February 5, 2025 • 46 mins
Sustainability is for the Birds. And the Dolphins. And the Niners. Even the Browns can go green! On this week’s episode of ESG Currents, BI Senior ESG Analyst Rob Du Boff chats with Roger McClendon, executive director of the Green Sports Alliance, and Norman Vossschulte, vice president of sustainability for the Philadelphia Eagles, about what franchises and venues are doing to implement sustainability in their gameplan and tackle important social issues. This episode was recorded on Jan. 13.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
ESG has become established as a key business theme as
companies and investors seek to navigate the climate crisis, energy transition,
social mega trends, mounting regulatory tension, and pressure from other stakeholders.
The rapidly evolving landscape has become inundated with acronyms, buzzwords,
and lingo, and we aim to break these down with
industry experts. Welcome to ESG Currents, your guide to navigating
(00:30):
the evolving ESG space, one topic at a time. Brought
to you by Bloomberg Intelligence, part of Bloomberg's research department,
with five hundred analysts and strategists working across all major
world markets. Our coverage includes over two thousand equities and credits,
as well as outlooks on more than ninety industries and
one hundred market indices, currencies and commodities. I'm Rob Duboff,
(00:52):
Senior ESG analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. Let's talk sports. As
many of our listeners may know, there's a pretty big
football game coming up here in the States. The financial
press is filled with stories on the business of sports.
A lot of sports fans want to know how much
green their favorite team and players are bringing in but
(01:13):
have you ever wondered if your team is actually green?
Enter the Green Sports Alliance, founded in twenty ten by
Paul Allen's Vulcaninc. And the Natural Resources Defense Counsel, on
the idea that the sports sector, with its global appeal
and influential reach, has the power to drive significant environmental change.
(01:33):
Joining us today is Roger McClendon, Executive director of the
Green Sports Alliance. Roger was previously the first ever chief
Sustainability Officer for Young Brands, and also starred for the
University of Cincinnati men's basketball team, ending his career as
the school's number two scorer, behind only the legendary Oscar Robertson.
Our other guest is GSA board member Norman Vaschuldi, vice
(01:55):
president of Fan Experience and Sustainability for the Philadelphia Eagles,
should add here, I am not an Eagles fan, but
you lucked out a little, Norman, because most of my
colleagues are Giants fans and may not have been so welcoming. Gentlemen,
Welcome to ESG Currents. Thank you, it's great to be
here now. You both have backgrounds in sports and entertainment.
Tell us about your careers and how you ultimately wound
(02:17):
up in sustainability.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah sure, and hey, look you're the one that brought
it up. So I'll start with go birds. We do
bring a lot of green to the NFL because our
colors are green. I know, Rob, your colors are green too,
but I do like ours better. Just putting that out there,
I think it's just it's just closer to nature for me,
you know.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I just to add for our listeners, I am a
chets fan and I am wearing.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
The merch today.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah. On that note, I'm originally from Germany. Actually I
have a green biology, so I guess I was always
really interested in how nature turns, you know, and how
earth works. I really didn't pursue that career too much
might add to doctor, but I decided after my pre
med to go more into the you know, public speaking
acting world of things, and made my way to New
(03:02):
York City and eventually ended up at Disney working there
for five years. My last role I was a public spokesperson,
and then the Eagles hired me and I've been here
for about twelve years. But eight years ago the Eagles
asked me, hey, can can you be our spokesperson for
our sustainability brand, and that has certainly enlightened me over
the years speaking about it and now learning so much
about sustainability and what sports can do in the sustainability sector.
(03:25):
So now our Gold Green Initiative as we call it,
is really part of our DNA and what we do,
and I'm sure we'll get a little bit more into
the details of it, but yeah, it's exciting to be
part of it.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
So you were there so twelve years so you were
there for the Super Bowl. Did you get a ring?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I did? Oh nice, Yeah, I know, it's awesome. I'll
let you see it one day.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Rob all right, Roger, Yeah, very much inspired, absolutely, very
much inspired in a similar way to Norman. It kind
of thinking back to high school. And I was blessed
enough to be high school McDonald's all American and have
a to select many schools, and you know, my passion
was problem solving.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I was a math and.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Science guy, even though my dad's political science and African
American history and wanted me to write books with him.
And I said, Dad, you know one plus one always
equals to you know, I'm not confused necessarily by the
history there.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But now, on a.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Serious note, took a liking to problem solving as an
electrical engineer and graduate, you know, had a chance to
go overseas and and start to work on what we
call AI today, but back then it was distributed control
systems and technology on automation and working in factories and
plants to leverage automation for efficiencies, which we'll be talking
(04:39):
about today as well. And so yeah, that started my
career and then eventually had a chance to jump into
a consumer facing brand called Young Brands and created the
chief sustainabil Officer role there and working sustainability from ESG
all the way to how we design, build, operate and
maintain our facilities around the globe. So it's been a
fun journey. And now partnering with no people like normal
(05:00):
with lots of energy and really passionate about sustainability in.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
The sports world. So I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So Roger, tell me about the work of the Green
Sports Alliance. Where did it come from, what does it do,
who's involved?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, I always say I'm standing on the shoulders of
giants and those that come before you and have set
kind of the standard.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
And you know, I have to give credit to me.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I think you just said that because you talked about
giants fans.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
On the wings of eagles, maybe maybe I should have
said that, thank.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
You, thank you, thank you for clarifying.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
But we do have an awesome board of folks that
are actually in the space and understand it and have
experience myriad of experience and have a passion for not
just doing the right thing, but also what are the
science and businesses acumen behind that. And so the Green
Sports Alliance is a collection of over three hundred plus teams, leagues, venues, federations, universities, colleges,
(05:55):
including what we call solutions providers, which are the technology
companies like Honeywell, ge Alan Bradley folks that bring solutions
to the table for those venues and teams to be
able to leverage those solutions to improve their businesses. It
improves it in a way to reduce energy, waste and water,
which is around the sustainability solutions that we're looking for.
