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 in elementary school, I fell in love with their home field; Shea Stadium. Each season, I would attend two to three 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 demolish 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 destroy 34 year-old Giants Stadium. The New Jersey Devils of the NHL moved to a new arena in Newark, NJ in 2007. But wait, that’s not it! The New York Red Bull, who once called Giants Stadium home, just created their own soccer pitch 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. “The last 20 years has witnessed an explosion of professional sport and leisure activities, driven by consumers [with] more disposable income” (Hanna, and Moritz, 47). This revenue has allowed teams to improve their franchises with new technology and stadium renovations. Every sports team has torn down, or will eventually tear down their old homes in favor of newer, state-of-the-art stadia. Some teams take the road less traveled and delay the inevitable as long as possible. 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 since 1923. So I must ask, was it really necessary to tear down all of the comparatively younger New York – New Jersey stadia?
The old home of the Detriot Tigers of the MLB
“Sport and recreation organizations have traditionally attempted to construct functional and innovative facilities to meet the needs of patrons” (Gibson et al, 26). By narrowly focusing 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. An obsession with revenue maximization has led to a search for the cheapest raw materials instead of the more sustainable raw materials. Teams need to realize that a focus on sustainability in the long term will actually increase the bottom line of these sport businesses. However, due to the comparatively high startup costs of going green, it’s taking too long for teams to become more sustainable.
In international sport, countries battle it out to create the most favorable opportunity to host important competitions such as the Olympics. Often, new, state-of-the-art stadia 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 stadia to be built over the next few years. The stadia include outdoor air conditioning, futuristic designs, and lots of raw materials needed to complete construction. However, will these massive stadia 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?
The abandoned Tiger Stadium in Detriot Michigan
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. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification was created by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) in order to determine if a building was constructed with sustainability in mind (USGBC). According to the USGBC website, LEED uses specific framework to analyze a structure based on energy efficiency, level of water usage, amount of carbon dioxide emitted, and the indoor air quality, among other categories. LEED helps both residential and commercial building operators identify ways to improve their sustainability throughout the building’s lifecycle, from their original design to operations and maintenance (USGBC). Applying these standards to sport structures will help initiate green building design in athletic stadia. By doing this, sport organizations 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 et al, 26). So when stadia are built for the World Cup in Qatar, they will consume large amounts of natural resources in order to host a three-week event. Hopefully, Qatar has planned an intended use for the stadia after the World Cup is over. Green construction habits encourage “the efficient use of natural resources” and the recycling of materials (Gibson, et al 26). 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 implement energy efficient practices. We need to realize that this can 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 less 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 et al, 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 et al, 27). For example, 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 bathrooms, sinks are sometimes left running. Baseball fields are watered nightly and before practices and games. Jerseys and equipment are washed after each practice and game. The inclusion of entertainment in the sport industry has created pools, fountains, and waterfalls to accompany stadia. With too much water being used, we should think long term to preserve the earth’s supply of this necessary resource. Using “high-efficiency appliances and landscape water management systems” while recycling non-potable water for use in low flush toilets is one way to conserve water (Gibson et al, 27). Any additional supporting signage telling customers to consider 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 et al, 27). Clean air will reduce diseases caused by dangerous materials used in construction. 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 et al, 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 will be largely beneficial because it conserves natural resources while enhancing indoor air quality and saving money in the long term.
If we don’t consider the long term implications of current operations in sport, we will continue to deplete the resources of the very planet we live on. Stadia in sport are often built for short term use – a very unsustainable practice. Transportation methods including air and bus travel are extremely harmful towards the environment. “Given our present consumption rates, all known petroleum resources should be depleted by 2030” (Kirby). How can we change our current living practices to avoid this situation? Changing to become sustainable is a complete change in our lifestyle that cannot be accomplished by a lone individual. Sport is a very powerful medium that has the ability to encourage change. “In the US alone, the Sports Industry is seven times bigger than the Movie Industry and twice as big as the US Automotive Industry” (Hanna, and Eckehard, 47). By building greener stadia, fans will be able to observe sustainable practices in daily life, which could inhibit change in their own life. It’s necessary that we become more sustainable before we kill of all of the resources we depend on to survive. Luckily, teams have now begun to make sustainability a goal of their organizations. “Eighty percent of North American professional sports teams plan to increase their environmental sustainability programs… [and] are considering developing a sustainability plan with short-and long-term goals” (Sports Teams Embrace Sustainability).
Works Cited
Gibson, Fred, Jeffrey Lloyd, Sonya Bain, and Derek Hottell. The Smart Journal. Spring 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://www.thesmartjournal.com/greenissues.pdf>.
Hanna, Keith and Eckehard, Moritz. “Sports Engineering and Sustainability.” Springer Link 47. Web. 24 February 2011. <http://www.springerlink.com/content/t6188j814m6l2547/fulltext.pdf?
Kirby, A., BBC Website Article, April 2004 http ://news.bbc.co.uklllhi/sci/tech/3623549.stm
Old Tiger Stadium. Photograph. Detriot, MI. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1432/1468594225_924ca9e1b6.jpg>.
"Sports Teams Embrace Sustainability." Environmental Management & Energy News. 4 Feb. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/02/04/sports-teams-embrace-sustainability/>.
Tiger Stadium. Photograph. Detroit, MI. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://americajr.us/pictures/IMG_3329.JPG>.
"USGBC: Intro - What LEED Is." USGBC: U.S. Green Building Council. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1988>.
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