CHAPTER 3: LESSONS FROM THE FIELD: CASE STUDIES OF HOW JEWEL EVENTS, LEAGUES, TEAMS AND VENUES ARE GOING GREEN This report, the first of its kind, assembles the experiences and advice of leading sports experts who are successfully greening their facilities and operations. The case studies included in this report were selected because of the breadth of their greening programs addressing energy and water efficiency, waste, procurement, transportation, food and fan engagement. Although the case studies represent a wide range of professional sports leagues, teams, venues and events across North America, this report does not purport to be a comprehensive list of sports sustainability initiatives in the United States, nor does it rank sports greening programs. Our hope is that these case studies serve as a basic framework Each of the 15 team and venue case studies includes for thinking about, planning and implementing sustainability four sections that help explain the greening process: efforts. Profiles of five league-level jewel events include all-star 1. WHY GO GREEN? games and major championships. Jewel events provide an The first section explains what motivated teams and opportunity for leagues to advance innovative environmental venues to start greening. initiatives, encourage technical innovation and offer the public messages about the importance of greening to the 2. WHERE TO START? league, to suppliers and to society more broadly. The second section explains how teams and venues Jewel event greening is often able to build on, or at began their greening work, who was involved and which minimum simply support, greening at the venue level. For greening initiatives they investigated first. example, sometimes recycling bins or recycling volunteers 3. CHALLENGES: THOSE OVERCOME are added to supplement existing recycling efforts at a AND ONGOING particular facility for a jewel event; ideally, these changes The third section describes challenges teams and venues persist after the event is over. face, what tactics they used to overcome these challenges Greening jewel events has also resulted in legacies from and what problems they are still tackling. the event, both at the community level and at the league level. For example, at the community level, associated jewel 4. LESSONS FROM THE FIELD event activities can include building or refurbishing local The fourth section outlines important lessons from playgrounds or community centers, tree planting or other team and venue experiences as they implemented their neighborhood improvement projects. At the league level, green initiatives. benefits can include insights about how to improve the next year’s event, websites offering green tips for fans and public Last, we also profile five emerging leaders in the service announcements that can continue to be aired after construction of green sports venues, which have recently the event. been LEED-certified or are currently pursuing LEED certification. This spotlights a rapidly growing trend toward a system-wide approach to greening and efficiency. The case studies presented here offer a number of key takeaways. They provide strategies to help leagues, teams and venues decide why sustainability matters, who is responsible for it and how to go about implementing it. Although there is no single method for greening, the most successful greening operators in the sports industry use similar elements to implement an effective program (see Elements of an Effective Green Sports Program). PAGE 20 | Game Changer: How the Sports Industry Is Saving the Environment ELEMENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE GREEN SPORTS PROGRAM H Establish an internal Green Team leader supported by interested staff from the top to the bottom of your organization, and engage leadership as early as possible. H Engage your operational partners, vendors and community experts. H Set regular meetings for all stakeholders. H Get a facility-wide audit to track your waste generation and your use of energy, water and paper and monitor data carefully. H Identify resources available nationally and locally (both free and for hire). H Learn from your peers’ green initiatives. H Write a green mission statement and set goals. H Make a list of greening ideas, both short- and long-term. Prioritize initiatives on the basis of return-on-investment, ecological urgency, feasibility, sponsor support and fan interest. H Develop a flexible implementation plan. H Establish a tracking system for measuring savings, progress and setbacks. H After implementing your plan, translate successes into easily understandable sound-bites for staff, fans, sponsors and other stakeholders. ©MLS PAGE 21 | Game Changer: How the Sports Industry Is Saving the Environment MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ALL-STAR GAME NRDC began work to green Major League Baseball’s “jewel events” starting with the 2008 MLB All-Star Game and related events in New York City, including the All-Star Game Red Carpet Show, the All-Star Concert in Central Park and the All-Star Game itself at Yankee Stadium. The 