“Twin Cities Rule US Green-Sports” — Part IV: r.Cup Reduces Number of Single Use Plastic Bottles at Sports, Entertainment Venues

“Which metro area is the Green-Sportsy-est in the US?”

While coastal areas like San Francisco-Oakland-Santa Clara and Seattle might come to mind first, it says here that Minneapolis and St. Paul, smack dab in the heartland of the country, wins the title. In fact, the Twin Cities’ Green-Sportsy-ness runs so deep that we can’t cover it all in one post.

In Part I of our four-part GSB special series, Twin Cities Rule US Green-Sports, we looked at US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings), the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium and CHS Field (Independent baseball’s St. Paul Saints) from a green perspective.

Part II featured Chef David Fhima, who brought clean, healthy, organic food to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Target Center.

Then in Part III we went back to the venues, this time visiting Target Field (Minnesota Twins), Xcel Energy Center (Minnesota Wild/NHL) and Allianz Field (Minnesota United/MLS).

In today’s Part IV finale, we profile Mike Martin, a pioneer in the sustainable concert space. He recently launched r.Cup, a Minneapolis-based startup whose goal is to dramatically reduce the number of single use plastic bottles at concerts and, going forward, sports events.

GSB: Mike, before we get to the r.Cup story, before we get to how sports venues can dramatically reduce the number single use plastic bottles, I’d like to understand how you got into the green concert world back before there really was a green concert world.

Mike Martin: This goes back to the 1980s. I was in the investment banking world, selling mortgage backed securities…

GSB: …The “Go-Go 80s”

Mike: You got that right. I mean I was selling to the Trump Organization at that time. Anyway, I was doing well but during that era the Bhopal disaster¹ happened, the Exxon Valdez spill² happened. I realized helping companies like these was not what I was supposed to be doing and wanted to create opportunities for capitalism to have a positive impact on the health of people and the planet.

Mike Martin (Photo credit: Mike Martin)

GSB: So what did you do?

Mike: A friend got the rights to produce the official concert for the 20^th Anniversary of Earth Day celebration in 1990. I had formed a concert committee when I was a student at Carroll University in Wisconsin. Based on that “vast experience”, the friend asked me to produce the event. So I left my job and set about managing the concert. It took place at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland outside of Washington, D.C. A dozen artists including Ziggy Marley, Indigo Girls and Michael Stipe and Peter Buck of REM performed; over 20,000 people showed up. And these artists formed the core of the Earth Day + 20 rally on the National Mall which drew 500,000 people, and the revenues generated from the concert helped fund the rally.

Anyway, the next day, Jonathan Kraft called. His dad, Robert, was buying the New England Patriots. He wanted to do something positive for Boston and offered up the stadium for free if we would put on a similar concert in 1991 at Foxboro Stadium, the Pats’ home at the time. We produced that event — it aired on MTV, which was a very big deal back then.

We reunited Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on Earth Day 1993 at the Hollywood Bowl. Broadcast on VH1, it was the “tent pole” (or centerpiece) event that tied in with 30 markets nationally to create that year’s National Earth Day Campaign. It raised money for PETA, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.

Mike Martin presents Paul McCartney and his wife Linda (since deceased) with an Earth Day “Concerts for the Environment” poster in Minneapolis in 1993 (Photo credit: Michael Martin)

As part of producing these events, we greened the stadium, from installing the most energy efficient light bulbs available at the time to recycling to managing water usage. At the Earth Day Festivals, we also introduced many of the components still in use today: eco-villages, rewards for taking environmental action, community involvement, the whole thing.

GSB: And thus, basically overnight, you became a purpose-focused concert producer, with green as a major thread! How cool is that?

Mike: Yes, I feel very fortunate to have been able to not only influence the live event industry, reaching millions of people, and in the process, work on creative solutions to some of the world’s biggest environmental problems.

For the last three decades, I’ve acted, mainly behind the scenes, as a catalyst to bring culture and business together to tackle some of the most pressing social issues facing humanity. One of the things I am most known for is, helping to put the concept of global warming on the map for mainstream America. In the 90s, I started reading research papers about climate change and global warming and thought “this is a massive problem.” I decided I had to do something.

I spent a year talking to leading environmentalists and acted as a catalyst to unite the top 20 environmental organizations to create the first national global warming campaign.

So in 1999-2000, in partnership with Ben & Jerry’s and 20 environmental nonprofits, we produced the Ben & Jerry’s Dave Matthews Band One Sweet World Campaign. The concept was: “Eat This Ice Cream and Lose a Ton…..of CO₂”. This was the amount of CO2 each American needed to reduce their emissions according to the Kyoto Protocol. The campaign educated the country on steps individuals could take to reduce their CO₂ emissions.

Ben & Jerry’s One Sweet Whirled/Dave Matthews Band limited edition ice cream (Photo credit: Ben & Jerry’s)

“One Sweet World” become the most successful Ben & Jerry’s launch up to that point. This helped reinforce the company’s commitment to social change, which helped re-invigorate the brand image, even after being sold to Unilever. Dave Matthews Band established its bona fides as a green band.

From there, we realized we were becoming a purpose-driven marketing agency of sorts…

GSB: …Long before purpose-driven was a thing…

Mike: Then it was called “cause marketing.” Well to us, it was the effect or impact that really mattered so in 2008 we changed the name of the company from Music Matters to Effect Partners, with a focus on developing the practice of “Effect Marketing”.

GSB: What were some of Effect Marketing’s highlight projects?

Mike: We helped launch Toyota’s Prius back in 2000. In 2005-6 we developed “Green Notes” for Clif Bar. This program is still in place. We work with cool emerging artists like Ingrid Michaelson, Soja, Michael Franti and Bon Iver, teaching them how to green their tours, while giving them tools to help inspire their fans to take positive social change actions.

In the early 2000’s we started working with Kim and Jack Johnson to help them develop their greening strategies and messaging. In 2008, we worked with Kim and Jack Johnson on creating their “All At Once” sustainability non-profit and tour. We introduced hydration stations to the music industry with the Brita Filter For Good program. And, we’ve worked with brands like Proctor & Gamble, Target and Apple on developing their Effect Marketing strategies and campaigns

GSB: That’s an amazing track record. Billboard magazine called you the “guru of live music greening.”

Mike: That was very kind of them. That’s been our mission from the beginning. Music is the platform to open the hearts and minds of fans and so it is the obvious way to move people along the continuum of awareness to action on environmental and social issues.

Going to back to Foxboro in 1991, we started something that was behind the scenes but also very important: We created a document called the “EnviroRider™” that can be added to the contracts a band signs with a venue or event promoter. You know, bands have production riders and catering riders, so why not have an EnviroRider? Steve Miller was the first artist who asked me to make this for his tour. By using an EnviroRider, bands would have leverage to make sure that their concerts would be as environmentally-friendly as possible. And it works. Venues do what bands want.

What makes me very happy is how many of the items on the EnviroRider that venues, concessionaires and promoters would say they could not do in the 1990’s and 2000’s are now common practice. Composting on site, offsetting emissions, using biodiesel to power generators, bicycle corrals, fan rewards for recycling, eliminating single-use water bottles, local food, organic food.

We’ve been the Sustainability Director for U2 since 2009 when they launched the 360 Tour, still the biggest tour in history. Our goal for them was to dramatically reduce their waste reduction and carbon footprint. We did that in a number of ways, including creating an offset that provides water filters for people in sub-Saharan Africa so they would not use wood for boiling water.

We moved the needle!

GSB: I’ll say! Talk about how you also got into the fight for clean water.

Mike: This was in 2000-1. As you may know, arsenic run-off from farming is a by-product of the chemicals and pesticides used on our food. It gets into our drinking water supply. I got involved with getting artists to support a campaign against legislation from the Bush 43 administration that would have allowed more arsenic in our water.

That led to advocating for organics and to producing the “Go Organic for Earth Day,” working with 4,500 stores nationally. The result? Sales of organics jumped by up to 25 percent nationally. The other campaign was called ONE (Organic and Natural Experience). With ONE, we took up to 25 companies at a time out on the road to major events and concerts and distributed organic samples and coupons for organic products. Amazingly, we enjoyed up to 10 to 15 percent redemption rates…

GSB: That’s an insane redemption rate. Most successful coupon campaigns get between 1 and 1.5 percent. So an organic-based promotion outdid that by tenfold! When did sports come into your work?

Mike: Well, I never was that far away from it. Of course most of the venues the bands with which we work play at also host sports events. We created a very exciting campaign that ran during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The USOC and the Dairy Industry Association…

GSB: The Milk Mustache people…

Mike: Them! Anyway they’ve had a long-term partnership, with US Olympians extolling the virtues of milk. But there is increasing awareness and more and more athletes who are adopting plant-based, vegan diets, and who decry the animal cruelty surrounding the dairy industry. So we created an ad that featured vegan Olympians called Switch4Good that refuted some of the pro-dairy claims in milk ads and extolled the virtues of a vegan diet. We ran the ad on NBC, it aired in one market and the Dairy Association complained and so NBC pulled it. But that was okay — we got a ton of publicity, plus we ran the ad on the Oscars broadcast.

The Switch for Good ad (60 seconds)

GSB: I remember that. Very cool! Now let’s talk r.Cup. How did it begin?

Mike: To me, after greening live concert events for almost three decades, the environmental Holy Grail has always been waste reduction, especially those single-use plastic cups. We’ve tried fan education, fan incentives, trash goalies, etc. Truth is, most fans don’t really care about taking the time to recycle at concerts or sports events. They just want to enjoy the event!

A great example of this was when Live Nation hired me in 2016 to help them design the optimal way to green their amphitheaters. I was able to take the greening decisions out of the fans’ hands. No plastic, everything was designed to be recycled or composted. I thought we had the solution! But…But there was a big problem: About 80 percent of trash on the ground at a venue does not go to recycling or composting. It goes to landfill. And a lot of that trash was cups. For compostable plastic to work it has to be hand sorted and taken to an industrial composting facility. If not, it contaminates the recycled material.

And so I started to think about how to actually reduce the number of cups that end up on the floor and ultimately go to landfill from big concerts and sports events. We needed to see how we could reduce, reuse…Could we create a rent, refill, return mechanism? Now you can see where the germ of the idea for r.Cup came from.

GSB: Clever! How does it work?

Mike: r.Cup is simple and works amazingly well. You come to the event, buy a beverage of any kind. It’s served in a high quality artist or team branded cup. You pay for the beverage plus a $3 deposit for the cup. Then, if you want another beer or water or whatever, you come back with the same cup and get a refill. At the end of the event, you come to the r.Cup staff and get your $3 back or you can take your up home.

