Sports teams increasingly eco-conscious

San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | July 15, 2008 | Mike Lee

[Zakeet]

When baseball's All-Stars gather for tonight's midsummer classic in Yankee Stadium, they'll participate in what organizers are billing as the “greenest” event in Major League Baseball history.

All-Star Game planners are trying to reduce the event's ecological damage and encourage fans to lead eco-friendly lives. Coordinators are doing things such as ordering a giant red carpet made of recycled fibers, handing out reuseable tote bags and sponsoring a playground made largely from recycled materials.

Such efforts are all the rage across the sports world.

The Olympic planning committee in Vancouver, British Columbia, recently announced that the 2010 Winter Olympics will be run on low-polluting hydro power. In San Diego, the Chargers tout their recycling program while the Padres do the same and offer ticket discounts for select games to fans who use public transit.

Many initiatives have been modest, environmental and business analysts said. But they also said teams, leagues and operators of sporting venues can have a huge influence on people's lifestyles because of their large fan bases and iconic status in cities nationwide.

Environmental groups like to partner with athletic organizations because the alliances bypass politics and regulations. They also provide access to tens of millions of loyal fans. Plus, sports franchises can use the positive publicity from being eco-conscious to sell sponsorships and help the bottom line, the analysts said.

“(Teams) will bring the issue . . . to the general public in a way that is far more efficient than most other industries,” said Mark Andrew, president of the marketing company GreenMark in Minneapolis. “It's like mainlining education and inspiration into the public consciousness.”

[Zakeet]

Sports teams still leave sizable environmental footprints ... Fans usually drive to stadiums or arenas that use large amounts of power, water and other resources. Once there, they generate enormous amounts of waste ... Add in vehicle and aircraft emissions from the teams' long-distance travel, plus pollution related to the materials that go into building and maintaining the sports facilities.

Nevertheless, we're still going to do our part to help by using recycled paper for tickets, and recycled threads for our carpets, and handing out lots of environmental awareness promotional material which will promptly wind up in landfills.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Good points. If sports wanted to really reduce their carbon footprints, they would do a number of things, such as:

1. realign the divisions and schedules in sports so that teams don’t have to travel as much to other parts of the country for their games.

2. play more day games in baseball.

3. play more football games on Sunday afternoons rather than nights during the week or even Sunday nights.

4. play more double-headers in baseball. They used to have double-headers on many Sundays during baseball season.

Yep it seems like such a silly symbolic gesture for them to do all this to raise environmental awareness among the fans.

I wonder how big the carbon footprint was on that Al Gore concert last summer, held to raise environmental awareness?

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Coordinators are doing things such as ordering a giant red carpet made of recycled fibers....

Which they're laying down in mid-town Manhattan in the middle of the day...thus causing massive traffic problems.

[rexgrossmansonlyfan]

I think idiotic things like this are more likely to turn off fans. I go to a baseball or football game to enjoy my Cubs or Bears and forget about the world for a few hours.

I want to enjoy a baseball game tonight not be preached to.

[toddlintown]

I’ve been doing my part at U.S. Cellular Field. Just last week, I kissed my girlfriend between the strikes, and she kissed me between the balls.

[Dixie Yooper]

Maybe they need to play the All Star game without the lights on tonight. Maybe MLB, the NFL and NCAA need to go back to day time games and events. How green can they go if they really care?

[Puppage]

Just last week, I kissed my girlfriend between the strikes, and she kissed me between the balls.

That's a keeper!

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !