Pro Sports Teams Go Green
Six professional teams, including baseball, football, basketball, soccer and hockey players, came together at the Seattle Safeco sports field to kick off the new green initiative and encourage and support other professional sports teams and sport centres to reduce their environmental impacts.
The National Basketball Association (NBA), the Major League Soccer, the Major League Baseball, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the National Football League and the National Hockey League have come together for the first time to collaborate on green initiatives and improving environmental accountability.
The Green Sports Alliance is the brainchild of representatives of the Seattle Seahawks, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Seattle Storm and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The partnership focuses on an inter-league alliance between sports teams and associations to place the spotlight on the sports industry's responsibility for taking care of the environment.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said, ''The Seattle Storm and the Portland Trail Blazers are helping to lead the way on the greening of professional sports and the NBA and WNBA are grateful for their leadership. Their participation in the Green Sports Alliance holds the potential to further the greening of professional sports nationally''.
Also partnering in the Green Sports Alliance is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the NRDC, the Portland State University as well as the Bonneville Environmental Foundation who are all working together to build on environmental initiatives for the sports industry in general as well as within individual sports teams.
''The commitment by these six professional teams, from six different leagues, to enhance their environmental profile in a meaningful and public way marks a watershed in the history of professional sports'' said Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist with NRDC and environmental advisor for professional sports. ''This type of inter-league collaboration is unprecedented. All professional leagues should follow their lead''.
The Green Sports Alliance's headquarters will be in Portland, Oregon where they will provide support for managers of sports facilities, producers of events and marketing directors to share experiences in 'going green'.
They plan on hosting the inaugural Green Sports Summit in August 2011 to bring together environmental leaders and conservationists with people working in the sports and events industry. So in the future perhaps not only will the sports fields be green but also the whole sports team and event.
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