An r.Cup from the Rolling Stones 2019 No Filter tour (Photo credit: r.Cup)

r.Cup provides the cups, handles all the logistics and tracks the positive environmental impact of the program. No waste is generated, venues do not have to clean-up or dispose of trash, saving them money. The concessionaires do not need to buy cups and can make a small fee on each cup kept. Additionally, we are seeing reports of increased per-head sales. I guess if you are holding a cup, you want to fill it up! Ten percent of the company is owned by ocean cleanup non-profits so as r.Cup grows, the plastic waste crisis begins to lessen.

An r.Cup ambassador explains how the program works to a fan at a U2 concert (Photo credit: r.Cup)

GSB: So r.Cup gets its revenues from the people who keep the cups?

Mike: Exactly. And the cups are dishwasher-safe and recyclable. We’re working on a cup that’s fossil fuel-free. For concert tours, which is where we started in 2017, we sterilize the cups and then move on to the next city. For festivals, we will sterilize and warehouse any cups for next year’s festival.

For sports teams — we’re dabbling in it this year with a big rollout in 2020 — obviously the cups stay where they are. And sports is a huge opportunity for us. Sports contributes far more in single use plastic waste than the music industry. We’ve been approached by sustainability leadership from all the major sports leagues. And six or seven teams at least, all among the leaders in Green-Sports, have reached out, so you will start seeing r.Cup at sport events in the near future.

GSB: Good to hear. How does sports differ from concerts for r.Cup?

Mike: They’re very different. A major band might tour every couple years. A major league baseball team has 81 home games every season. NBA clubs have 41, and NHL teams have 40. So the deposit for a cup model will not work as well in sports. That’s why we have a “no deposit model” for sports in which we become a cup service. The concessionaire pays us to provide the cups, collect, wash, house and manage the cups as well as providing environmental impact tracking. The cost of the cup service is embedded in the beverage. We collect the cups left behind, wash and sterilize them and put them back into use.

GSB: Let us know how it works out. r.Cup is based in Minneapolis, for my money, the hub of Green-Sports in the USA. Are Twin-Cities teams on your radar? And why do you think the Twin Cities sports teams are so green-minded?

Mike: Yes they are! We are in discussions with several of the local teams and you will be seeing r.Cup at some Twin Cities sports events this year.

The Twin Cities is one of the most aware and progressive communities in the country, so fans expect their teams to reflect their values. The owners of the Twin Cities teams are committed leaders who work hard to provide a positive fan experience. Eliminating tons of toxic plastic waste, creates a positive fan experience, helps the community, increases the bottom line, and, most importantly, it is the right thing to do!

¹ The Bhopal disaster was a gas leak incident in December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal. It is considered to be the world’s worst industrial disaster as up to an estimate 16,000 people died.

² The Valdez was an oil tanker owned by Exxon that spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989. The oil slick ultimately impacted 1,300 miles of coast line.

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Chris Long, Adidas Honored for Environmental Work

Recently retired NFL star Chris Long and adidas were honored last week with ESPN Sports Humanitarian Awards for their environmentally-related work.

The ESPY Awards, ESPN’s self-proclaimed “Oscars of Sports,” took place in Los Angeles on Wednesday, complete with red carpet, fancy gowns and ESPY’s going to the US Women’s Soccer Team (Best Team) along with one of its stars, Alex Morgan (Best Female Athlete).

The night before, the sporting community got together for the fifth annual Sports Humanitarian Awards presented by ESPN and sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company to “celebrate those who have used the power of sports to make a positive impact on society.”

GreenSportsBlog readers will be familiar with two of the winners.

Chris Long, most recently with the Philadelphia Eagles, was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award, given “to an athlete whose continuous, demonstrated leadership has created a measured positive impact on their community through sports.”

Chris Long, accepting the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award (Photo credit: ESPN)

That positive impact is expressed through Long’s Waterboys initiative, which funds the building and maintenance of wells in drought-stricken, climate crisis-bedeviled East Africa. To date, 26 NFL players from 21 teams have joined the cause to fund the construction of 61 wells, providing clean, safe drinking water for 225,000 people.

Beyond his environmental work, Long also was recognized for donating his entire 2017 salary to benefit educational equality. He encouraged his fans to join him in the effort and many stepped up to the challenge. Long’s “Pledge 10 for Tomorrow” raised $1.75 million to support the three cities in which he spent his NFL career: St. Louis, Boston and Philadelphia.

The Sports Sustainability Leadership Award goes to an organization that is “leveraging the power of sports to make a positive impact on the environment.”

Adidas earned the 2019 award for its partnership with Parley for The Oceans, in which they create fabric from upcycled plastic waste that is intercepted on beaches and in coastal communities before it gets to the ocean. This helps to, per ESPN, “turn a threat into a thread.”

Parley for the Oceans tennis shirt from adidas (Photo credit: adidas)

The adidas x Parley line transforms the plastics into jerseys, shoes and other into high performance sportswear. Five million pairs of Parley shoes were produced in 2018, with the company planning to produce 11 million pairs of shoes containing recycled ocean plastic by the end of this year.

Adidas x Parley women’s running shoes (Photo credit: adidas)

The adidas-Parley partnership exists to try to extend the date, currently predicted to be 2050, when there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans. With that in mind, adidas also is working to educate consumers about the necessity of healthy oceans, the problem of plastic pollution in the oceans, and the ways to reduce and then eliminate the use of unnecessary virgin plastic. The company says its focus on using sustainable materials and reducing waste will help it cut its CO₂ emissions.

GSB’s Take: Honoring Chris Long is a no brainer. And we believe the judges got it right with the choice of adidas and Parley for The Oceans for the Sports Sustainability Leadership Award. That high-profile partnership is drawing much-needed attention to the plastic ocean waste issue and is making a difference — although it’s not clear how much of one — on the amount of waste that gets into our waterways. And, as someone who wears a Parley tennis shirt, I can attest that they make a great garment.

We have one bit of constructive criticism that we hope the Poo-Bahs of ESPN take to heart.

GSB believes there needs to be a Sports Climate Leadership Award dedicated to the team, league, and/or athlete(s) who specifically address the climate crisis in a meaningful way(s).

C’mon ESPN, you know we have the length of Mike Trout’s mega contract extension (11 years and shrinking) to make serious decarbonization strides. The least you can do is honor those sports entities that are moving in the right direction.

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The GSB Interview: Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu; Leading the Way at the UN on Sports For Climate Action

The Sports for Climate Action Framework, launched by the sport sector UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December, has gotten off to a strong start.

In its first six months, an A-List of sports governing bodies, leagues and teams — from FIFA to the IOC, from the NBA to the All England Lawn Tennis Association (aka Wimbledon), from the New York Yankees to the Minnesota Wild — have committed to doing their part to achieve the Framework’s two main objectives:

Achieve a clear trajectory for the global sports community to combat climate change, including measuring, reducing, and reporting greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the 1.5 degree Celsius scenario enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, and
Use sports as a unifying tool to create solidarity among global citizens for climate action.

How did the Framework come together? How will the UN measure how signatories are living up to their commitments — or not?

We asked these questions, and more, of Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu who led development of the Sports for Climate Action Framework.

GreenSportsBlog: Lindita, I’ve wanted to talk with you for some time about the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework. How did it come to be? And what is your role — and the UN’s?

Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu: Our role at the UN Climate Change is to catalyze action on climate change at a significant scale. While we are not experts on sports, we can help corporations and other entities set the strategic vision that will help them to take climate action. That means providing support via our convening power and knowledge and working with them to set meaningful greenhouse gas GHG emission reduction and other targets that tie into the Paris Climate Agreement and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

GSB: Why did the UNFCCC decide to work with the sports industry? Its emissions are relatively low compared to many other business categories.

Lindita: We have one ultimate goal as a civilization if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change: to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

It will take the combined efforts of all segments of society — sports included – to achieve the change that is needed throughout society. —These changes will result in a low-emissions, highly-resilient and more sustainable future. There is no other future but a sustainable future. So, sports’ GHG emissions impact on climate may be low compared to some other industries, but nevertheless it does have a substantial impact that increasingly needs to be addressed. Sports are also uniquely positioned to act as a catalyst for change by promoting sustainable consumption, low carbon transport, and by educating fans and society at large.

Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu (Photo credit: UN Climate Change)

GSB: How did you get sports governing bodies, leagues, and teams to start the climate conversation?

Lindita: Well it turns out that, going back a few years, several key actors in the sports industry had expressed interest in taking action on climate, how to operate in a way that would meet the Paris goals and use the power of sports to spur climate action. So, in 2017, we convened a meeting in Bonn, Germany among some of the biggest governing bodies, leagues and teams in sports, to discuss what a climate action agenda for sports could look like.

It was clear then that the industry would have to do more to get their environmental houses in order before promoting climate more broadly. Some sports organizations were advanced in walking the climate action walk, others were not quite there yet. To help them move forward, together we developed what became the Sports for Climate Action Framework and its five principles:

Undertake systematic efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility
Reduce overall climate impact
Educate for climate action
Promote sustainable and responsible consumption
Advocate for climate action through communication.

Our goal there was to make getting to the five principles easier by providing a global platform that would be built on best practice climate action, convened by the UN Climate Change and developed by the sector for the sector.

GSB: How do you go about doing that?

Lindita: Well, the environment we’re in is more favorable. The science is clear, young people are protesting, climate change as an issue is becoming much more front and center because we are seeing its impacts every day. Sports is front and center and what does it connote? Health, fun, and prosperity. What’s at risk for sports from climate change?

GSB: Health, fun and prosperity for starters…

Lindita: Right! It’s only natural for sports to get involved on climate. In fact, it’s good business for sports to lead on climate.

GSB: Amen, Lindita! Now it’s one thing for the IOC, FIFA, and now the New York Yankees, University of Colorado Athletics Department, NBA and more to commit to taking action on climate. How will fans know the signatories are winning on the greenhouse gas emissions reduction scoreboard?

Lindita: Of course, this is a crucial aspect of the Framework. We will be getting together with the signatories in Lausanne at a meeting hosted by the IOC in September to dive deeper into the framework principles and to jointly define roadmaps to adhering to them and to articulate what best of action and success would look like.

We will work together with our signatories to define these steps, metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) for each of the principles. This will also include reporting guidance, which will be built on best practice reporting standards. It will also include publicly reporting on the progress with commitments and we will explore how to best use UN Climate Change’s Global Climate Action platform, a searchable, user-friendly website where non-State actors can describe what they’re doing to combat climate change.

The New York Yankees communicated their commitment to operate by the tenets of the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework with a pre-game Earth Day ceremony. From left to right, it’s Doug Behar, Yankees Director of Operations; Satya Tripathi, UN Assistant Secretary General; Yankees manager Aaron Boone, and Allen Hershkowitz, Environmental Science Advisor to the Yankees (Photo credit: New York Yankees)

GSB: I hope and would expect most signatories will walk the Sports for Climate Action walk. Is there a remedy for any who don’t fulfill their commitments?

Lindita: We can revoke a signatory’s status as part of the Framework for non-performance. But we will collectively work to help any organizations that have difficulty making good on their commitments and adhering to the principles.

