With football season approaching, stadiums are getting ready to welcome thousands of fans back through their gates. However, with such high footfall comes a high carbon footprint.

Sports teams nationwide are starting to put their best foot forward when it comes to tackling environmental issues. Whether you’re a fan, a professional or local team, or a sponsor, you can get on board with sustainable changes to help reduce environmental impact and push toward eco-friendly sports.

What is the environmental impact of sport?

Sustainable energy

Powering a stadium, especially one that can seat tens of thousands of fans, is no easy feat. Whilst ticket sales cover the energy bills, they unfortunately can’t cover the environmental costs.

The US is currently part of the Race to Zero campaign, a global effort to cut down on carbon emissions. Part of this involves gaining the capacity for 750 GW of renewable energy by 2030. We source most energy from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil or gas to generate electricity and heat. As oil and gas are finite resources on our planet, this is not a sustainable way of powering our lives (or sports stadiums). Burning fossil fuels also takes a toll on our environment as it creates greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change.

Some eco-friendly sports teams have taken it upon themselves to contribute to sustainable energy efforts by installing solar panels on stadium roofs and the surrounding areas. Harnessing the power of the sun, solar energy is a cost-efficient renewable energy source and helps teams cut down on energy bills.

Plastic waste

Each year, football season comes with a huge amount of plastic waste. A single Superbowl game alone generates an average of 80,000 lbs of trash. Where fans are prohibited from bringing their own food and drink into the stadium, it’s difficult for fans to make sustainable choices individually.

Many stadiums are choosing to advance toward eco-friendly sports by replacing disposable cups and food containers with sustainable items such as reusable cups or recyclable aluminum cans. Sports brand Adidas have even created their first football pitch made entirely of recycled plastic. This recycled plastic field uses 1.8 million plastic bottles found at beaches and coastlines, cleaning up local areas whilst cutting down on the amount of water and energy used in pitch maintenance. The field can be found at Edison High School in Miami.

Examples of professional teams making sustainable changes

  • Sacramento Kings

    The California basketball team boasts an arena that is 100% powered by solar energy sourced within 50 miles of the arena
  • Pittsburgh Pirates:

    The Pennsylvania baseball team recycle more than 65% of all waste, saving it from landfill
  • Philadelphia Eagles

    The popular football team harness solar and wind energy from panels and turbines, generating 6x as much energy as they need for one game and giving back to the local community
  • Forest Green Rovers

    The UK football team are the world’s first 100% vegan sports team, and they even source their team’s eco-friendly sports kit from sustainable materials such as coffee bean waste and recycled plastic bottles

Sustainable choices for teams, stadiums, and sponsors

Here are our top 3 sustainable items for teams, stadiums and sponsors to implement sustainable change toward eco-friendly sport. They can even be customized to promote your favorite team or sponsoring brand!

  1. Reusable sports bottles

    Cut down on plastic waste with reusable sports bottles, customizable with your team’s logo
  2. Custom sport bag

    Give each player a personalized sustainable sports bag to carry their kit to practice and games
  3. Organic cotton lanyards

    Issue game passes on these organic cotton lanyards and reduce the amount of plastic that leaves the stadium