(06:16):
So it's a privilege and honor to be the executive director,
but it's really the team's leagues and folks on our
board that actually do all the work, so appreciate them.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
So, Norman, you work for a professional sports team, you know,
there's that saying winning is in everything, it's the only thing.
So why does the team care about sustainability?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
It's really our owner. I think it has to start
with ownership of an NFL team. Our owner really believes
that we're a corporate citizen. You know, you've probably heard
that before from companies and sports teams, and I remember
Disney they said that, right, we're a corporate citizen and
we have a responsibility just like you and I. And
so the charge to the folks who open up the
stadium in two thousand and three was, hey, what can
(06:55):
we do in the sustainability space? And so then, you
know when sustainability really wasn't the top of the conversation
in two thousand and three when you build a stadium
and they realized that, hey, you know the first electric
bill was because the heat was actually electric was so astronomical.
It decided, Yo, we got to do something here quick.
(07:16):
I think that's where it started. It was really you know,
people who work in sports who really have no idea
what it sustainability really meant at that time, and like,
what can we do? We started recycling paper blue bin
under everyone's desk, and then eventually said, hey, we can
print double sided. That's new to Hey, let's use the
TV instead of printing notes, right, and so from there
(07:36):
it just evolved and has grown tremendously over the years.
I think eventually a key component to any sports team
having sustainability as really part of the DNA and their
brand is to attract corporate partners to help you out
because they're the experts in that field. Especially when you
get corporate partners who are in the sustainability field. And
(07:59):
so we were fortunate enough to form a partnership, for example,
with Energy and they now own and operate the largest
solar power plant here on our grounds of any stadium
in the world, and so we produce forty percent of
our own energy. And people see that and they say, oh,
you know, our sports team, we want to start like
we want to build a power plant. But that's really
not where you should start. It's really the low hanging fruit,
(08:19):
you know, where we started. And eventually it can lead
to that because it's you know, we're certainly no experts
at running a power plant, and so you really need
corporate partners to help you out with that. But that's
just one one key component that I believe is really
important when you have a few hundred people running large
sports teams like ours to make a sustainability project successful.
(08:40):
And then the Green Sports Alliance, because I always believe
the Green Sports Alliance is almost like a mediary between
those entities that are experts in the field of sports
and the sports teams themselves, because if we only have
a few hundred people and we're focused on winning on
Bardy trophies as we are right now, Sorry, your team's
not rob Maybe one day it will be, but I'm sorry,
(09:02):
but hey, look, I've been there. I've been there. It's
no fun to lose. The Green Sports Alignes really helps
us figure out what should we focus on, what can
we do, where should we go, what's a better way
to get LEAD certified, and all those types of questions
because they have those connections that can help you get
those answers.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
What are some of the more material issues or challenges
for sports franchise from a sustainability angle.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, I can jump in and then pass it to Norman.
So from our standpoint, as Norman was saying, you know,
we had the luxury of working within our DC in
the early days and doing a lot of the research
and really doing deep dives on this whole transition to
a renewable energy economy. And when you think about it,
Norman hit a couple of points. You know, one is
(09:44):
what is the business case in the ROI and so
you have to pull this into what we call the
triple bottom line that people remember it's people profit planet
and so then the power of the end is what
we believed in at Young Brands. You know with our
CEO there that you can do both, you know, and
when you have link partners as through this transition and
what's material so it is if you can do it
(10:04):
you know understanding how to manage your waste and understanding
you know, can I do a better contract by creating
a sorting team and managing my supply chain on the
way in so I don't have as much waste on
the way out, and maybe I can reduce the number
of pickups, the number of bends that I need, et
cetera to be more efficient and then some value might
be there with cardboard in the third party market, aluminum
(10:26):
in the third party market where you can actually give
some returns on that. So it becomes a business focused opportunity.
But you also at the same time can reduce your waste.
The other thing that Norman talked about is, you know,
partnering with brands that have the same values as you do.
You know, they also want to actually minimize their carbon
footprint scope one, two or three. And if we join together,
(10:46):
there's a partnership there that creates value on both sides,
and you share in that value. I would think what
other things that are material or like could be composting
or reuse infrastructure that you can set up that goes
beyond the wall of the stadium and the lines of
the field where you're actually helping the community. And there's
some value in understanding that not everything is a purely
(11:07):
financial return, it's a non financial or brand building or
community building. Because those are the folks that come to
your games, right Norman. They come and they grow green fans, right.