GSB: Two of the principles that are of particular interest to me are #3 — Educate for climate action, and #5 — Advocate for climate action through communication. The willingness of sports organizations to share their climate action stories with fans through the media has, for the most part, been lacking. And, with the welcome exception of Sky Sports in Great Britain, the sports media has largely ignored climate. What can the UNFCCC do to change this? And how do you plan to measure adherence to these principles?

Lindita: I think the Framework is a big step towards that – with sports organizations recognizing their influence and the importance of them using it, for the good of their sports, their businesses, and their fans. But really, there will be no ignoring climate change.

We’re seeing that already, with the extreme weather events, floods, heat waves. I think that goes for the adherence to the principles as well. People will see which organizations are truly acting on climate change, and which are only talking about acting on climate change. And, I think public opinion – the supporting, paying fans – will demand the real thing. What we can do, and are doing, at UN Climate Change is to work with sports organizations to state their principles, state their goals, and help them communicate their progress – and communicate a message to everyone, urging global climate action.

GSB: Oh I agree there can be no ignoring climate change, but the world is still not paying enough attention yet and time to make significant dents in GHG emissions is short. I think for the Framework to maximize its impact, the sports media from all corners of the world will need to play a key role as they are the conduit to billions of sports fans. With that in mind, will UN Climate Change consider inviting sports media executives to the September meeting in Lausanne? If not, how would your organization look to involve the sports media going forward?

Lindita: The meeting in Lausanne is a working meeting and open to signatories of Sports for Climate Action framework. Principle 5 of the framework is about promoting awareness about climate change by mobilizing resources that sports have, to support action on climate change. This includes the broadcast sports media as well. As I said, we will get together to prepare a strategy that strikes a balance between ambitious and realistic and figure out what can we do collectively to reinforce the message of ambitious climate action.

GSB: Good to hear that the sports media is on Sports for Climate Action’s radar. Would it be possible for those companies to be signatories in the future?

Lindita: The Sports for Climate Action Framework is tailored for sports governing bodies, federations, leagues, teams, clubs, and not specifically for media. That said, the Framework would probably benefit from having categories, other than signatory, to support the work and amplify the message of sports for global climate action. And, sports media might be eager to engage with the Framework more formally, for example as designated media partners at events. We’ll work with the Framework signatories to come up with a strategy for that sort of thing, to amplify news about their climate work and importantly their engagement with fans. The role of the media in meeting the objectives of the Framework is clear. By doing what they do best – reporting on sports and the myriad interesting stories relating to sports – the media can do so much to make the Framework efforts a success, and spur climate action. Sports media, just like other sections of the media, are concerned with timely, topical and interesting news and features. That means the media will want to be reporting on climate-related sports matters.

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Twin Cities Rule Green-Sports, Part III: Twins, Wild and Minnesota United Step Up

“Which metro area is the Green-Sportsy-est in the US?”

To GreenSportsBlog, Minneapolis/St. Paul is the clear winner.

The Twin Cities boast five, count ’em five pro sports venues plus one independent league baseball stadium that all have green stories to tell. Plus a Green-Sports startup. Plus a chef who has made the Target Center a place for foodies as well as basketball fans to call home.

That’s why we need a four-part series to do show how the Twin Cities Rule US Green-Sports!

In Part I, we looked at US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings and the 2020 Green Sports Alliance Summit), the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium and CHS Field (Independent baseball’s St. Paul Saints) from a green perspective.

Part II saw our our focus shift to food. David Fhima, has brought his tasty, clean, healthy culinary excellence to Target Center as head chef and “nutritional curator” for the NBA’s Timberwolves and WNBA’s Lynx.

In today’s Part III, we head back out to the Twin Cities’ venues.

Starting in Minneapolis, we check out the greenness of Target Field, home of the American League Central Division-leading Minnesota Twins. Then we light rail over to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center to see how the Minnesota Wild have shown the green way for years. Staying in the state’s capital city, we end our tour with the Twin Cities’ newest venue, Allianz Stadium, home of MLS’ Minnesota United.

GREEN-SPORTS PART OF TWINS, TARGET FIELD’S DNA

Gary Glawe is a facilities management lifer — he studied it at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and then worked to help make Twin Cities-area tech and healthcare firms (Boston Scientific and Medtronic, respectively) operate as efficiently as possible. Eleven years ago, Glawe made it to the major leagues — literally — of facilities when he joined the Twins to manage facility operations, just as they were transitioning from the Metrodome to Target Field.

“The design phase was complete when I joined the Twins so I spent most of my time at the beginning of my tenure at the Target Field construction site,” Glawe recalled. “I was happy that sustainability was embedded in the design and that we were going for LEED certification for new construction. This was 2009-2010, early days for LEED certified stadiums. In fact, we became the second¹ major league ballpark to earn any kind of LEED certification. And, only one year after Target Field opened in 2010, we earned LEED Silver for operations and maintenance (O&M) status.”

Gary Glawe (Photo credit: Minnesota Twins)

LEED certification is certainly a good thing, but to Glawe, it’s the desire of Twins’ management to measure and constantly improve the club’s performance on a number of sustainability metrics — from waste to water use to energy use and more — that is most important.

“When it came time to re-certify for O&M in 2016, we asked ourselves if it was worth it,” Glawe said. “We found that the US Green Building Council, which administers LEED, wasn’t asking for accountability from us. So why should we pay thousands of dollars for what really is window dressing? We weren’t going to get re-certified until a consultant, Sustainability Investment Group, came in and told us about the Arc platform for LEED certified buildings.”

Arc helps venues turn raw data into usable information.

More Glawe: “You input data monthly on energy, waste, water, transportation and ‘human experience’ into Arc. It gives you a real-time scorecard of how you’re performing versus benchmarks. Arc provided the accountability I was looking for!”

One key Arc scorecard item for the Target Field team is lighting. The Twins shifted to LEDs for its field lights in 2017 as part of a multi-year upgrade. While the LEDs delivered top quality light as expected, it was the energy savings scorecard that most interested Glawe:

BEFORE (metal halides): 746 bulbs at 2,000 watts each.
AFTER (LEDs): 512 bulbs at 1,000 watts each.

Arc also puts a high priority on waste diversion rates.

When Target Field opened, rates hovered in the 50 percent range; now they’re up into the 70s. The Twins’ on-field performance has an impact on those rates.

“When the team’s record went south, attendance went down, and our diversion rates went down because divert-ible waste decreased,” noted Glawe. “Now that the team is doing much better, so are our diversion rates. One thing that helps is our move to compostable products, thanks to our partnership with Eco-Products.”

Target Field (Photo credit: Ballpark Digest)

The lighting upgrades, improved waste diversion rates and more helped Target Field become the first sports facility to earn LEED Arc certification, and at the Gold level. But Glawe wants more: “When it comes time to re-certify in 2022, we’ll definitely be looking to achieve Platinum.”

The Twins are engaging their fans to up their green games with pregame messaging on the video board and a Go Twins/Go Green section on the website. The club hasn’t yet made the direct connection to fans between greener behaviors and the climate change fight.

XCEL ENERGY CENTER, MINNESOTA WILD BRING GREEN-SPORTS TO ST. PAUL

The Minnesota Wild have a “Go Big” attitude and are “unafraid to fail” when it comes to the sustainability initiatives they’ve undertaken at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center over the past ten years or so.

Don’t believe me?

In 2009 Jim Ibister, the Wild’s VP of Facility Administration tasked his team with a 50-50-2 challenge. All that meant was that the staff had to get recycling rates up to 50 percent and reduce waste by 50 in just two years.

Impossible, right?

Wrong.

The Xcel Energy Center staff blew by that number in 18 months.

Jim Ibister (Photo credit: Dani Werner)

That’s quite an achievement when you consider that per Ibister, Xcel Energy Center “did not have sustainability embedded in its building design or its operations when it opened in 2000.”

It took a few years, but Ibister — who joined the Xcel Energy Center that same year — and his team took matters into their own hands when it came to greening.

“A few years in, and all we had were some recycling bins,” Ibister recalled. “This was not nearly enough. So we put together a sustainability deck in 2004 that featured low hanging fruit like waste reduction, and presented it to management. They said ‘not interested.’ But with the help of Progressive Associates, a husband and wife sustainability consulting firm, I went ahead and implemented most of it anyway — hey, the costs were low!”

Not only was tackling waste inexpensive, Ramsey County and the State of Minnesota combined had levied a hefty 70 percent tax on trash. There was no tax on compost so going that route saved a lot of money. Once management realized that going green was good business, they bought in.

Ibister and his team follow three mantras when considering sustainability initiatives at Xcel Energy Center:

Don’t chase certifications. “Do the best we can,” Ibister said. “If that gets us LEED certification, great. If not, that’s OK too.”
Be transparent.
Keep it simple.

Achieving simplicity has not been easy. “Fans have ‘separation anxiety’ with trash, recycling and composting bins,” admitted Ibister. “It’s easier for us in the suites and club level, where we only offer composting and recycling. It’s harder to get fans to place their refuse in the correct bin in the main seating bowl because there is trash as well as recycling and composting and it can get confusing at times. We work hard to educate them but we haven’t found the perfect system. But we will continue to set high goals and will keep trying to achieve them.”

Think 50-50-2 was a tall order? The Xcel Energy Center team challenged itself again in 2009 with an audacious 80-20 in 3 challenge: Reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent, increase efficiency to 20 percent better on average than similar buildings, all in 3 years.

They didn’t make it in time but Ibister doesn’t see that as a failure.

“We set goals that were hard to achieve so we knew there’s was a chance we wouldn’t get there,” Ibister reflected. “But we took away the fear of failing by failing. And we made great strides in the attempt, making progress on emissions reductions through purchases of offsets from Sterling Planet, a solar thermal installation, energy efficiency, composting and recycling, and more. We didn’t make the 80 percent reduction number by 2012 but now we are at 88.7 percent below 2007-2008 levels.”

On efficiency, Xcel Energy Center has a secret weapon on its HVAC team.

“We’ve brought in many companies to try to help us automate and save money,” said Ibister said. “Then they see the work our lead engineer has done and they say ‘oh, we can’t do better’ and leave. I’d name him but he prefers anonymity. The only way we will replace him someday is with a machine.”

Ibister says the one sustainability area he’d like to improve the most is on communications with the fans. But, like 80-20 in 3, it ain’t easy. And that means Ibister and team will go for it.

“We don’t communicate green with fans as much as we should,” lamented Ibister. “Some fans don’t want to hear about green — ‘Just get us a new goalie! Climate change is fake.’ But that doesn’t stop us. When we do talk about it we do so in a celebratory fashion (‘We just became LEED certified!”). And we’re being more strategic about it. The last few seasons we used University of Minnesota students to help communicate the importance of green. Last fall they did fan surveys which were well received.”

