed reported being affected by extreme weather in 2026, yet 94% said the sector as a whole was under-prepared for climate change. A separate review of professional club disclosures found only nine clubs had explicitly identified climate or extreme weather as a business risk, Reuters reported on November 5, 2026.

"Sport is already paying the price for climate change through damaged grounds, rising insurance costs, lost match-day income and lost opportunities for people to be active," BASIS founder Russell Seymour said in the report. "The game has changed. Extreme weather is no longer a series of isolated disruptions; it is a material, recurring and intensifying business risk."

The findings land just days before the COP31 climate talks open in Antalya, Türkiye, on November 9, where governments will discuss why climate finance and adaptation efforts remain far behind what scientists and United Nations agencies say is needed. They also follow a long, hot and exceptionally dry summer in Britain in 2026, which put the pressures described in the report on full display.

Illustration: A flooded football stadium stand and waterlogged pitch after heavy rain.

What Happened

BASIS surveyed more than 200 clubs, venues and governing bodies across British sport. Among them, 86% reported being affected by extreme heat, 78% by drought, 31% by storm damage and 28% by flooding, according to Reuters' account of the report.

The damage was not confined to one sport or one level of the game. The report describes a sporting landscape built for weather conditions that no longer exist, with impacts felt from Premier League stadiums down to grassroots playing fields. Facilities were damaged, fixtures were disrupted, costs rose and participation fell — a combination that hits smaller clubs hardest, because they have the thinnest budgets and the least room to absorb a lost match day.

Flood risk is one of the report's starkest findings. BASIS said 27% of professional soccer, rugby league and rugby union stadiums it analysed in England face high direct flood risk, a figure projected to rise to 35% under future climate scenarios. In other words, more than a quarter of the country's leading professional grounds are already in the highest-risk category, and the share is expected to grow as the climate warms.

Several clubs have already felt the cost in their accounts. AFC Wimbledon reported nearly £900,000 — about $1.2 million — in stadium flood costs in its 2025 accounts, Reuters reported. Worcestershire County Cricket Club's flood-prone New Road ground has repeatedly faced questions about its long-term viability, while Carlisle United have described flood insurance for Brunton Park as increasingly unaffordable.

At the top of the game, the risk is now being stated in formal investor disclosures. Manchester United have warned investors that extreme weather could damage property, disrupt match-day operations and cause losses that may not be fully covered by insurance. The report draws a pointed conclusion from that disclosure: "If a club with Manchester United's scale and resources considers this risk sufficiently material to disclose to investors, smaller and less financially resilient institutions cannot reasonably treat it as peripheral."

Background

The BASIS findings did not emerge from a single bad season. They reflect a pattern that has been building for years, in which hotter summers, drier ground, heavier downpours and more frequent storms have steadily raised the cost and complexity of running outdoor sport in Britain.

Research cited by BASIS found at least 118 weather-related postponements across the top six tiers of English men's football between the 2021-22 and 2025-26 seasons, with lower-league and non-league clubs bearing the brunt. Cancelled or rearranged matches can mean lower attendances and reduced revenue, and for clubs operating on tight budgets, a handful of lost home games can be the difference between breaking even and falling into difficulty.

The summer of 2026 made the abstract concrete. Britain experienced a long, hot and exceptionally dry summer, and the consequences were visible across sport. The Rugby Football Union took the unprecedented step of postponing the start of the community rugby season in September because of rock-hard pitches and player welfare concerns. Hard, baked ground is not merely uncomfortable to play on; it increases injury risk, particularly for amateur players who do not have access to the irrigation and groundstaff of professional clubs.

Illustration: A cracked, dry grass sports pitch under intense summer heat.

Beyond elite and organised sport, the report warns of a public-health cost. Sport England found that nearly three-quarters of people affected by this year's unprecedented heatwaves participated in less sport and physical activity. When heat, smoke, flooding or storm damage closes a pitch, a pool or a running route, the loss is not only a fixture; it is exercise that does not happen, social contact that does not happen, and, over time, health that is harder to maintain.

That wider picture is consistent with what United Nations agencies reported in the same week. The UN Environment Programme's 2026 Adaptation Gap Report, released on November 4, found that international public adaptation finance flows from developed to developing countries reached only $28.2 billion to $31.7 billion in 2024 — just $1 billion more than the previous year — against estimated needs of about $305 billion a year by 2035 for developing countries alone. Even tripling that finance by 2035, as agreed at COP30, would cover only 20 to 29% of needs, UNEP said. The British sport report and the UNEP report describe different scales of the same problem: adaptation is lagging behind a climate that is already changing.