They are really happy about what you guys are doing,
and so that creates brand power. And collectively as a
league or leagues among leagues, when we talk about the NBA,
the NFL, all of us doing it together, we actually
(11:30):
create change at a systemic you know, a scale that
could create a system change, which is really what we're
looking for. So I really excited that we do take
that approach, working with Scott Jenkins and others and people
that have been in this business that have developed some
of these playbooks to drive a business impact as well.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, I would add to that asking the right questions
just to you know, on a scale right running a
sports team. Roger brought up aluminum. I'll give you an
example here. We, you know, used to send all of
our co mingled recyclables with our waist taller up to
a plant with basically a giant transformer robot. I don't
know if it speaks, but it looks crazy and it
(12:12):
picks out all the trash and then sorts it. And
you know, we used to get some money for some
of those recyclables, Like we used to get about seventy
five dollars a ton for aluminum, and so then we asked,
you know, if hey, it could be the same now
for the last ten years, we get seventy five dollars
a ton. It's great, you know, several tons of aluminum
every season. And so then we asked the question, well,
could we get more for aluminum? Luminium price are pretty high,
(12:34):
and the waiste taller said, yeah, the problem is you
have to bail it yourself, and said, well, how difficult
is that? Well, you have to buy a bailer. How
difficult is that to operate?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Not easy?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
We can train I mean really easy. We can train
a guy in like one hour. Okay, great. How much
is a bailer? About ten to fifteen grand? Okay? How
much can we get per ton of aluminum? Probably at
twelve hundred dollars a ton. We're like, whoa wait a minute,
we need to get a bailer right now. So you
know about eight years ago we got that bailer and
we and baling aluminum. And then now we actually played
a stock market. We store our bales of aluminum down
(13:05):
in the in the undeveloped space. We call it underneath
the stadium. And I'll tell you what, after a playoff game,
you walk down there, you get drunk just by the fumes.
It's really cool. And then the not that I do
that all the time, but you look at when prices
of aluminium are high or waist tarler comes and picks
up all the bales of aluminum and we make a
lot more money, which is good.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Oh, that's really cool. Broadrating. Other examples from some of
the sports leagues or teams you've seen.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
We can't tell all our secrets unless you're remember so
if you can drive some membership a good one, Well,
I'm learning, I'm loving for Norman. I'm loving for Norman.
We gotta figure us out. Now.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
We do have some ideas, like with reuse, which is
a really hot topic right now, and it's an old concept,
right We used to have the old milk bottles that
would show up at our house. Now I'm not that old,
but I remember reading the stories and they would do that.
But I do remember the pepsi bottles that were glass,
which would you get, you know, a quarter or back
and then those days maybe a.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Dime to get the return.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
So so reuse and looking at what we call life
cycle analysis, really putting an engineering view on what is
the cost associated with each of the solutions and really
what is the impact to the environment, and understanding which
direction you should go depending on your market. Do you
have infrastructure for composts, do you have infrastructure.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
For you reuse?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
You know, can we put a sponsorship deal on top
of that aluminum trade off?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You know? Is that in our premium suites, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
So look at all those opportunities and decisions and then
make our choices and we put those in our playbooks
based on what Norman said is real life examples and
you know the best Always tell this to our business
partners out there that will have sustainability solutions is your
best salespeople will be the members like the teams and
leagues and clubs that you support, because if they love
(14:52):
it and they see the value, then they're going to
promote you. And that's how you grow your business. And
so really it is about that. So there's a lot
more in our playbooks, and go to our website at
Green Sports Alliance dot org and you'll find a whole
bunch of resources there for you.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
I would add, if Woody Johnson did want to sell
a team, I would be happy to buy it and
join the Green Sports Alliance. But maybe then I'll get
your secrets.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I'll partner with you. I got a thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
So are there key differences though between sports and venues?
Like I imagine a football team that plays outdoors and the
fall is different than baseball team that plays in summer
versus a basketball or a hockey team that plays indoors
in the winter, are there certain practices that maybe are
not transferable.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
I'll talk about differences and similarities and then pass it
over to Norman, and so I think the similarities are,
you know, we all have waste, you know, we're all
working with fans and fan engagement, and we're always using utility.
So there's a lot of standards that are out there.
The lead standards when you look at you know, United
States Green Building Council and how you build to those
standards are pretty similar, but there might be local differences.
(16:03):
Like I talked about around what infrastructure is available, Do
I have composts available and those kind of things, and
do I have you know, do I have a cover
over my stadium or in my open air like most
baseball stadiums.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
So that's going to determine some different things too.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
And then I would say space, you know, availability of
space and typically what's my capacity for arena. So when
you're talking about seventy two thousand fans versus ten thousand fans,
that's a significant difference on how I might manage or what.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Space I might need.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
So we do try to have some general standards and
then go into customization depending on which team, league club
we're dealing with. And then regional differences based on where
you are in the US or where you are in
the world may change based on local government regulations and laws.
So I'll pass it to Norman because he you know,
I know you'd had that hydrogen field station, and you
(16:53):
guys are out in front.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
With a lot of different technologies, so you could probably
add to that, yeah, I would.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I always like to say we are competitors on the field,
but off the field and sustainability, we're really all partners.
I do talk to quite a few of my colleagues
and arenas around the world. I've also chatted quite often,
for example, with Omar at the NHL, who leads their
sustainability efforts, Omer Mitchell, and then any Horn who leads
(17:22):
it at the NBA, and you know, so there's there's
quite a few colleagues of mine who you know, we
exchange information, especially when we run across you know, any
type of initiative that we don't know too much about.