Xcel Energy Center management held a press conference recently to announce a new solar installation on the outside of the arena’s parking deck (Photo credit: Minnesota Wild)

What’s next on the Xcel Energy Center green agenda?

While the light rail’s green line stops about three blocks away, there is a push for a modern streetcar to be built that would bring fans to the arena’s front door. The best guess is that this project is five to eight years down the road.

What’s the big deal about three blocks?

“Three blocks is a long way when it’s minus 30° Fahrenheit outside,” noted Ibister.

MINNESOTA UNITED BUILDS PUBLIC PARK FOR COMMUNITY OUTSIDE BRAND NEW ALLIANZ FIELD

Bill McGuire, owner of Minnesota United, had a clear plan back in 2015 for what would become Allianz Field, his team’s brand new stadium in St. Paul.

“Along with sports architect Populous and Mortenson Construction, McGuire pushed a vision for the stadium that evoked and fit the Midway neighborhood,” shared Samantha (Sam) Chapman, Project Manager for Minnesota United. “The area’s building stock is not very vertical and so Allianz Field is not overwhelming height-wise. Midway has a diverse population and we want to be a connector for the community.”

Samantha Chapman (Photo credit: Minnesota United)

Helping to connect the community is the Great Lawn, a new green space funded by ownership on a 28,000 square foot plot of land north of the stadium. On game days, it’s an area for pre-game parties. But with only perhaps major 30 event days per year, the Great Lawn’s main function is as a new public park. “Anyone in the community can enjoy it,” Chapman said. “This was an essential aspect of the stadium project.”

The Great Lawn (Photo credit: Minnesota United)

MLS has the youngest fan base of the five pro sports in North America. That’s why mass transit and bicycle access is arguably more important for Minnesota United than for their baseball, basketball, football and hockey counterparts.

Like the five other pro venues in the Twin Cities, Allianz Field is on the Green Line. While there are no data available yet on the percentage of Minnesota United supporters who take light rail — the stadium is only three months old — there’s a good chance the numbers will be impressive when they do come in.

“We expect the mass transit numbers should be strong since parking is limited” related Chapman. “Last year when we played at TCF Bank Stadium, the home of University of Minnesota football, 33 percent of fans took mass transit, a higher percentage than at UM games. Many fans commute to our games by bicycle, too. We can house 400 bikes on our permanent bike racks surrounding the stadium, and we’ve had to bring in more on game days for our fans.”

The club has not mounted a green fan engagement effort yet but, per Chapman, that is changing now.

“Our Green Team launched July 3^rd at Allianz Field; they will be helping and educating our fans while disposing items during our game days,” Chapman asserted. “Along with Biz Recycling, our recycling and composting partner, the Green Team will make sure fans use the proper container — organics, recycling and trash. They’ll also be looking for fans who do this on their own, and recognizing them with a prize. We’ll be running messaging and images throughout our in-house production on game days as well on our social media outlets about the importance of waste diversion and minimizing items being sent to the landfill.”

¹ Nationals Park in Washington, DC became the first LEED certified stadium in major league baseball in 2009

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The GSB Interview: Johanna McCloy, Helping Fans Find Vegetarian Food at Sports Venues with VeggieHappy

Johanna McCloy was on a date at her first baseball game back in 2000 when she noticed there were no vegetarian food options — and that was at Dodger Stadium in veggie-friendly Los Angeles. So the actress sprung into action, calling the Dodgers to ask why that was the case. And then she started calling other teams across the major leagues.

Fast forward to 2019 and McCloy is the co-founder of VeggieHappy, an online venue guide for plant-based food options at large professional and Division I college sports venues.

With vegetarian and vegan diets growing, especially among millennials and especially GenZers, there is no one better to talk to about where things stand regarding the availability and quality of plant-based food options at ballparks and other sports venues than Johanna McCloy.

GreenSportsBlog: When did the first vegetarian and/or vegan options first appear at sports venues?

Johanna McCloy: While I don’t know the history of plant-based food options at every venue before I got involved in this work, I can speak to the status of plant-based options when we first began reaching out to major league ballparks in 2000, sometimes through cold calling. They had items like pretzels and peanuts, of course, but none of the parks offered a viable plant-based option beyond those generic snacks. Our initial quest was to introduce veggie dogs at Major League Baseball venues, since hot dogs and baseball are as American as…

Johanna McCloy (Photo credit: Kirsten Lara Getchell)

GSB: …Hot dogs and baseball!

Johanna: Exactly! But no major league ballpark at the time offered veggie dogs. So we started calling all the ballparks, offering our consultation and liaison services to facilitate veggie dogs and other viable plant-based menu options. We got our first hit when the Chicago White Sox added veggie dogs to the concession stands menu Comiskey Park — now Guaranteed Rate Field — later in 2000. From there, other ballparks followed, including Dodger Stadium. Today, nearly all of them offer veggie dogs, and sports venues of all kinds offer a variety of fabulous plant-based options.

Vegan veggie dog, courtesy of Beyond Meat, at Dodger Stadium (Photo credit: Riley Williams, @chefrdog)

GSB: What are some of the best venues for plant-based options in terms of quality and quantity?

Johanna: Exactly! In addition to Dodger Stadium, some of the top major league ballparks, in terms of plant-based food quality and quantity are Citi Field (New York Mets), Globe Life Park (Texas Rangers), Target Field (Minnesota Twins), and Yankee Stadium.

There is a ton of variety these days. Fans can now find options like a plant-based burger with carmelized onions, guacamole, and non-dairy cheese. Also vegan nachos with either tempeh or plant-based meat crumbles. So you can go for some tasty, healthy, yet decadent stuff. And beyond all the plant-based meat options out there, you can also find wraps, burritos, falafels, sandwiches, bountiful salads, and all kinds of additional options. Not to mention vegan cookies. Gotta have those too!

The “32 Ingredient” vegan salad on offer at Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays (Photo credit: Aramark)

Some venues are choosing to provide a dedicated stand offering most of their plant-based options at one location. Others provide a variety of vegetarian and/or vegan options throughout many concession stands. Be sure to check out VeggieHappy’s online venue listings to discover which plant-based options they offer, and where to find them.

GSB: Is there a sport that has led on plant-based foods? Which sport lags the field?

Johanna: Well, in very general terms, NFL stadiums bring up the rear, though they are slowly starting to move up. NBA and MLS venues are catching on quickly. MLB, with the longest history with plant-based food, is the leader.

NBA teams are getting into the plant-based food act. Here are two quinoa-barley-black bean tacos (sans cilantro cream sauce to make it vegan) from Street Taco at Capital One Arena, home of the Washington Wizards (Photo credit: James Price, @veganfoodfinds)

GSB: Baseball leads thanks in part to your efforts going back two decades! Are fans demanding plant-based food options?

Johanna: Thank you, Lew. The interest and demand for these foods is growing at an amazing rate. Just look at the statistics overall on people choosing plant-based diets, or purchasing plant-based meats. The numbers of vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians — a person who has a primarily vegetarian diet but occasionally eats meat or fish — are all growing.

Not surprisingly, it’s Millennials and Generation Z that are driving that demand.

GSB: I know! According to a 2018 Statista study, 7.5 percent of Millennials and GenZers have given up meat while only 3 percent of those over 50 have done the same…

Johanna: Yes! And that is leading to stunning sales growth of plant-based alternatives. According to Nielsen, sales increased 17 percent over the past year alone. During the same time period, total U.S. retail food dollar sales grew just 2 percent. And sales of plant-based meat increased 23 percent in the past year, up from 6 percent growth the previous year, according to the Good Food Institute.

Fans definitely want these options, and some understand the value of asking for them. However, many fans are not aware of their power as a consumer, and have not asked; they are more complacent, bringing their own food, or eating before or after a game or event. That’s why VeggieHappy exists. We’re speaking to that very real demand.

GSB: What about organic offerings? Local food choices?

Johanna: Same as with plant-based food; venues are increasingly adding them.

GSB: Forest Green Rovers, a minor league soccer club in England, ONLY offers vegan food at its concession stands. It was controversial at first but is mostly accepted these days. Could this happen here? What would it take? Why not?

Johanna: I love Forest Green Rovers and what they’ve done over there. They became fully vegan in 2011. In their case, it’s because of their ownership and the very strong position that they’ve taken around sustainability. It started at the very top. Their Chairman Dale Vince is vegan himself and is the owner of an electric company called Ecotricity. He also has an Order of the British Empire (OBE) designation from the Queen for his environmental activism. What is great is how fans who otherwise wouldn’t have chosen to eat vegan options now really love them and talking about how their own diets have changed as a result of the options offered there. That’s wonderful.

Could it happen here? Definitely. It’s about the team’s ownership and their vision. And any owner who would want to go deeper on plant-based food offerings has Dale Vince and Forest Green Rovers as a prove-point.

Forest Green Rovers of League 2, the fourth tier of English football, serves its fans a vegan-only menu. Here is a stir-fried mixed peppers, red onion and Mexican spiced Quorn wrapped in a soft tortilla with fresh tomato relish (Photo credit: Forest Green Rovers)

GSB: GreenSportsBlog will take it as a challenge to find an owner in North America who will match Dale Vince and Forest Green Rovers. Final question: What do you think the sports venue-plant-based food landscape look like in five years or so?

There’s a food revolution underway right now, there is no question about it, and plant-based options are going to become fully mainstream. Right now, they’re starting to be better understood and more readily accepted, but in the next five years or so, they will be fully promoted and abundantly sold in mainstream venues. It’s a HUGE market. Venues should and will get on board. Cell-based meat may also enter the market in that time frame, and there is a lot of investment going into that. It’s a food revolution too. People are steadily moving away from products derived from animal agriculture and factory farming.

It comes down to this: Many notable international scientific consortiums have recently cited animal agriculture as one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — some show the meat industrial complex to be the number one source — and have encouraged people to choose plant-based foods as a way to mitigate those effects.

With that as backdrop, plant-based food options have to play a major part in any sports-sustainability effort.

GSB: No doubt about it. Check out veggiehappy.com to learn about plant-based food options at your favorite ballpark.

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Did IOC Make Right Call, Climate Change-Wise by Choosing Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo to Host 2026 Winter Olympics?

Milan and the Alpine resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo won the right to host the 2026 Winter Olympics earlier this week when the IOC chose the Northern Italian duo over the Swedish capital of Stockholm and the village of Åre. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made a variety of recent positive moves on climate in recent years, including signing on to the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework, GreenSportsBlog wanted to know if the IOC made the best choice from a climate perspective.

It only took one ballot to decide the matter.

Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo won 47 of the IOC committee votes cast, Stockholm-Åre garnered 34 votes, and there was one abstention. Cortina hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956. Sweden was seeking to host the Winter Games for the first time.

Members of the delegation from Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo react after the Italian cities were named to host the 2026 Olympic Winter Games (Photo credit: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)

Sustainability figured prominently in the discussion of Italy’s win by the IOC’s top brass.

