Lowell Berg
ENG 308J
Dr. Rouzie
2/15/11
(Un)Sustainability in the Sport Industry
As a huge sports fan growing up, my favorite team was undoubtedly the New York Mets. From the first time I realized I was a Mets fan while in elementary school, I fell in love with their home field; Shea Stadium. Each season, I would attend 2-3 games with my family, cheering on players from Mike Piazza to David Wright. By the time I was 14, I knew that stadium like the back of my hand. In 2006, when I heard the Mets would be tearing Shea Stadium down, it broke my heart. Just 44 years after the opening of the stadium, it would be torn down and replaced by a newer, sponsored stadium called Citi Field. Across town in the Bronx, the Yankees announced plans to tear down the 85-year-old house that Ruth built in favor of a new Yankee Stadium. The old Yankee Stadium was almost twice as old as Shea. In the same year, the New York Giants and New York Jets announced plans to tear down 34 year-old Giants Stadium. But wait, that’s not it! The New York Red Bull, who once called Giants Stadium home as well, announced plans to build their own stadium across the Hudson River called Red Bull Arena. And now, most recently, the New Jersey Nets broke ground last spring in Brooklyn starting the construction of their new home – the Barclays Arena.
If New York area sport doesn’t explain the epitome of unsustainability in sport today, I don’t know what does. All of these sports teams have torn down, or will eventually tear down their old homes in favor of new, state-of-the-art stadiums. Meanwhile, in Boston, the Red Sox are still playing in their 99-year-old stadium called Fenway Park. In Chicago, the Cubs still play in their 95-year-old stadium ;Wrigley Field. And in Los Angeles, the LA Coliseum has hosted 12 different sports teams and two different summer Olympics starting in 1923. So I must ask, was it really necessary to tear down all of those comparatively younger New York – New Jersey Stadiums?
“Sport and recreation organizations have traditionally attempted to construct functional and innovative facilities to meet the needs of patrons” (Gibson, 26). By focusing narrowly on the customer, and on short-term objectives, we’ve created a mostly unsustainable industry. The main goal of most teams is revenue generation. Concessions are outsourced in order to provide the cheapest product to be sold at the highest price. This obsession in revenue maximization has led to a search for the cheapest raw materials to be used in the production of sport instead of more sustainable raw materials. In fact, a focus on the long term would actually increase the bottom line of these sport businesses. However, due to the comparatively high startup costs of ‘going green,’ it’s taken too long for teams to start making things more sustainable.
In international sport, countries battle it out to create the most favorable opportunity to host these important competitions. Often, new, state-of-the-art stadiums are drawn up from scratch in order to wow committee members from committees such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Most recently, Qatar earned the right to host the World Cup in soccer by designing four new stadiums to be built over the next few years. The stadiums include outdoor air conditioning, futuristic designs, and a lot of raw materials needed to complete construction. However, will these massive stadiums ever be used again in a small country like Qatar after the World Cup is over? This is one of the main sustainability issues in sport. The high cost and large consumption rates of these stadia are clearly unsustainable.
After realizing this, some people asked, what can we do to change this? A group of sport industry professionals audited the current sustainability practices in sport and came up with a suggestion. We need to go green. Some teams, such as my New York Mets, encourage use of mass transportation over driving to the game, but we need to do more, and it starts with the facilities. “A ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ facility is a structure designed, built, renovated, or operated in an ecologically and resource efficient manner. These buildings often utilize energy-efficient processes to accomplish long-term cost savings… by incorporating design practices and materials that use energy most efficiently” (Gibson, 26). By building green stadia, you can create three possible benefits – conservation of natural resources, increased energy efficiency and water conservation, and an improved indoor environment.
Construction habits of the past often “consume large quantities of steel, wood, plastic, cardboard, paper, water, and other natural resources that unnecessarily lead to resource depletion” (Gibson, 26). So when the stadiums are built for the World Cup in Qatar, they will consume these large amounts of natural resources for a three-week event. Hopefully, Qatar has planned an intended use for the stadiums after the World Cup is over. Green construction habits encourages “the efficient use of natural resources” and the re-using of materials (Gibson, 26). Recycled materials as well as old materials used in past construction should be utilized in order to conserve our natural resources.
Once the construction has ceased and the stadium is built, it’s important to have energy efficient practices installed. This can even be done without renovating or rebuilding. For example, my parents recently threw out all of the incandescent light bulbs in our house in favor of fluorescent, energy efficient light bulbs. They last longer, use more energy, and serve the same purpose – it’s a no brainer. “Improving energy efficiency and using renewable energy sources are effective ways to reduce the potential of energy supply interruptions, improve air quality, and reduce the impacts of global warming” (Gibson, 27). For the sports teams that are worried about increasing their bottom line, “lowering utility expenses allows organizations to reap the financial benefits of sustainability on a continual basis” (Gibson, 27). When you go to a stadium, a lot of water is used. Each concessionaire has access to a sink or hose of some sort. Bathrooms are stocked with toilets – as many as the room can handle. Inside, sinks are sometimes left running. Baseball fields are watered nightly, and sometimes before practices and games. Jerseys and equipment are washed after each practice and game. The evolution of entertainment in the sport industry has created pools, fountains, and waterfalls accompanying stadiums. With all of the water being used, it’s important to think long term in order to preserve the earth’s supply of this resource. Using “high-efficiency appliances and landscape water management systems” along with recycled, non-potable water in low flush toilets is a way to conserve water (Gibson, 27). Any additional supporting signage telling customers to think about their ecological footprint could only be beneficial.
Lastly, “the purpose of a building is not only to provide shelter for its occupants, but also to provide an environment conductive to high performance of all intended occupant activities” (Gibson, 27). Clean air will reduce diseases caused by dangerous materials sometimes used during construction including formaldehyde. Formaldehyde, for example, is used in furniture and shelving despite the fact that it emits toxic gases. “Choosing construction materials and interior finish products with zero or low emissions” reduces the impact of global warming and “improves air quality” (Gibson, 28). By taking simple steps like using zero emission supplies in construction, you can create a safer environment for humans and our planet. Overall, going green in the construction of sport stadia is largely beneficial because it conserves natural resources, energy, and water, while enhancing indoor air quality and saving money in the long term.
Dr. Michael Pfahl, a professor in the sport management department at Ohio University has been doing research on various sustainability practices in the sport industry…
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