I remember talking to formula E Julia pal about, you know,
offsetting the Formulae offsets pretty much all their travel, you know,
(17:43):
by investing into the ocean and with carbon mitigation and
so we do the same for our team travel with
a smaller project than obviously they travel all around the world.
So I agree with Roger. There really are so many
key factors right where you are, what you run and
all that. But but some things are very similar, uh,
And that is is that the tree is a tree
(18:04):
is a tree, right, It's you know, the earth is
the same for all of us, and whatever you do.
I always like to say this, whatever you do will
make a difference. I think what's really important. I was
kintually going to add this at the last question you
had there earlier, but I think whatever you do in sustainability,
especially right now, with some of these things, I believe
(18:24):
that the right place to start isn't at so how
can we make money with aluminum? The right place to
start is that we should recycle aluminum. Then when you
recycle aluminum, you ask questions, how can we better recycle aluminum,
which then leads to the ROI and I think there
are a lot of examples like that that if you
(18:47):
just you know, there's also counter examples to that you
invest into maybe a project that doesn't work, and I'll
give you an example for that. We're not We're not
shy of sharing some of our some of our unsuccessful initiatives, right. So,
because when you're in sustainability and it's such a in
sports and it's such a new frontier that we're that
(19:07):
we're all really stepping into, right, then you have to
try out some things. Sometimes that's where we're really careful
most of the time. But we got a biodigestor in
the stadium and our practice facility. The want of the
stadium churned through a lot of post consumer food waste,
and it created a real problem for us with fruit
flies in the building. And then it created a real
problem for us with our sewage line, and so we
(19:29):
had to get rid of it at the stadium. It
just wasn't working for us at the practice facility because
it's a lot smaller. It works now there's talk about
digestive composters that you use outside the stadium and that
work with less water and don't really need a sewage
line and create composts, and so there's constant innovation happening, right.
And sometimes you have great success with the aluminum and
(19:51):
sometimes you don't have so much success, right, And but
that that can't have you shy away from and can't
have you ask the question at well, if we if
we install this technology, will it help us make money?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I think in sustainability it really has to come from
this is proven. We've asked enough people and it seems
like we look, we asked for example, the Green Sports Alliance,
like who else is doing this? They put us in
touch with several other sports teams. They've been successful at it.
Let's explore it and then let's do it eventually, then
you'll ask the right questions, you know, figure out how
(20:24):
you can actually get an ROI on that. That's tough.
That's a tough selling point, especially when the number one
discussion on the table really is like, hey, you know,
what's our bottom line here and how can we make
money with this? Sustainability has just got to be part
of your DNA and your program where you say like,
it is what we do, and when you do that,
I believe that you can figure out how to have
(20:45):
a good ROI with it as well. That's more philosophical.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
No, I appreciate that you sure that sewage issue wasn't
related to the Cowboys fans.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Say you said it, not me. That's actually funny.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
What are some of the sustainable practices teams are engaged
in that may surprise the average fan.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Norman.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
I mean, the hydrogen is probably the most interesting thing.
But you know, I don't know if everybody knows the
reuse movement that's happening with the Motors Center in Portland UH.
And then some of the new startup companies are World
Bold Reuse, which is a woman owned business, and there's
several others, and so that that reuse, you know, exploding
and figuring out these wash hubs that create jobs in
(21:29):
the economy. And then I'll talk about the Kansas City Current,
which is a women's UH all women's league in the
first stadium built for women only, right.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
For their women.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
And we talked about God Jenkins who helped open that
up with the with the family there and they made
a huge investment. But we had a symposium there recently
and just going there and seeing you know, the equity
UH side of it and you know women GM a
woman you know, pitch and making sure the pitch was
at its right height.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
And so to see all that happen.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Is part of what I look at as sustainability the
broader context. It's the equity and inclusion side of it,
and I think that's valuable too when you really think
about including everybody into those leadership positions. But the point is,
you know that those stadiums and those things are happening,
and a lot a lot of people might know about it.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
So the explosion of women's.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Sports and that evaluation, you know, is I think is important.
And they're including sustainability as part of that that winning combination.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
How do you get more fans involved with your sustainability plans?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Well, I don't have any fans, I think, Norman, you
have all the fans.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
No.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
For us, we do a lot of volunteer, Like we'll
be at college football playoffs just this week, right, and
so we're actually starting there. And you know, we think
about youth as the next generation. We call it playing
for the next generation, and it's a real imperative for us.
It's a pillar for us of what we stand for
is that the next leaders just sustainability, but leaders of
(23:03):
our local government, leaders of our corporations, leaders of our
sports teams. Those are the folks that are the next generation.
And we want to include a holistic view around sustainability
because it's part of their ethos right now and to
actually do that, you have to be very authentic, like
Norman would tell you, you have to have some value proposition
where they can engage and you have things that they
(23:25):
can actually relate to and actually do. So what we
do is can create volunteer opportunities actually to come into
the Green Sports Alliance. We have opportunities to bring collegiate students,
and then when we do our summit, we have volunteers
and we actually execute some of the local sustainability initiatives
like zero waste initiatives, whether it be our summit or
(23:47):
whether it be at a college football playoffs, where you have,
you know, a week and a half of events across
the whole spectrum of footprint that we look at. And
so I think that's really important and they want to
know and they want to be engaged. But that's how
we engage them. But I know there's some more creative
fan engagement that Noman can talk about as well.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Fans come to our venues to get away from everyday
life support their favorite sports team, whether it's your NFL team,
your collegiate sporting events, whether it's a musical act right
and any other performance monster jam. You know, I don't know,
and so I think fans don't necessarily come to the
(24:29):
stadium to be educated on sustainability.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Knowing that, I think you have to build a strategy
around a fun way to engage fans. So in our
stadium you'll find some cool signs. Right. It might show
the kicker where it says kickback your thermostat two degrees
and save one thousand dollars on the electric bill.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
We used to have one in the men's urinals on
the two hundred level that said recycle your beer here
you know, but yours.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And it also said trash our opponents, but recycle your
trash at home, you know, so you can. There's really
fun ways to engage your fans. I think when you're fan.