“We can look forward to outstanding and sustainable Olympic Winter Games in a traditional winter sports country,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in his congratulatory message.

Of course Bach likely would’ve said the same thing had the Swedish duo been victorious — both bids offered robust sustainability plans.

And let’s be honest: Neither sustainability nor climate change were the main reasons Milan-Cortina won the day. Much more likely, per polling conducted by the IOC, it was a lack of enthusiasm for the project in Sweden — rating 28 percent below the Italians — that turned out to be a decisive factor.

But what if climate change had been the sole criterion on which voters would make their decision? Which bid should have prevailed in that case?

It turns out the answer is a bit complicated as both the Swedes and the Italians had sustainability points in their favor.

STOCKHOLM/ÅRE

According to an article in the June 24 issue of The Conversation by Mark Wilson and Eva Kassens-Noor, Professor and Associate Professor, respectively, of Urban and Regional Planning at Michigan State University, “hosting in Stockholm and…Åre would have been more practical for a simple reason: It’s colder there and the Swedish region gets far more natural snow than Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.”

With images of Sochi 2014 and its acres of man-made snow still clearly etched on my brain, it seemed to me that the bid that wins the natural snow battle should win the right to host the Winter Olympics if climate change is the only metric.

Artists rendering of the moguls venue for the 2026 Stockholm-Åre Winter Olympics bid (Sweden Olympic Committee)

But there is another side to this story.

MILAN/CORTINA D’AMPEZZO

Kassens-Noor, in an email exchange with GreenSportsBlog, also made strong points about the climate bona fides of the Italian bid.

She cited a 2014 study by three researchers from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and one from the Management Center of Innsbruck, Austria¹ that noted that “even under the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenarios, Cortina D’Ampezzo is one of the four most climatically-reliable locations of all those cities that have hosted the Games before.” Of course, since the Winter Olympics have never visited Sweden (the 1912 Summer Olympics were held in Stockholm), the researchers did not study Stockholm-Åre. Still, Cortina earns climate reliability points.

Dr. Eva Kassens Noor, Associate Professor in the Global Urban Studies Program and the School of Planning, Design and Construction at Michigan State University (Photo credit: Eva Kassens-Noor)

And, per Kassens-Noor, the facts that the “the region has hosted the Games before” and that 93 percent of the Milan-Cortina Olympics venues already exist are significant climate-related advantages for the Italians.

GSB’S Take: Like most of you, I like a clear choice in my which-is-the-more-climate-friendly-Winter Olympic-bid decisions. Milan-Cortina vs. Stockholm-Åre was not clear cut.

While Cortina is one of the four most climate-reliable host cities of those that have hosted Olympics before, we don’t know where Stockholm-Åre would fall on that spectrum because they have never hosted a Winter Games. So, to me, we still don’t know which is the most climate-reliable between the two bids.

Thus it becomes a choice between natural snow/Stockholm-Åre and venues-already-exist/Milan-Cortina. The problem is, I haven’t seen emissions data on both of these metrics. So the choice becomes one from the gut.

My gut goes with the Italians and their existing facilities.

Then I hope it snows in the week or so before the Games in 2026.

Finally, it’s important to note, per Kassens-Noor, that both the Milan-Cortina and Stockholm-Åre bids were far superior, from a climate perspective than Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018. So progress is being made on climate and Winter Olympic bids.

¹ D. Scott, M. Rutty and P. Johnson, University of Waterloo. R. Steiger, Management Center, Innsbruck

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AEG Pushes Its Venues to Reduce Emissions in Line with Paris Climate Agreement

Los Angeles-based AEG is the largest sports and entertainment venue operator in the world, entertaining over 100 million guests annually. On the sports side, AEG is both a venue owner-operator — marquee properties like LA’s Staples Center, London’s O₂ Arena and T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas headline its portfolio — as well as a team owner, with LA’s Galaxy, Kings and Lakers among its leading lights.

An early driver of the sports greening movement, the company has accelerated the pace of its sustainability efforts over the past three years, committing to science-based targets in 2016 and to the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework earlier this year.

GreenSportsBlog first spoke with John Marler, the company’s VP of Energy and Environment and newly announced Green Sports Alliance board member, three years ago. We caught up with him recently to delve into AEG’s recent sustainability advances and to get his take on how hard sports can push on climate going forward.

GreenSportsBlog: Hi John, it’s great to talk again. AEG adopted “science-based targets” regarding its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions goals in 2016. What are science-based targets in general and how has the company progressed in the first three years since making the commitment?

John Marler: GHG reductions targets adopted by companies are considered science-based if they are aligned with the level of decarbonization necessary to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C as compared to preindustrial levels.

While AEG was not the first company to commit to science-based targets, we were an early adopter back in 2016.

GSB: Why did AEG go all in on science-based targets?

John: We realized that, while the planet doesn’t care if we get things right on GHG emissions reductions, humanity and other life forms certainly will care. Progress has been slow but steady. In 2018, we were able to move closer towards our goal by purchasing additional renewable energy. This allowed us to keep up, emissions-reductions-wise, with the growth in emissions from adding new venues to our roster. Many other companies are in the same boat and are taking a similar approach.

John Marler (Photo credit: AEG)

GSB: What specific targets are AEG moving towards?

John: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report says humanity has until 2030 to reduce GHG emissions by 45 percent versus a 2010 baseline. We’re working towards that goal and also towards being carbon neutral by 2050.

GSB: How far along is AEG in terms of emissions reductions and how have you gotten there?

John: We reduced GHG emissions by 18 percent from 2017 to 2018 and are very close to being on pace to get to the 33 percent reduction level by 2020, putting us on track to get to the “45 percent by 2030” threshold. Our approach for our venues has been to focus on energy efficiency wherever possible and to purchase renewable energy credits (RECs).

We’ve been encouraged by the quality and quantity of the RECs that have become available as more renewable energy generation capacity is being built out. One somewhat paradoxical challenge for us has been our growth. Meaning that the more properties we acquire or build, those added emissions get assigned to our ledger versus our 2010 baseline.

GSB: So that means you’re actually performing better on a per venue basis if total AEG emissions are down vs. 2010 as your portfolio has grown, right? How do on-site renewables fit into this?

John: Solar and wind at sports or entertainment venues are great in that they serve as high profile advertisements for renewable energy. But the amount of emissions reduction we see from on-site renewables at stadiums and arenas is quite small. The truth is, only about 25 percent of venue roofs can even accommodate solar. So on-site renewables alone will not get us close to where we need to get in terms of GHG emissions.

Again, for us, getting to our targets will come from improvements on energy efficiency plus funding new off-site renewable energy by the purchase of RECs. We’re pleased by the technological advancements and thus the price reductions in solar and wind as well as on energy storage. The question is, when we’re talking about climate change globally rather than just in the sports industry, will these advances be fast enough?

Solar panels atop the roof of the Staples Center in Los Angeles (Photo credit: John Marler)

GSB: And will there be the will, from the grassroots and political levels, to make the policy changes necessary to accelerate the adoption of these technologies fast enough? Back to sports for a minute. I think Green-Sports 1.0 — the greening of the games themselves — has largely been a success over the past decade or more. LEED certified stadiums and arenas have become the norm. But the sports world cannot rest on those laurels. What do you think the sports greening movement needs to do going forward to maximize GHG reduction impacts?

John: The good thing is that most people in the sports greening movement realize that Green-Sports 1.0 is not nearly enough to get us where we need to be. The real opportunity is for sports venue management — and that means companies like ours — as well as teams, leagues and athletes is to inspire fans to care about climate. For this to happen, sports organizations need to be more public about their greening efforts and encouraging fans to do the same in their own lives. Maybe fans get interested via the plastic ocean waste issue, maybe by trying a plant-based diet. The important thing is they get there.

GSB: How is AEG going about communicating its greening initiatives to its fans?

John: MLS’ LA Galaxy’s Protect The Pitch initiative engages fans at Dignity Health Sports Park and on its website. All of our California venues committed to the state’s Clean Air Day. Our AEG #GoGreen site has a carbon calculator, powered by Conservation International, which allows the visitor to determine his/her annual carbon footprint. They can also offset their carbon.

Signage promoting LA Galaxy’s decision to phase out plastic straws as part of its Protect the Pitch initiative (Credit: LA Galaxy)

GSB: How does AEG promote #GoGreen to its guests? How is traffic to the site?

John: Sustainability is increasingly informing consumers’ purchasing habits and behaviors. Because everyone plays a role in sustainability, we encourage employees and fans through our social channels to visit AEGGoGreen.com, learn how to lessen their environmental impact and ask others to join the movement by sharing a #GOGREEN Pledge via Facebook and Twitter.

Conserving our planet’s resources is a shared endeavor that not only touches all levels of our organization, but all people in all corners of the globe. Only by working together can we improve the health of our planet.

The program underscores AEG’s belief that it has an opportunity to use the power of sports and music to create significant, positive change in the world.

GSB: Finally, AEG’s energy efficiency initiatives, its renewable energy purchases and its communications efforts fit well with the five pillars of the UN’s new Sports For Climate Action framework, something to which the company committed. What is AEG looking for from the framework?

John: One of the underlying principles behind the creation of the Green Sports Alliance is that people care deeply about sports and it’s a great platform to engage with people about a variety of issues. We see the Framework as one of these opportunities – to use the most popular and iconic sports brands in the world to help address climate change.

GSB: Speaking of the Alliance, congratulations John on being named to its Board. You will bring a deep well of venue management and technical experience to the Alliance. As for the Framework, it’s off to a strong start with high profile commitments, including AEG’s. I look forward to talking with you down the road to see how compliance and awareness of the Framework develops.

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Green Sports Alliance Summit “Goes There” on Climate Change & Environmental Justice; Minneapolis Named 2020 Host

Green Sports Alliance Summits past have largely kept climate change in the background.

That changed, hopefully forever, as the climate crisis percolated throughout the two days of the 2019 Summit that ended Thursday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

And, in a Green Sports Alliance Summit main stage first, several speakers went beyond urging the sports world to take on climate change, making the powerful case for leagues, teams and athletes to make the needed connections between social justice and environmental (or climate) justice.

“Climate change is about equity and inclusiveness. The problem affects everyone.”

— Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia

“Everyone is responsible for climate change. It’s really human change.”

— Jason Twill, Founding Green Sports Alliance Director

“We found that kids in certain Philadelphia zip codes weren’t going outside because of fear of violence, fear of asthma. The best tool to predict health disparities is zip code.”

— Jerome Shabazz, Executive Director, Overbrook Environmental Association

“It’s hard to play basketball, it’s hard to breathe, when the air is polluted. Eighteen percent of Oakland kids have asthma. I’m one of those kids.”

