The Green Leaders of Sports

Since 2003 when the Philadelphia Eagles launched its Go Green campaign, the world of professional sports has embraced the environmental movement in a very big way. From minor league favorites to national teams to entire organizations, the greening of the sports industry has become more than just a trend as teams large and small do their part to save the planet—and encourage their ever-growing fan base of followers to their part as well.

Here is a look at some of the green leaders of sports:

Philadelphia Phillies
“The Phillies have become a more eco-friendly organization in a variety of ways,” says Brian Mahoney, Red Goes Green Project Manager and Director of Advertising Sales for the Philadelphia Phillies. “Learning how to further our commitment to the environment has become a growing priority particularly since we moved into Citizens Bank Park in 2004.” Toward that goal, the Phillies engaged employees in the eco-friendly discussion which resulted in several changes and implementations including using more recyclable materials, re-using rain run-off water for landscaping and field irrigation and urging fans to get involved in caring for their community. And in 2008, the baseball organization continued their green movement leadership by becoming the first club to offset its entire use of utility power by purchasing 20 million kilowatt-hours of Green-e Energy Certified Renewable Energy Certificates. “We believe that the time has come for bold environmental action and to make a statement of accountability in professional sports,” says Mahoney. “The Phillies have always been a leader in our local community as well as with the MLB. We have taken that leadership position to the next level and have engaged our fans in an attempt to educate them on the importance of being held accountable to the environment--we believe we can help make a difference for our future generations of fans.”

Sacramento River Cats
The River Cats were one of the first teams in all of Minor League Baseball to institute a comprehensive recycling program and they continue to work on collection and collation of recyclables amongst employees and customers. To make sure they are being as efficient as possible, they work with area experts to perform energy, waste and water audits of the operation to identify areas where the club can minimize its impact on local resources and positively affect their bottom line. “It is vital to get company-wide buy-in, from the top-down AND from the bottom-up,” says Jennifer Maiwald, Director of Corporate Service for Sacramento River Cats. “A holistic approach is necessary, as we have found that if we empower our employees to be creative with ways to conserve, they will often find opportunities that our organization’s leadership did not see.” As a prominent sports organization in the California state capital, the River Cats organization feels they have an opportunity and obligation to utilize their pulpit to educate fans about steps they can take, however large or small, to positively impact their community and environment. Says Maiwald, “We recognize that there is still more we can do in this realm, but hope we can be leaders in setting an example for others that every little bit does have an impact and that you don’t need a corporate overhaul to be responsible members of your local, regional and world communities.

NASCAR
“I want to tell you something else today that is ever increasingly important to the industry of NASCAR and that's our comprehensive approach to making this sport greener and environmentally smarter,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France during a recent news conference. “And that's not only important to NASCAR but it's really important to our fans and they've told us that not only are they concerned about preserving the environment for the outdoors, but they're also concerned about high fuel cost, global warming and energy independence.” Last year, France chaired an internal committee meeting with Al Gore to discuss ideas on what the industry can do to be greener which resulted in the recent hire of Mike Lynch as Managing Director for Green Innovation. “Mike’s responsible for planning and executing a comprehensive industry-wide green initiative,” said France, which will include all NASCAR departments, drivers, teams and tracks. Efforts currently underway include two major buildings projects (NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte and Daytona Speedplex) that will qualify for LEED certification, tracks continuing to create effective recycling programs, installation of waterless toilets at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and the recent purchase of a tree farm by the Michigan International Speedway to better protect the wetland boundaries on its 1,400-acre property. With a fan base of car enthusiasts, it is only natural that NASCAR will also be taking a leadership position in promoting car care conservation and fuel-saving messages. “There’s a lot of meaningful activity in the green space,” says Lynch. “And we’re just getting started.”

The NBA All-Star Week, 2009
In an article that appeared in the Arizona Republic Kathy Behrens, a SVP of the NBA stated, “We recognize that a lot of the efforts around our games and the transportation and the use of arenas…(that) there is a lot of energy use involved in that.” While the NBA has been making great strides towards becoming a more sustainable organization, this year’s All-Star event, which was held in Phoenix’s US Airways Center and the Phoenix Convention Center, took its efforts to an entirely new level. In addition to doubling the number of recycling bins, outfitting volunteers in eco-friendly T-shirts and having players participate in recycling PSAs, the NBA is said to have purchased the equivalent of 1,500 megawatt hours in renewable-energy credits. And that appears to be just the beginning. Behrens said the “NBA hopes to repeat the Phoenix green-power effort when the All-Star Game is in Dallas in 2010.”