We have a lot of fans coming through our building
on tours. Right, that's the time that we share all
of our sustainability initiatives and showcase some of our sustainability
projects that we have going on in the stadium, whether
(25:19):
it's children, adults, and fandom, you know, And you mix
that in, right, while they are looking at the locker
room and they're looking at the Lombardi trophy, you also
showcase the three D printed Lombardi trophy that was made
out of bottle caps. And you know, you share how
the grass is recycled three times a year when the
field has changed. You know, how the solar power plant works.
And as Roger mentioned earlier, the newest addition to our
(25:41):
sustainability program our hydrogen fueling station that was installed last
year in the back of the stadium. And we'll soon
be powering a forklift and then eventually our fleet of
vehicles that we use here in the stadium and so
and that's a first, by the way, for any stadium
in the world. And those kinds of things I think
are exciting to share. I think then it's social media, right,
(26:04):
we have folks coming, whether it's from our media relations
department or you know, PR and front and social media
folks that want to learn about this, you Rob with Bloomberg,
you know, giving us a voice to share these messages
that then kind of trickles out into the world. I
remember we became the first sports team to offset our
(26:25):
team travel by investing in mangrove restoration projects in Puerto Rico.
And when we did and planting seagrass as well. And
when we did that, we reached I remember two point
six million in just the first week, and and that
was the first time that BBC World News actually wanted
(26:47):
to do a live interview with us on this project.
And so I think when you do things like this
because it's the right thing to do and you know,
you're having fun with it and you're creating really cool
and getting you know, part of really cool projects like this,
it helps you get that message out in a way
where it isn't forced, you know. I think that's really
important for sports teams, is that the message isn't forced.
(27:09):
You know that it is a sustainable messaging that will
last with our fans. You see what I did there.
I'm you know, once in a while, man, I'm proud
of what I say. Sometimes I worry a lot. That's
that's why I usually have a PR person with me too.
They know when to tap me on the shoulder and
say stop talking. But yeah, I think it's I think
(27:33):
if it's an organic messaging that kind of just goes
along with what fans get to experience and have fun with,
I think it works.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
What about the players, do they have any interest in this?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah? You know, I'll start there. Roger and I'll let
you talk about it. I get that question all the time, Rob,
because our players have millions of social media followers and
obviously are the stars, right, Norman isn't the star, it's
the players. I get that, even though sometimes I wish
you joking. Hey, I get to be the storry with you,
Rob right here at Bloomberg. So I think it's really important.
(28:11):
And Roger, I'd love to hear your opinion on this too,
but I think it's really important to marry social responsibility
with sustainability. Both has to do with safe spaces in
the world. You know that that doesn't just mean having
a safe space to be, but also to play and
to and safe meaning not just safe from harm, but
(28:37):
also same from environmental harm. You know. I think my
best example of that would be the Eagles build a
playground every year, you know, having a safe space for
kids to play, but then including biological elements as well
as recycled elements and to teach that that is possible
and making it a safe space on multiple levels. I
think it's really important saying that to you because I
(28:59):
believe that when you marry those two it really reaches
into the athlete space because a lot of athletes have
projects in the social responsibility space, whether it's from areas
they came from, whether it's things they've experienced as children.
There's a lot of engagement in the social responsibility space.
And when you marry sustainability with social responsibility, you can
(29:22):
get athletes to really, you know, see that holistic picture
of what it means to create a safe space and
be part of it. You do get athletes like I
remember Connor Barwin was one of ours who super engaged
in the environmental space now actually has his own agency
that works in the environmental space, and so he, you know,
(29:43):
one of the first guys to drive a tesla and
or bike to work and was constantly engaged on a
sustainability and space there.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
But that being said, I think it is important. I
think they have a huge voice. It does, especially with
the youth, hit a certain note that I can't reach,
or that you know, Roger maybe can't reach. But if
our athletes are involved, then there's a lot more listening years,
that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Yeah, yeah, I'd have to join in on that. I mean,
you set me up beautifully, Norman. You know, the reason
we watch are the athletes you know, the reason we
watch are the athletes. They're amazing, right, and so and
then the other point that Norman's making is that, you know,
we look at too narrowly sometimes at sustainability. And when
(30:28):
I took this job, you know, I really talked about
not just changing light bulbs and not just trying to
save water through irrigation, but you know, what are those
things that really are important to us, you know, and
that's the future of the next generation. And there were
some real challenges in Norman, I have to say it.
