The NHL’s second annual Green Week runs from March 11-17. To get a sense of what’s new and improved this year as well as what the league is doing sustainability-wise beyond Green Week, GreenSportsBlog talked with Omar Mitchell, the league’s VP of Corporate Social Responsibility.

The National Hockey League, the first professional sports league in North America to issue a sustainability report—which documents and discloses its carbon footprint—and the 26th largest user of green power in the US^ is adding to its sustainability legacy through its second annual Green Week. Starting Saturday and running through St. Patrick’s Day—talk about GREEN!—NHL Green Week aims to communicate the league’s consistent and forward-leaning commitment to doing what it can to foster a healthy, pond-hockey-friendly environment.

According to Omar Mitchell, the NHL’s Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, the league will use Green Week to “educate our fans and other stakeholders—including staff, players, sponsors, and more—about the environmental initiatives undertaken by the NHL and its 30 (soon to be 31*) clubs” via a comprehensive multi-media activation that is highlighted by 15 and 30 second Public Service Announcements (PSAs).

Comprehensive is the watchword here:

• The PSAs will run across the full panoply of NHL broadcast/cable outlets: NHL Network, NBCSN, as well as Rogers SportsNet in Canada—the NHL’s official Canadian broadcast partner. And all 30 NHL teams have the option to run the PSAs on their regional cable networks.
• NBCSN, for the second consecutive year, will also interview retired New York Rangers and U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Mike Richter about his post-career work in solar power and energy efficiency as well as his take on NHL Green 2017. Other retired and current NHL’ers will share their sustainability-inspired stories via Sirius XM Radio.

Mike Richter (photo credit: Zimbio.com)

• NHL.com will get into the Green Week act as a new NHL Green site will launch on the 13th; Green Week banners and other online messaging will also help tell the league’s sustainability story. Social media will, not surprisingly, also be in the NHL Green Week storytelling mix.

The NHL Green Week media blitz is a very big deal.

Why? Well, think about it: When have you seen a major sports league devote significant air time to a strategic, concerted, multi-media, sustainability campaign?

Actually, I know the answer.

Never.

Until now, that is, with the NHL Green Week PSA campaign.

As of this writing, I have yet to see the PSAs. But, the NHL’s history of high quality creative gives me confidence that the spots will break through strike a positive chord among the fans. Building (and measuring) fan awareness of the NHL’s commitment to sustainability is a crucial next step for the league and its clubs, as is encouraging positive environmental action.

The NHL clubs have stepped up on this front.

“All 30 of our clubs are participating in Green Week via their own social and digital channels.” said Mitchell, “And teams that are playing at home during the next week can, and many will, highlight the league’s sustainability efforts in-arena.”

One way they will do so—and new for NHL Green Week II—is the Gear and Equipment Donation Net.

All 30 clubs are provided with a hockey-goal-shaped “Donation Net” to be placed in a high visibility, high traffic area in their arena concourse. The teams are asking fans of teams playing home games during Green Week to donate their used hockey equipment by dropping it into the Donation Net. Per Mitchell, this program has two key benefits: “There’s an environmental benefit as the equipment is kept out of the landfill. And, some of the people who will get the repurposed gear will be folks who otherwise would not have had the chance to ever play hockey. So we’re growing participation.”

And, what about teams who are on the road during Green Week?

Not to worry, says Mitchell. “In addition to Green Week, we are in the midst of our Centennial season. We’re in the midst of our Centennial Fan Celebration (CFA), a 2017-long traveling celebration of the NHL that will visit all 30 arenas this year. The Donation Net is embedded in the activation.”

Helping maximize the impact and effectiveness of NHL Green Week—as well as many of the league’s other sustainability initiatives—is the Green Sports Alliance. “The GSA has been our main sustainability partner for several years and is integral to the league’s and the clubs’ greening efforts,” offers Mitchell, “They add vital sustainability expertise to our clubs. That is one of several reasons all 30 are members of the GSA for the second year in a row. Another is that they can tap into a broader green-sports knowledge base by meeting with counterparts from other leagues and sports governing bodies.”

Beyond Green Week, the league, is looking to expand its Greener Rinks campaign, the year-old program that provides valuable sustainability information for free to over 4,500 community ice rinks in North America.

More Mitchell: “We’re launching the Greener Rinks website on Monday. It’s the next stage in our campaign to be a valuable sustainability resource to community rinks, most of which may not have the access to, or awareness of, this information. We, in partnership with NHL energy partner Constellation, take the better sustainability practices from the NHL arena level and provide them, in one place, for the community rinks, including sustainability technologies along with recommendations on energy saving products and services.”

Finally, Mitchell and his colleagues are hard at work collecting and interpreting data from the league office, all 30 teams and their supply chains for the NHL’s second Sustainability Report. Mitchell declared that the report, a follow up to the breakthrough document published in 2014, will be issued by the end of 2017—an ideal way, it says here, to wrap up to the NHL’s Centennial year from a sustainability point of view.

That said, to me, the document will fall short of its potential impact if it doesn’t measure fan awareness of the league’s sustainability efforts. Mitchell eased my concerns, stating, “we are looking to track fan awareness and attitudes and that will come through in this year’s sustainability report.”

I can’t wait to read it—look, I’m the kind of guy who loves a good sustainability report! But that is down the road. Starting Saturday, I look forward to following NHL Green Week. Hopefully, the powers that be at the NBA, MLB, NFL, MLS and sports leagues around the world will do the same.

^ According to EPA’s Green Power Partnership

* The Vegas Golden Knights will begin play in the 2017-2018 season

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