2008 MLB All-Star Game Red Carpet Show featured MLB engaged fans at All-Star Game events with public the longest and greenest red carpet in history, winding up service announcements that featured MLB players NYC’s Sixth Avenue, made from 100 percent recycled fiber encouraging attendees to recycle at Yankee Stadium and content and manufactured using 100 percent renewable handed out NRDC “eco-tips” wallet cards inside reusable energy from solar and wind sources. The 95,000 square foot bags made from 80 percent post-consumer recycled content. carpet was produced at Bentley Prince Street’s California Similar efforts have continued at subsequent MLB All-Star manufacturing facility, which was the first in the country to Games, as well as at other MLB events like the World Series. receive a silver rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Following are examples of environmental initiatives at All- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Star Games held from 2008 to 2012: Existing Buildings (LEED-EB). The carpet was also certified as an environmentally preferable product by Scientific n ENERGY: MLB offsets most of the energy used at All-Star Certification Systems (SCS). Through Bentley Prince Street’s Games through purchases of Green-e certified RECs and/ manufacturing processes, MLB avoided the use of 6,300 or certified carbon offsets. The 2011 All-Star Game, held at pounds of fossil-fuel-derived fiber and 162,000 gallons of Chase Field in Phoenix, featured a solar pavilion that covers water during the carpet’s production. In addition, Bentley more than 17,000 square feet of the Chase Field plaza, which Prince Street also offset the carbon impact of the carpet by Chase Field and the Arizona Diamondbacks used to help purchasing 480,000 pounds of Green-e certified emissions educate fans about solar energy. In anticipation of the 2012 reduction credits. After the parade, Bentley Prince Street All-Star Game in Kansas City, the Royals and KCP&L installed collected the carpet for recycling through its ReEntry 2.0 120 solar panels on either side of the CrownVision scoreboard carpet reclamation program, avoiding landfill disposal for in Kauffman Stadium; this renovation now represents the 45,000 pounds of carpet. largest in-stadium solar array in any MLB facility. Recycling programs were incorporated into all 2008 MLB All-Star events. NRDC “Green Team” volunteers also collected n RECYCLING/COMPOST: MLB “Green Teams” collect more than 100,000 plastic bottles at the Bon Jovi All-Star recyclable cups and bottles directly from fans during the Concert in Central Park, the largest public event recycling events at MLB All-Star Games, supplementing existing initiative in the history of New York City. recycling programs. For the 2011 All-Star Game at Chase Field All 2008 All-Star Game events—including FanFest, the in Phoenix, Arizona, 100 new recycling bins were installed at Home Run Derby, and the All-Star Game—were powered by the stadium for All-Star Week, and now reside permanently energy obtained from 100 percent renewable wind power. at Chase Field. Also in 2011, for the first time in the history This purchase of green power prevented an estimated 287 of All-Star Games, food waste and food-soiled paper were metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to collected for composting. The 2012 All-Star Game in Kansas the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of 39.8 average City continued the composting initiative, collecting organic American homes for one year. Vehicle travel in the All-Star waste from food prep and suites for composting. Game Red Carpet Show and for MLB guests were offset by Green-e certified carbon offsets purchased from Bonneville Environmental Foundation. PAGE 22 | Game Changer: How the Sports Industry Is Saving the Environment ©MLB n TRANSPORTATION: MLB staff, as well as players and their families, rode in Chevy Flex Fuel vehicles during the 2008 MLB All-Star Week. Hybrid buses comprised part of the fleet of buses that shuttled fans to All-Star events. MLB All-Star FanFest volunteers at the 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix received complimentary METRO light rail passes to encourage the use of public transportation. n PAPER: Most paper products purchased for All-Star events (including invitations, tickets, programs, etc.) include a minimum of 30 percent post-consumer recycled content, and tissue products in stadium restrooms are made from up to 100 percent post-consumer recycled content. Media guides are now available electronically. For the 2012 All-Star Game, the Kansas City Royals reduced paper use by creating an electronic media guide and transitioning to a digital ticket system. n OUTREACH: Online environmental messaging is also part of MLB’s All-Star Game greening work. MLB.com features n FOOD: All-Star Games have featured biobased and a Team Greening section, which includes eco-tips and compostable food serviceware, including concessions other information about what fans can do to reduce their serviceware and cups distributed at MLB hospitality events.