You know, it's just like, you know, the social side
(30:50):
of it is social justice, you know, environmental justice, and
you know, you know, it's how we take care of
our patriots that come back home, you know, to make
sure they have you know, mental health opportunities and you
know benefits because of their sacrifice. And so it's all
of us together that really when we think about the
center of sustainability is the human side of it. It's
the human rights side of all this, right, And so
(31:12):
when we kind of start to narrow out and you know,
kind of zoom back out to what that means when
the when the athletes there, they don't want to be
co opt you know, they want to support what they
believe in and be comfortable in how they present that.
And when you hit on that, they're all in. And
so we've been able to figure that out. One of
our examples on our board is Chris Paul, who's going
(31:32):
to have twenty years in the NBA, you know, and
is really focused on youth advocacy, youth programs, not only
in his AAU program, but literacy on financial literacy, making
sure historically black college and universities are supported through those
opportunities of education. And you know, we work with those
athletes like Connor that he was mentioning that do it
(31:55):
every day, right, and all we need to do is
support them with a platform like the Green Sports or
what they.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Might do with the teams.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
But they can add so much because unfortunately, people don't
follow science as much they do follow you know, heroes,
they do they follow those heroes and so when we
do have that match, it really is a beautiful thing.
And I think an opportunity for as Norman as you know,
across the leagues and we have these league conversations, is
how do we play that up in the airways like
(32:24):
when FIFA is here or when we're doing the Super
Bowl like telling those stories to millions and millions of
fans around the world. As a leader, making sure we
include that thirty second, too minute PSA that really showcases
what these folks are all about in an authentic and
genuine way, and then we'll have millions and millions of
followers in that space to do the same thing. So
it's a great point.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah, I have to add here that you know, I
saw not just athletes, but I think it was Cold
Play a couple years ago when they were in concert.
They began there with the message on all that they
were doing from renewable power to waste management.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, Rob, that's a great example. Actually, So when when
a concert comes to town, right, I'll give your listeners
a quick view behind the curtain. Here you meet with
the tour, right, and the tour not just on a
security front, but on the logistics front obviously, and they're like, hey,
how do you run your stadium? You know? So when
Coplay came to town, they that one of the first
conversations actually was look, the band wants to make sure
(33:23):
that the venue they're playing in is running their venue
in a sustainable way, we also have sustainable initiatives that
we so they would like to learn what you do,
and then they would also like to introduce some of
like there, you know, they had bikes in our concert.
People would go at the back and ride the bike
trying floor and you know, some really cool initiatives, and
that was really important to them. I think that's awesome,
(33:44):
right when an artist comes and says, hey, we want
to learn about what you're doing. This is important to us,
and we're going to introduce some areas that are going
to be some additional projects for you guys to have
during the concert. So I think that is cool, you know,
and that certainly engages the fans.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Now we've seen, certainly in the United States and a
number of public companies starting to pull back on their
sustainability or social commitments. Is there risk that we could
see something like that in sports? Or our owners pretty
strongly committed to this.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
So Roger, what do you think about this? I remember
Omar Mitchell, who heads the sustainability effort of He's a
dear friend of mine, but that's why I've mentioned twice already,
I guess, but he uh had sustainability efforts at the NHL,
and he says, there's only so long that we are
going to be able to have people, you know, learn
to play ice hockey on natural ice.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Yes, yes, it's a good intro. So so I guess
the point there is we need to protect sports, especially
outside sports. And so I think that's you know, what
is the future of sports if we have issues like
we were unfortunately and I'll bring it up, you know
out in LA where we have these these wild you know,
firestorms that probably haven't been caused over time, you know,
(34:56):
in these areas of climate and climate impact, and so
this resiliency that we need to have. We have to
think about the future of sports and not just you know,
the environmental side, but also the social side. And so
I think that's really important that we get ahead of it.
And I think some people are always going to be
fast adopters, like you know, like Norman and innovative and
(35:18):
ahead of the scene and setting the pace for others.
And I always think there's going to be somebody that's
kind of a little bit cautious and trying to really
figure it out and maybe a little slower. But as
a ecosystem with sports, including you know, ESPN, Fox, and
the networks and everybody working together. I still think having
clean air, having clean water, taking care of the people
(35:38):
that live in your community, those things are never going away.
It's universal. It's who we are and who we want
to be as a people. And having compassion and empathy
about those struggles and what we're seeing in LA and
responding to that in appropriate way. I think it's our
DNA as humans. So I do think we're all going
to continue to move in that direction, but at a
different pace, you know, for for each and every one
(36:00):
of us.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
So yeah, and I'll add to that, rob it where
where are your priorities? You know? I think if if
your priorities are in with that, you your brand is
is going to stand for Planet Earth as well as
for their fans and for you know, and that you're
going to make at least an effort, you know, to
(36:24):
to help alleviate some of the strain we put on
on Mother Earth. I think that's good, you know. I
think if your focus is not at all on that
and as you know, somewhere else, then usually at the
very end of you know, it might take some time
because and I always say this, right, this is where
you know, philosophy, Norman comes out again. But Earth can
(36:47):
heal pretty quickly, like it's pretty resilient. Man, It's it's
pretty amazing, you know. But it'll fight back to you know.
