Bloomberg Law
July 28, 2020
The Seattle Kraken, Oak View Group, and Amazon made waves in announcing plans to rechristen the new and much-improved Key Arena as Climate Pledge Arena. It’s an intriguing move, and easily the highest profile pro sports venue naming rights deal to be centered so prominently around sustainability. It’s an encouraging, but incomplete start.
Underpinning the name are several promising commitments: a fully carbon-neutral facility, a functionally zero-waste operation, and the “greenest ice” in the world has seen—complete with electric-powered Zambonis. These represent potentially game-changing achievements, building on years of increased momentum across the sports industry to build better and greener buildings.
However, amidst these meaningful pledges is a glaring blind spot, one missed not only in Seattle, but by the sports industry as a whole: a true commitment to environmental justice.
The Need to Think Beyond Buildings
Discussions of sustainability in sports have focused largely on how to better design, build and operate sports facilities. Stadiums and arenas have grown more adept at reducing energy and water consumption, utilizing greener supplies and materials, reducing trash, promoting recycling, and accommodating public transit.
But in any given community, the reach of a sports team is far greater than the footprint of its stadium or arena. To be truly bold and innovative on sustainability, teams must work harder to think beyond their buildings.
Practically every city that a pro sports team calls home also is home to thousands of residents disproportionately impacted by the negative consequences of the collective mismanagement of our air, water and soil. Tragically, America has a decades-long legacy of dumping pollution onto the doorsteps of our poorest communities. These sacrifice zones are where we place everything no one else wants—incinerators, coal fired power plants, waste treatment facilities, bus depots, lower-income housing, roads and much more.