— Nehemiah Vaughn, 19, Youth Ambassador, Green for All

Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia (Photo credit: Philly Voice)

These quotes, and many others like it, were uttered during the first two hours of the ninth Green Sports Alliance Summit. As someone who’s been to six of the last seven summits, I say it’s time for the Green-Sports movement and sports more broadly to take heed of these messages, acknowledge the fear and risks of going bigger and faster on climate as well as environmental-social justice…and go bigger and faster anyway.

IT’S PAST TIME

I get that the sports world would rather go slowly about climate change.

I get that the sports power brokers, from owners to media to sponsors, would, for the most part, avoid anything that smacks of politics.

Thing is, the Green-Sports movement, as well as the rest of humanity, does not have the luxury of time to dance around climate change any longer. The Alliance, at its eight previous summits, often did the climate change-avoidance cha-cha.

Given that humanity only has 12 years or less to decarbonize by 45 percent in order to avoid the most calamitous impacts of climate change, it was past time for the dance to end and the real talk — and then action — to commence.

So it was a much needed and unprecedented start to the 2019 Alliance Summit as presenters at Wednesday morning’s opening session spoke clearly and directly about the climate crisis. In addition to the quotes above, summiteers heard these messages before the first coffee break:

Eagles President Don Smolenski, in his welcome to the summiteers, noted “We generate more energy from clean sources than any other sports venue in North America. We take managing and reducing our climate impacts seriously.”
Jason Twill, who followed Smolenski and Mayor Kenney on to the main stage shared, “At the founding meeting of the Green Sports Alliance back in 2010, someone said ‘we are in the first year of the final decade in which we can make a major impact on climate.’ Now we’re at the end of that decade. Sustainable, to which many aspire, is not enough. Even restoring the planet is not enough. We need to get to a regenerative economy.”
More Twill: “In 2018, we passed ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ — the day when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year — on August 1st. The US passed it on March 15, Canada on March 18. We need to from being ego-centric to eco-centric.”

Jason Twill (Photo credit: Jennifer Twill)

MOVING FORWARD ON ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE

If the attendees weren’t awake before these talks, surely they were wide eyed afterwards, even without the benefits of caffeine.

And that was a very good thing because “Beyond The Ballpark: The Role of Sports in Environmental Justice Reform” was unlike anything an Alliance Summit had ever offered. Moderator Kunal Merchant, an Alliance board member and the co-founder of Lotus Advisory, led a panel that thoughtfully explored the underreported-on intersection of social justice and environmental (climate) justice.

Merchant, whose firm is consulting on the proposed new waterfront ballpark for the Oakland A’s, shared how environmental remediation and cleanup is central to the plan: “The club will work to clean up the water, soil and waste, with the goal of improving the health and lives of the often marginalized people who have been living with the consequences of the environmental degradation of the area.”

Preliminary artist rendering for the proposed Oakland A’s ballpark near Jack London Square in Oakland. The project will be LEED Gold and reflect the A’s strong commitment to sustainable development and environmental justice (Credit: Oaklandballpark.com)

Recently retired former Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin has made building parks and safe spaces to play for kids in at-risk area the focus of his MTWB (Make The World Better) Foundation work — they’re now on their fourth park in Philadelphia. When asked how to get more athletes involved in the climate and social-environmental justice fights, Barwin’s answer was simple: “Corporate sponsors need to ask us!”

barwin

Ex-Philadelphia Eagles LB Connor Barwin (r) helped install solar panels atop the roof of this couple’s home in Cherry Hill, NJ in 2015. (Photo credit: NRG)

Mustafa Santiago Ali, VP of Environmental Justice at the National Wildlife Federation, talked about growing up in West Virginia, across the river from a coal plant. “Some days, we would be playing outside, and when the wind blew in a certain direction, ‘the fog’ would come in,” recalled Santiago Ali. “We didn’t know we were being impacted, but some parts of the region have a 50 percent cancer rate…This is environmental INjustice. We need to get to environmental justice for frontline communities: people of color, indigenous people.”

Mustafa

Mustafa Santiago Ali (Photo credit: National Wildlife Federation)

The showstopper of the panel was the aforementioned Nehemiah Vaughn.

Asthma may have cut short his basketball dreams, but that didn’t stop Vaughn. Far from it. The engaging 19-year old pivoted to music, entering and winning a hip-hop contest by starring in this #FuelChange anthem, promoted by Green For All. Check it out:

Can the Green-Sports movement catalyze this energy and vision displayed in Wednesday morning’s session into meaningful, consistent action ofrom leagues, teams, media, athletes and more?

Watch this space.

MINNEAPOLIS TO HOST 2020 SUMMIT

Thursday morning’s session kicked off with the announcement from Green Sports Alliance Executive Director Roger McClendon that the organization’s 10th annual summit would be held at US Bank Stadium, the LEED Gold home of the Minnesota Vikings.

GreenSportsBlog is ecstatic about this news for two reasons:

Minneapolis, along with St. Paul, make up the Green-Sports-y-est metro area in the United States. In fact, GSB is in the midst of a four-part series on the Twin Cities’ Green-Sports-y-ness. Click here and here for the first two parts.
We urged the Green Sports Alliance to pick Minneapolis just this Tuesday!

PHILLY SUMMIT NEWS & NOTES

Here are a few more nuggets and thoughts on the summit before closing the book on Philadelphia 2019:

Another first for a GSA Summit: A conversation about carbon pricing and how it would benefit the sports business. Panelist Steve Hams, representing Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), shared the details of the bipartisan Energy Innovation & Carbon Dividend Act (EICDA) of 2019 bill currently making the rounds in the US House of Representatives.
- It would place a price on carbon ($15/metric ton of carbon in year one and then rising $10/ton/year after that) at the point of extraction (mine, well) or the border. The fees raised would not go to the federal treasury. Rather, they would be paid out as a dividend to households in the form of a monthly direct deposit. It’s progressive: Independent analyses estimate that the lowest 66 percent of American households on the income scale would earn more in dividends than they would pay out in higher prices due to the fees. And it’s revenue neutral in that it doesn’t add to the size of government, which should appeal to conservatives.
- According to Hams, businesses involved in sports, including the small and medium size companies who sell to venues and teams — many of whom were exhibitors at the summit — should love this policy: “Most fans will have more money in their pockets because of this policy, which means more money to spend on tickets. Plus the policy will accelerate the pace of reducing emissions and cleaning up our environment, which will be good for all sports.”
- Full disclosure: The discussion on carbon pricing took place during a panel, “Sports, Carbon, & Climate,” moderated by yours truly. And I am a CCL volunteer.
Tuesday was Stadium Tour Day. Three venues in four hours. This is only possible in Philadelphia because Lincoln Financial Field (Eagles), Citizens’ Bank Park (Phillies) and Wells Fargo Center (76ers and Flyers) are all in the same complex.
- The Eagles are, by far, the green leader: Massive solar installations on the stadium’s east wall and in the parking lot, LEED Gold, ISO 20121 certified and more.
- The Phillies are doing a lot right: An LED lighting retrofit that has reduced energy use by 25 percent, an advanced water pump and HVAC monitoring system, and a branded “Red Goes Green” program to communicate with fans. But they aren’t measuring their overall carbon footprint yet. A big opportunity missed, it says here, because measuring it would uncover more energy and dollar savings.
- Wells Fargo Center is in the midst of huge renovation — Transformation 2020 — with energy efficiency a part of the mix. That said, I did not get the sense that the environment is central part of the arena’s DNA. Comcast, which owns the facility is not looking to go for LEED certification.

Citizens’ Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies (Photo credit: Visit Philly)

Substantive discussions on climate ruled the day on Thursday. “The Role of Sport in Civic Engagement & Public Policy,” was a wonkish discussion of how:
- Sports can marshal the favorable market forces in the renewable energy, EV and energy storage sectors
- Brands can engage fans and athletes for a greater purpose, like the climate fight, and,
- The sports world can encourage fans to vote.
- The wonkishness was not surprising given the panel lineup of former Obama administration members. Moderator Cyrus Wadia worked in the Obama White House, as did panelists Kyle Lierman, CEO of When We All Vote (perennial NBA All Star Chris Paul of the Houston Rockets is involved) and Charlie Gay, who worked in 44’s Department of Energy. And while Perfecto (that’s his real name) Sanchez did not work in the Obama Administration, he did do two tours of duty with the Army in Iraq and his company, JourneyOne, helps align corporate mission with employee purpose in order move companies achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Cyrus Wadia (Photo credit: Unreasonable Group)

Finally, I came away from the Summit with one big thing from Thursday’s last session, “Speaking Science: Making Climate Change & Sustainability Relevant to Fans.”

Panelist Eric Fine, Project Manager of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, shared these data from a 2018 survey of Americans that divided us into six groups regarding our attitudes on climate. Almost 60 percent are alarmed or concerned. Another 17 percent are cautious with 5 percent disengaged. Another 9 percent are doubtful and only 9 percent are dismissive.

The alarmed/concerned number was higher than I expected, with the doubtful/dismissive number being significantly lower.

So what was that one big thing?

Public attitudes are moving towards the Green-Sports movement so teams, leagues and more have the space now to be bolder than they’ve ever been.

There will be some blow back. There will be instances where “go slow” wins the day. And there will, understandably, be disagreements on what language to use.

But the movement needs push through self-imposed brakes whenever possible and go forward faster and more consistently on climate and environmental-social justice than it has before.

Because 2030 will be here sooner than we think.

But before 2030 comes 2020, so see you in Minneapolis next June.

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GSB News and Notes: What City Will Host 2020 Green Sports Alliance Summit?; Gillette, Terracycle Partner to Upcycle Razor Blades; Adidas Doubles its Recycled Shoe Production;

Greetings from Amtrak’s Keystone train service en route from New York to Philadelphia and the start of the 2019 Green Sports Alliance Summit.

In today’s GSB News & Notes column, we look beyond the City of Brotherly Love to find the best host city for the Alliance’s 2020 gathering.

Then we cross the Delaware River into New Jersey where Gillette, a major sports advertiser and the #1 razor maker in the USA, is teaming up with Trenton-based Terracycle on an innovative program to upcycle — remake discarded products to create new products — used razors.

Finally, we check in on Adidas which, thanks to its partnership with Parley for the Oceans, has been making and selling athletic footwear and apparel made from plastic ocean waste since 2017. Apparently producing five million Parley sneakers in 2018 did not satisfy the world’s #2 ranked athletic apparel brand: Adidas recently announced they would more than double that number this year.

GSB’S EARLY MORNING LINE ON GREEN SPORTS ALLIANCE SUMMIT 2020 HOST CITY

If history is any guide, Roger McClendon, Executive Director of the Green Sports Alliance, will announce the host city for the 2020 Summit during the 2019 gathering which kicks off today at Lincoln Financial Field, the LEED Gold home of the Philadelphia Eagles.