Why It Matters

The BASIS report matters first because it reframes extreme weather as a business risk rather than bad luck. A flooded stand, a postponed season or an unaffordable insurance premium is not a one-off misfortune to be absorbed and forgotten; it is a recurring cost that needs to be planned for, budgeted for and disclosed. The fact that only nine professional clubs had explicitly identified climate or extreme weather as a business risk, despite every surveyed organisation being affected, suggests that planning has not caught up with experience.

Second, the report highlights an inequality within sport itself. Large clubs can absorb a flood bill, renegotiate insurance or invest in drainage and heat-resistant surfaces. Grassroots clubs, community grounds and lower-league teams often cannot. When their pitches flood or bake hard, fixtures are lost, volunteers are stretched, and players — especially young players — drift away. The report's call for a £30 million annual fund to help protect grassroots facilities from increasingly volatile weather is aimed squarely at that gap.

Third, the findings matter for public health. Sport is one of the main ways people stay active, and the Sport England finding that nearly three-quarters of people affected by this year's heatwaves did less sport shows how quickly climate disruption can translate into less movement. If pitches and parks become unusable for longer stretches of the year, the health costs will be paid far beyond the sports sector, in clinics and hospitals and in lost wellbeing.

Finally, the report arrives at a moment when climate policy is under scrutiny. With COP31 opening on November 9 in Antalya, negotiators will examine why nations remain off track on climate finance pledges, including a COP29 commitment to deliver $300 billion a year in climate finance to developing countries. The British experience — a wealthy country with a well-resourced sports sector still struggling to adapt — is a reminder that adaptation is not only a problem for the most vulnerable countries, even though they bear the greatest burden and receive the least funding.

Illustration: Volunteers inspecting storm damage at a small community sports ground.

What Happens Next

BASIS calls for climate resilience to become a boardroom priority across British sport. That means dedicated adaptation plans for clubs and governing bodies, improved reporting of climate risks, and investment in facilities — drainage, irrigation, shade, flood defences and surfaces that can cope with both drought and deluge — before the next extreme season rather than after it.

Whether that happens will be visible in the months ahead. Watch for whether more professional clubs follow Manchester United in naming climate risk explicitly in their disclosures, whether governing bodies publish adaptation plans with budgets attached, and whether the proposed £30 million annual grassroots fund gains political or sporting backers. The test of the report will not be whether it is quoted, but whether next summer's heat or next winter's floods find clubs better prepared than this year's did.

The international calendar will also shape the context. COP31 runs from November 9 to 20 in Antalya, and its outcomes on adaptation finance will signal how seriously governments are taking the gap UNEP identified. A stronger adaptation outcome would not fix a flooded pitch in Carlisle or a rock-hard rugby ground in September, but it would show that the system is beginning to treat adaptation as the urgent, funded work it is, rather than an afterthought to emissions cuts.

For British sport itself, the immediate question is simpler and closer to home: how many more seasons of flooded grounds, postponed fixtures and unaffordable insurance can clubs absorb before adaptation stops being a recommendation and becomes a condition of survival? The BASIS report's answer is blunt — the game has already changed, and the sector needs to change with it.

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FAQ

What did the BASIS report find about British sport and climate change?

Every organisation surveyed — more than 200 clubs, venues and governing bodies — reported being affected by extreme weather in 2026, and 94% said British sport was under-prepared for climate change, according to Reuters' report on the findings.

Which weather impacts were most commonly reported?

Extreme heat affected 86% of surveyed organisations, drought 78%, storm damage 31% and flooding 28%, the report found.

How many professional stadiums face high flood risk?

BASIS said 27% of professional soccer, rugby league and rugby union stadiums it analysed in England face high direct flood risk, projected to rise to 35% under future climate scenarios.

Which clubs were named in the report?

AFC Wimbledon reported nearly £900,000 in stadium flood costs in its 2025 accounts; Worcestershire County Cricket Club's New Road ground has faced questions over its long-term viability; Carlisle United described flood insurance for Brunton Park as increasingly unaffordable; and Manchester United warned investors that extreme weather could damage property and disrupt match-day operations.

What does BASIS want to happen next?

The report calls for climate resilience to become a boardroom priority, with dedicated adaptation plans, improved reporting of climate risks, and a £30 million annual fund to help protect grassroots facilities from increasingly volatile weather.

Sources

• Reuters, "British sport under-prepared for climate risks as costs rise, report says," November 5, 2026.
• British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS), climate risks in British sport report, as reported by Reuters, November 5, 2026.
• UN News, "'The world is not ready': Climate adaptation cash falls far short as warming heads past 1.5°C," November 4, 2026 (UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2026 context).
• UN Environment Programme, "As world heads for overshoot of 1.5°C, adaptation is too slow," November 4, 2026 (Adaptation Gap Report 2026 findings).
• Reuters, "Rich countries fall far short on climate adaptation funding, UN says," November 4, 2026 (COP31 context, November 9-20 in Antalya, Türkiye).