And I think that's what Rogers brought up, you know,
And I think if we, you know, as a human race,
are so dull to not see that, then you know, well,
shame on us. Where are your priorities at? You know,
I'm so glad and happy that we have an owner
and Jeffrey Lourie at the Eagles who cares for the environment,
(37:09):
not just on a sustainability front, but for example, our
Eagles Autism Foundation has raised over close to thirty million
dollars in just five years. It's unprecedented, and one hundred
percent of the proceeds are going to autism research. You know,
I think that's cool. You know, when you have an
owner who really does want to do something like that
and cares for that there and he's not alone, by
the way, there's quite a few owners who do stuff
(37:31):
like that and it gets it. It's exciting to me
because there it shows you someone that whose priorities are
not just on All I want to do is win, win, win,
of course, of course he's he owns the villi of
Eagles because he wants to win. But the fact that
he also wants to win in the realm of autism,
he also wants to win in the realm of sustainability,
makes me proud to work for the Eagles because I
think the priorities are right.
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Yeah, I can add it to that, no woman, because
I think we say sustainability is not just environmental, it's
it's social and it's a collective of things. And so
the campaign that you know, the leagues got behind, and
I think under the leadership of Craft and the NFL
on the campaign to say no to hate right right,
and that you know, that whole thing was huge and
(38:13):
it continues to grow. And I think that's where we
need to have our minds is around how we bring
ourselves together versus how we keep ourselves apart and figure
out where the human side of this compassion and empathy
should be. And you know, the rest of the world
always watches what we do. You know, we are a
leader in the world, and I think when we bring
sports to that level where we do care and we
do put those messages out, you know, across not just
(38:36):
one league, but the collection collective of a league, we
have power, and I think that power to influence and
change over time could be significant in the things that
we want to do. We have a lot of research,
we have a lot of solutions, we have a lot
of technology. We just need to pull ourselves together and
focus and I think we can make a lot of good,
positive change. So yeah, that's why I'm excited about. You know,
(38:57):
you mentioned you know cold players, Billie Eilish, and you know,
a lot of these stadiums also have an opportunity to
participate in music. And when we think about play to
Zero and we're thinking about this whole concept of leveraging
sports and entertainment for good music, for impact. There's another
young guy by name Ay Young who's been doing the
Battery Tour for some quite some time. And these folks
(39:17):
are like pulling us in the pulling the world toward
this better future. And so I'm really proud of being
part of that.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
And Roger, you did touch a little bit on the
I want to take into this a little bit more
on natural disasters. You know, I think besides the adaptation
and some of these mitigation, you have adaptation that you know,
as a number of stadiums are confronted with this. I mean,
you just had the Baseball Stadium in Florida. I think
it got hit pretty hard by the hurricane. You know,
New Orleans. Obviously, everyone remembers pictures from the SUPERDOMA. Now
(39:47):
that's the host of this year's Super Bowl. So I
got to imagine there have been some investments there. So
can you talk about some of the investments that have
had to been put in place for adaptation.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 4 (39:58):
I mean I was on the University of Miami's camp,
and they're way ahead of the game, and so they've
built some of their buildings to be floodproof, right, understand
if the tide's going to rise and what that might
look like or if a hurricane comes, you know, and
you know, if you think about Europe as well, you know,
they've understood how to live in a world where the
tide is going to rise, you know, and how to
make infrastructure investment. I still think we have a long
(40:21):
ways to go here in the US, you know, especially
what we saw you know, just recently and continue to
witness in LA and so we're not quite there yet.
We're not you know, we don't understand that climate change
is not coming, It's already here, and so we need
to every time we build a new stadium, whether it's
into a dome or somebody's making a major remodel, think
(40:41):
with resiliency and the effect of climate impact has to
go into that design, and you're going to need to
make those investments up front. And the beautiful thing like
when we had the issues with COVID and you know,
we were looking to feed people.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
You know, I know, Norman, you guys did this. You know,
you turn your facilities.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
Into shelters in a way, like to bring food and
you know, be able to grab your food or vaccination centers.
And so we've always responded in crisis situations from the
human side of it. But I think we need to
be forward thinking and think before the crisis happens and
try to get ahead of it with design or mitigate
what is causing the crisis in the first place. And
I think that's really what we're trying to do is
(41:19):
get to root.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Cause cost wise, right, so your listeners might be really
interested in like, well, it cost is only rising, whether
it's in the energy sector or you know, I remember
in Philadelphia several years ago, the meter, the water meter
actually for stormwater runoff changed from the size of the building,
the square footage of the building to the square footage
(41:40):
of land it occupied. So the high rises in Philadelphia
were like who And the stadiums in Philadelphia went like, well,
oh no, this is bad, you know, because we don't
have that many tempered spaces indoors. And so when you know,
the meter for stormwater runoff was like, well, we really
don't have that much tempered space for square footage. But
high rises downtown, of course, have a very small footprint.
(42:02):
When you think about it, you know, it actually led
to something really interesting. So then there are ways that
you can get credit on your tax bill when you
plant rainwater mitigation shrubbery plans, trees you know that that
filter the rain water as it goes down, you know,
and so what how much land mask can you take
on your footprint to build those gardens. So we actually
(42:24):
build several of these gardens, and that's really cool, you know,
it's because it's great for the environment. You know, sometimes
when stuff like that happens too, I think you can
really look at innovation more along the lines of like
what can we do here to save money. But you know,
because now that we have to pay all this money
for somewhere to run off, you know, do you do
you open up the entire parking lot and put water
(42:47):
cisterns below. You're going to bankrupt the team, right, that's
not going to be possible because you can't do that.