In case the Alliance is still unsure about which city to pick, GSB offers three worthy Summit hosts. Our candidates are, in alphabetical order:

Miami

PROS

#1: Miami and Miami Beach are among the most vulnerable cities in the world to the effects of climate change-induced sea level rise. According to a November 2018 study from Zillow, 35 percent of the housing stock in Miami and an astounding 85.2 percent in Miami Beach are in the “sea level rise risk zone” over the next 5 to 25 years.

#2: See #1. A Miami summit would put climate change and sea level rise front and center like never before.

#3: American Airlines Arena, home of the NBA’s Heat, would be an ideal Summit venue as it is LEED Gold certified.

American Airlines Arena (Photo credit: Miami Heat)

#4: Marlins Park became first retractable roof stadium to earn LEED Gold

CONS

#1: The environment seemed not to factor in the building or operation of Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL Dolphins.

#2: Flooding now regularly occurs on sunny days due sea level rise.

Driving through Miami at high tide, with blue skies and no hurricane (Photo credit: The Sparkspread)

Minneapolis (and St. Paul)

PROS

#1: Minneapolis’ US Bank Stadium (Vikings), Target Field (Twins) and TCF Bank Stadium (University of Minnesota Gophers football) are LEED certified at a variety of levels. So is St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center Arena (NHL’s Wild).

#2: CHS Field, home to independent baseball’s St. Paul Saints, while not LEED certified, is another environmentally-advanced gem.

100 kWh solar array located in beyond the left field wall supplies a portion of the electricity to CHS Field (Photo credit: St. Paul Saints)

#3: David Fhima, one of the Twin Cities’ top chefs, has brought his clean, healthy, tasty food to Target Center (NBA’s Timberwolves, WNBA’s Lynx)

#4: Light rail connects all of the Twin Cities’ sports venues, as well as Minneapolis to St. Paul.

CON

#1: US Bank Stadium, with its reflective glass exterior and located on a major flyway, has a significant bird kill problem. The Vikings, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA), and stadium architects were aware of the issue but did nothing to solve it — and it is eminently solvable. Protests from Audubon groups and others ensued but, sadly, to no effect.

Toronto

PROS

#1: Toronto is Canada’s largest city and Canada has a federal carbon pricing policy. That’s a big deal. The United States would do well to follow the lead of its neighbor to the north.

#2: Bringing the GSA Summit to Canada for the first time could help spur the country’s sports greening movement.

#3: Scotiabank Arena, home of the NHL’s Maple Leafs and the newly-crowned NBA champs Raptors (#WeTheNorth), has made significant strides on energy use, waste, and water.

CON

#1: There’s no evidence that the environment was a consideration in the design and construction of BMO Field, home of MLS’ Toronto FC and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL)

GSB’s Take: All three cities are worthy of hosting a Green Sports Summit but the pick has to be the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Surprised? You shouldn’t be: GSB is at the midway point of a four-part series,”Twin Cities Rule US Green Sports.” To be clear, these prospective host cities are products of my own imagination; I did not consult with the Alliance on this. So if Minneapolis (and St. Paul!) is picked, it just means I’m a GSA Summit savant. And if the Alliance goes to, say, Salt Lake City, please move along to the next News & Note.

GILLETTE, TERRACYCLE TEAM UP TO UPCYCLE OLD RAZORS

How many disposable razors do you get rid of each year? According to the EPA, over two billion are thrown away annually in the USA¹ as most are not recyclable.

Two billion razors are thrown away in the USA each year — and end up in landfill (Photo credit: Crisco/Wiki Commons)

Gillette — which has its name on the New England Patriots’ stadium in Foxboro, MA and is one of the leading sports advertisers in the USA — wants to drastically reduce that number, keeping those old razors out of landfill.

Adele Peters, writing in a recent issue of Fast Company, reported that Gillette “is inviting anyone in the U.S. to send in old razors, blades, and even packaging — from any brand —for [up]cycling.”

To do so, people can sign up through Terracycle, an innovative circular economy pioneer based in Trenton, New Jersey known for upcycling and recycling materials that would otherwise go to landfill — several years ago, they turned Capri Sun juice pouches into backpacks. Once a shipment of used blades is ready, all one has to do is download a shipping label and send it in.

Inside Terracycle headquarters, where almost everything is upcycled or recycled (Photo credit: Terracycle)

After arrival at Terracycle, the materials get sterilized, shredded, and upcycled into products like bike racks, park benches, and pet food bowls. Gillette also offers drop-off bins to gyms; once full, the bin’s contents are forwarded to Terracycle via UPS, with Gillette covering shipping costs. Those who use the company’s razor subscription service can also now return old units in the subscription box.

GSB’s Take: GSB likes the Gillette-Terracycle partnership. And I will certainly take advantage of this important upcycling opportunity.

Like will turn into love if Gillette decides to heavily advertise the upcycling program on TV and online sports programming. All they have to do is slightly update their jingle: “Gillette, the best a man can get — and then upcycle.”

ADIDAS TO MAKE 11 MILLION SHOES FROM RECYCLED PLASTIC IN 2019; GOLF ADDED TO THE MIX

Adidas recently announced it would produce 11 million shoes from upcycled plastic waste in 2019, more than doubling the 5 million it manufactured last year. The Herzogenaurach, Germany based company began its partnership with Parley for the Oceans to help clean up the world’s oceans by making shoes and athletic apparel from trash found there in 2017.

Plastic waste is intercepted on beaches in places like the sea level rise-threatened Maldive Islands before it reaches the oceans. The recovered material is then made into a yarn, which is used to create the upper material of the shoes.

Plastic ocean waste washed up on the shore of the Maldive Islands in 2016 (Photo credit: Parley for the Oceans)

Golf will help Adidas reach its 2019 Parley for the Oceans production goal: The company recently added a limited edition Parley version of the TOUR360 XT shoe to its lineup.

The Adidas TOUR360 XT Parley golf shoe (Photo credit: Adidas)

Per Hardimann, “The first ever golf shoe made from…upcycled plastic waste features a sock-like design with a cushioned sole.”

“Our company is extremely focused on sustainability and we wanted to incorporate that mission into our sport,” said Masun Denison, global footwear director at Adidas Golf. “This is the first golf shoe we’ve ever made that incorporates upcycled materials and this is just the beginning. In a sport that’s played outdoors and where sustainability is often under the microscope, we feel this is a massive step forward for the game.”

Widening the lens beyond golf, Adidas signed the Climate Protection Charter for the Fashion Industry last year. Doing so commits the company to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The charter is under the auspices of the UNFCCC, the same organization that developed the Sports for Climate Action framework.

GSB’s Take: Kudos to Adidas and Parley for the Oceans for stepping up production on Parley shoes by ten times — from 1 million to 11 million — in just two years. Still, that 11 million only represents about 2.7 percent of the company’s total 2018 shoe output of 409 million. Will every Adidas shoe be a Parley shoe someday? Why not? And when?

¹ Per Groundswell.org: https://groundswell.org/2-billion-tossed-per-year-whats-the-most-wasteful-bathroom-product/

CORRECTION: In the original version of this post, Miami’s American Airlines Arena was listed as the “first arena in the world to earn LEED Gold status.” In fact, Pittsburgh’s PPG Paint Arena was the first LEED Gold certified arena.

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“Twin Cities Rule US Green-Sports”: Part II: David Fhima Brings Tasty, Green, Clean Food to Target Center Fans

“Which metro area is the Green-Sportsy-est in the US?”

While the San Francisco Bay Area or Seattle might come to mind first, it says here that Minneapolis and St. Paul win the title. In fact, the Twin Cities’ Green-Sportsy-ness runs so deep that we can’t cover it all in one post.

In Part I of our four-part GSB special series, Twin Cities Rule US Green-Sports, we looked at US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings), the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium and CHS Field (Independent baseball’s St. Paul Saints) from a green perspective.

Today, in Part II we shift our focus to food. YES!!!

David Fhima is the groundbreaking owner/chef behind the tasty, clean, healthy French-Mediterranean menus at one of Minneapolis’ finest restaurants, Fhima’s Minneapolis. And since 2016, he has brought that same culinary excellence to Target Center as “nutritional curator” for the NBA’s Timberwolves and WNBA’s Lynx.

GSB spoke with Fhima about his culinary philosophy, his journey to Minneapolis, and his approach to his work with the Lynx and Wolves.

GreenSportsBlog: David, this story promises to be as good as a meal at one of the restaurants inside Target Center, so let’s dig in. How did you end up as the Timberwolves chef?

David Fhima: Well I was born in Casablanca, one of 17 children, but grew up and went to schools all over the world; from Paris to London to Geneva to Strasbourg. This influenced me greatly. I was always fascinated by food and was cooking from a very young age in my mother’s kitchen and before I knew it, it became my life’s work.

I came to the US in 1982, found my way to Los Angeles where I worked at some of the top restaurants prior to moving to Minneapolis following a former relationship. Seeing the need for a food scene in the Twin Cities, I opened my first restaurant here in 1993, Minneapolis Cafe.

Over the years, Timberwolves players and management would come to my restaurants. They enjoyed the food and the ambiance, and we became friends. Several years ago, Timberwolves management approached me, namely Ryan Tanke and Ethan Casson, about upgrading the Twolves and Lynx food and beverage experience at Target Center as major renovations to the arena were planned.

Previously, I had traveled with the team on a few road trips experiencing other venues. I found myself questioning why arena food was average, at best, when it didn’t have to be. I knew I could do it better, do it right. I was convinced that this would be an awesome undertaking when I realized that Ethan’s and Ryan’s standards were very aligned with mine. They were not about smoke and mirrors, but instead about quality, great ingredients and more importantly giving me the autonomy to create. Much of the credit is due to them and the organization as a whole. The Wolves and Lynx are world class organizations constantly searching how to be the best in every aspect.

David Fhima (Photo credit: David Sherman)

GSB: What do you mean when you talk about ‘doing it right’? What is your culinary philosophy?

David: My simple philosophy is this: Respect the ingredients.

It won’t be good if it’s full of additives and if the sources are suspect. Food needs to be clean. If you can buy local, great. Green and organic is great, but clean, to me, is a culmination of local first, organic second, sustainable third.

Local: When I can look the purveyor in the eye and know that his product is grown nearby and is made without additives, preservatives, pesticides, etc.
Organic: While the industry isn’t as regulated as you might think, I believe that a tomato, organically grown has more flavor, more nutrients and is accepted into your system more readily than non-organic product.
Sustainable: We have a responsibility to care for the environment in which our food is grown, I believe in eating seasonally which is mostly compatible with sustainability. When the seas are balanced, not over fished, the seafood is better. When the soil is let to rest seasonally, the food it produces has more nutrients. There is a symbiotic rhythm to purchasing and eating food and I believe your body thrives within those seasons as well. A strawberry just doesn’t taste as good in January.

This is basic stuff, and, as I like to say, the art of doing simple, well, is a lost art.

With that as our philosophy, the trick was to change an entire arena and we couldn’t switch overnight. We’re not feeding 100 or 200 people, we’re feeding 19,000. We did, however, progress quicker than anticipated, becoming more local and sustainable, while always setting our goals higher. Among our successes are that all concession stands emphasize clean ingredients, Fhima’s concession stand is all organic, the rest are getting there. Target Center is one of the only sports arenas in North America that can say this.

Fhima’s concession stand at Target Center (Photo credit: David Sherman)

Levy Restaurants, the concessionaire representing Target Center, does most of the purchasing for the concessions stands and they are doing it in partnership with us, with our clean philosophy in mind. We have a weekly meeting where we discuss many things including product quality and guest experience.

How many microwaves do you think we have at Target Center?

GSB: I have no idea…

David: None.

GSB: I should’ve guessed! Talk about what makes the Target Center restaurants and concession stands so sustainable, so healthy?

David: With no microwaves, everything is prepared day of. In the restaurants, we only cook with rice bran oil — it has no trans fats and there’s no waste with it. We partner with local farmers for our produce and our meats. All of our fish is sustainably caught and raised. We’re working to eliminate plastic straws throughout the arena. At the concession stands, how about making hot dogs without nitrates? Done. Healthier ketchup? Done. Next year, we’ll be pushing the envelope even further, working with local farmers who grow produce like lettuce and tomatoes hydroponically — in a water-based, nutrient-rich, soil-less environment. This can be done indoors, when it’s -30° Fahrenheit outside. Which, if you haven’t heard, happens here from time to time.

GSB: I’ve heard. Did the move to healthy and local cost significantly more? If so, have those cost increases been passed on to fans? What has been the reaction?

David: Through this “go local, organic, clean” process we have not needed to raise pricing, we have stayed competitive, if not less expensive, than other large stadiums in the area.

GSB: That’s a big deal! I’ve heard many chefs emphasize healthy and organic food. I haven’t heard them use the word “clean” before when talking about food. But it’s a big thing with you…

David: Look, the pollution of our food over the last 100 or so years is a big problem. It is baked in now, meaning our soil is polluted. Even if you don’t use pesticides or herbicides, the runoff is a real problem. As you might imagine, evaporation and precipitation is hard to control.

And you know what? Peoples’ palates have been hurt by this!

Pollution and now climate change affects everything when it comes to food and taste. That’s why the goal of 100 percent clean is very arduous. Although we’re not there yet, we’re not afraid of the clean food challenge. And when your palate gets used to eating clean, it’s like a great relationship. Once you have the right one, you don’t look anywhere else. It’s been a battle but we have some of the cleanest, healthiest, best food in town. We pride ourselves on being the best place to eat, period. Not just the best sports venue.

GSB: What are some of the items you’re most proud of at the concession stands and in the restaurants in the premium seating areas?

David: Well, that’s like choosing a favorite child, which I cannot and won’t do. I am proud of most things in each area of our arena. I love that our sub-contractors are happy, making money and feel pride being at the Target Center. I am proud of the way everyone has bought into our vision of being the best in every level. I am proud at the methodical change that we have made from top to bottom and the commitment the Wolves have to getting better each year and not resting on our laurels. Our premium restaurants were packed last season. Fans who used to eat out before the game changed their habits by eating at our Target Center restaurants. Most people used to have dinner somewhere before going to the game because the quality wasn’t there. We’ve changed that model. Our premium restaurants were packed last season.

GSB: How have Timberwolves and Lynx management reacted to your approach?

David: From top to bottom the whole organization, from the top executives — Ethan Casson, Ryan Tanke, Ted Johnson, Jake Vernon — to the sales advisers, it has been amazing — they love it! We cook for both the Wolves and the Lynx and they love it too. No one has said NO to us. We work very well with Levy, which manages the restaurants and concession stands. Also, I don’t know if this is significant, but the Timberwolves had a very good home record eating our clean, healthy food. On the road? Not so good. Speaking of on the road, other sports venues have expressed interest in our way of doing things. The organization as a whole has been 110 percent on board and committed to our culinary vision.

Karl-Anthony Towns of the Timberwolves samples some of David Fhima’s clean, healthy, organic food offerings (Photo credit: David Sherman)

GSB: That’s a new link between home cooking and home court advantage! The analytics folks need to look into that. More and more athletes are eating vegetarian or vegan diets. Where are you guys on plant-based options?

David: Every concession stand, every restaurant at Target Center, anywhere you get food in the building, has vegan and/or vegetarian options. At some of the stands you’ll find our house-made veggie burgers; they’re as good or better than what’s on the market. More and more, our players, especially the Lynx, have been asking for plant-based options. We have an amazing relationship with the players, trainers and coaches. Communication is key and we are in contact every day. Each group appreciates our contribution. A key part of the effort to win, we strive to do our part in creating meals for optimal performance. We aren’t just putting food on tables; we do our due diligence in sports nutrition research and work with players individually when asked.

GSB: That’s great to hear. So take out your crystal ball. Where would you like to see the Target Center food offerings three, four years down the road?

David: in my view, Target Center is already a world leader in providing clean, healthy, food that maintains is savory component! We want to be 100 percent clean, we don’t believe that is too lofty of a goal. I challenge you to find an arena currently that is as comprehensive and thoughtful from the guest to the staff to the athletes. Three, four years down the road, arenas will be following suit and asking for guidance. We are ahead of the game, providing an improved all around culinary experience. We will be known in the industry for being the thought and clean cuisine leader.

GSB: Forget three years down the road, I want to eat at Target Center this season…

David: We would love to have you.

Next in Part III, we find out how Target Field, (home of the AL Central-leading Twins), Xcel Energy Center (NHL’s Minnesota Wild) and the brand new Allianz Field (MLS’ Minnesota United FC) are helping the Twin Cities lead the way in Green-Sports

“Which metro area is the Green-Sportsy-est in the US?”

In Part I of our four-part GSB special series, Twin Cities Rule US Green-Sports, we looked at US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings), the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium and CHS Field (Independent baseball’s St. Paul Saints) from a green perspective.

Part II featured Chef David Fhima, who brought clean, healthy, organic food to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Target Center.

Then in Part III we went back to the venues, this time visiting Target Field (Minnesota Twins), Xcel Energy Center (Minnesota Wild/NHL) and Allianz Field (Minnesota United/MLS).

In today’s Part IV finale, we profile Mike Martin, a pioneer in the sustainable concert space. He recently launched r.Cup, a Minneapolis-based startup whose goal is to dramatically reduce the number of single use plastic bottles at concerts and, going forward, sports events.

Mike Martin (Photo credit: Mike Martin)

Mike Martin presents Paul McCartney and his wife Linda (since deceased) with an Earth Day “Concerts for the Environment” poster in Minneapolis in 1993 (Photo credit: Michael Martin)

Ben & Jerry’s One Sweet Whirled/Dave Matthews Band limited edition ice cream (Photo credit: Ben & Jerry’s)

The Switch for Good ad (60 seconds)

An r.Cup from the Rolling Stones 2019 No Filter tour (Photo credit: r.Cup)

An r.Cup ambassador explains how the program works to a fan at a U2 concert (Photo credit: r.Cup)

¹ The Bhopal disaster was a gas leak incident in December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal. It is considered to be the world’s worst industrial disaster as up to an estimate 16,000 people died.

² The Valdez was an oil tanker owned by Exxon that spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989. The oil slick ultimately impacted 1,300 miles of coast line.

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Recently retired NFL star Chris Long and adidas were honored last week with ESPN Sports Humanitarian Awards for their environmentally-related work.

Chris Long, accepting the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award (Photo credit: ESPN)

Parley for the Oceans tennis shirt from adidas (Photo credit: adidas)

Adidas x Parley women’s running shoes (Photo credit: adidas)

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The Sports for Climate Action Framework, launched by the sport sector UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December, has gotten off to a strong start.

Achieve a clear trajectory for the global sports community to combat climate change, including measuring, reducing, and reporting greenhouse gas emissions, in line with the 1.5 degree Celsius scenario enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, and

Use sports as a unifying tool to create solidarity among global citizens for climate action.

How did the Framework come together? How will the UN measure how signatories are living up to their commitments — or not?

We asked these questions, and more, of Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu who led development of the Sports for Climate Action Framework.

Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu (Photo credit: UN Climate Change)

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“Which metro area is the Green-Sportsy-est in the US?”

To GreenSportsBlog, Minneapolis/St. Paul is the clear winner.

The Twin Cities boast five, count ’em five pro sports venues plus one independent league baseball stadium that all have green stories to tell. Plus a Green-Sports startup. Plus a chef who has made the Target Center a place for foodies as well as basketball fans to call home.

That’s why we need a four-part series to do show how the Twin Cities Rule US Green-Sports!

In Part I, we looked at US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings and the 2020 Green Sports Alliance Summit), the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium and CHS Field (Independent baseball’s St. Paul Saints) from a green perspective.

Part II saw our our focus shift to food. David Fhima, has brought his tasty, clean, healthy culinary excellence to Target Center as head chef and “nutritional curator” for the NBA’s Timberwolves and WNBA’s Lynx.

In today’s Part III, we head back out to the Twin Cities’ venues.

Gary Glawe (Photo credit: Minnesota Twins)

Target Field (Photo credit: Ballpark Digest)

Jim Ibister (Photo credit: Dani Werner)

Xcel Energy Center management held a press conference recently to announce a new solar installation on the outside of the arena’s parking deck (Photo credit: Minnesota Wild)

Samantha Chapman (Photo credit: Minnesota United)

The Great Lawn (Photo credit: Minnesota United)

¹ Nationals Park in Washington, DC became the first LEED certified stadium in major league baseball in 2009

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Fast forward to 2019 and McCloy is the co-founder of VeggieHappy, an online venue guide for plant-based food options at large professional and Division I college sports venues.

With vegetarian and vegan diets growing, especially among millennials and especially GenZers, there is no one better to talk to about where things stand regarding the availability and quality of plant-based food options at ballparks and other sports venues than Johanna McCloy.

Johanna McCloy (Photo credit: Kirsten Lara Getchell)

Vegan veggie dog, courtesy of Beyond Meat, at Dodger Stadium (Photo credit: Riley Williams, @chefrdog)

The “32 Ingredient” vegan salad on offer at Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays (Photo credit: Aramark)

NBA teams are getting into the plant-based food act. Here are two quinoa-barley-black bean tacos (sans cilantro cream sauce to make it vegan) from Street Taco at Capital One Arena, home of the Washington Wizards (Photo credit: James Price, @veganfoodfinds)

Forest Green Rovers of League 2, the fourth tier of English football, serves its fans a vegan-only menu. Here is a stir-fried mixed peppers, red onion and Mexican spiced Quorn wrapped in a soft tortilla with fresh tomato relish (Photo credit: Forest Green Rovers)

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Email us: lew@greensportsblog.com

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Tweet us @GreenSportsBlog

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Members of the delegation from Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo react after the Italian cities were named to host the 2026 Olympic Winter Games (Photo credit: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)