It's too much money. What what else can you do? Well,
when you keep asking again, when you keep asking those questions,
we figured out, Oh, you build those rain guardens. That's
going to give us some credit, you know, And you
can do stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
That. I think you know, when you really sit there
and think about it and talk to some of your engineers,
then you can figure some of those things out that
help you to mitigate the influence not only from an
environmental standpoint, but also from a governmental standpoint when as
prices are rising.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Last question for me, what what's next? What's next for
the Green Sports Alliance? Any exciting plans for the year ahead?
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Yeah? Well, first we got to watch this Super Bowl
fold right.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
It's well I hope it does. I hope it does.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
So we're going to be excited about that.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
We always are watching the championships and you know, thankful
to our partners and thank you to you, Rob. But
you know, we have our summit coming up here in June.
We're going to be in Miami, you know, the home
of the Heat and the Dolphins, in the University of Miami, so.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
We'll have all those folks participating.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
You know is FIFA has their headquarters there and so
that will be a good conversation. So looking forward to
having everybody join. We've got great sharing of knowledge that's
happened from the past and to playbooks that we'll talk about.
You know, one is how do you create a sustainability
strategy that hopefully we launch coming up. We launch reuse
in des decompnization last year, and so we have some
(44:21):
new technology and information that we want to share. But
also I'm most excited about the partnership that we have
with entertainment and talking about how to engage entertainment on
this journey in Project seventeen, which talks about the seventeen
development goals that I think is going to really help
super charge the events that we have coming up. So Norman,
(44:44):
more to share with you about that as well, because
I know you guys do a lot on your venues,
but I think the power of music and culture and
sports kind of combining through collaborative partnerships. One is with
Muhammad Ali to on their Compassion Index project that they'll
be doing with twelve cities. I'm really trying to get
to the heart of, you know, how we can have
more empathy and how do we really share in our
(45:06):
values and make that come through and how we behave
So yeah, just just a little insight under the under
the hood of all the great work. And then Green
Sports Day happens in October sixth where we actually highlight
all the great work by our members like the Eagles,
and I'm say there's been stadiums and you know all
the teams that I can't mention without time here. But
(45:27):
just so proud and privileged to be able to represent
the Green Sports Alliance and all the great work our
members do.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Great.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
Thanks very much. I'm afraid I'm now going to have
to blow the whistle and regulation, but thank you both
very much for joining us. Is a great conversation.
Speaker 4 (45:45):
Yeah, thanks Rob and Norm Man, you're a star man.
It's always hard to follow you man, So but I
appreciate appreciate you joining.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
And yeah, I appreciate it. I guess we don't have
any overtime here. And yeah, hey, look Rob, I do
appreciate I know you guys are out of the playoffs,
but you know, I do appreciate you rooting for the
for the birds as we go through this playoffs. So
thank you for that. Give Bloomberg at least you can
(46:14):
root for the birds on the green side.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
Hey, maybe maybe you can blame Bloomberg over to the
green sports lives they should be able to.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Yeah, he is a part owner of the of the Orioles.
Speaker 4 (46:25):
Okay, okay, by thanks very much guys.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Listeners can find more information on sustainability issues on the
Bloomberg terminal by going to b I space ESG go.
If you have an ESG quandary or you would like
to ask bi's expert analysts or learn more about our research,
send us an email at ESG Currents at Bloomberg dot net.
And if you like this episode, please subscribe on Apple, Spotify,
or your favorite podcast platform.
ESG has become established as a key business theme as
companies and investors seek to navigate the climate crisis, energy transition,
social mega trends, mounting regulatory tension, and pressure from other stakeholders.
The rapidly evolving landscape has become inundated with acronyms, buzzwords,
and lingo, and we aim to break these down with
industry experts. Welcome to ESG Currents, your guide to navigating
(00:30):
the evolving ESG space, one topic at a time. Brought
to you by Bloomberg Intelligence, part of Bloomberg's research department,
with five hundred analysts and strategists working across all major
world markets. Our coverage includes over two thousand equities and credits,
as well as outlooks on more than ninety industries and
one hundred market indices, currencies and commodities. I'm Rob Duboff,
(00:52):
Senior ESG analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. Let's talk sports. As
many of our listeners may know, there's a pretty big
football game coming up here in the States. The financial
press is filled with stories on the business of sports.
A lot of sports fans want to know how much
green their favorite team and players are bringing in but
(01:13):
have you ever wondered if your team is actually green?
Enter the Green Sports Alliance, founded in twenty ten by
Paul Allen's Vulcaninc. And the Natural Resources Defense Counsel, on
the idea that the sports sector, with its global appeal
and influential reach, has the power to drive significant environmental change.
(01:33):
Joining us today is Roger McClendon, Executive director of the
Green Sports Alliance. Roger was previously the first ever chief
Sustainability Officer for Young Brands, and also starred for the
University of Cincinnati men's basketball team, ending his career as
the school's number two scorer, behind only the legendary Oscar Robertson.
Our other guest is GSA board member Norman Vaschuldi, vice
(01:55):
president of Fan Experience and Sustainability for the Philadelphia Eagles,
should add here, I am not an Eagles fan, but
you lucked out a little, Norman, because most of my
colleagues are Giants fans and may not have been so welcoming. Gentlemen,
Welcome to ESG Currents. Thank you, it's great to be
here now. You both have backgrounds in sports and entertainment.
Tell us about your careers and how you ultimately wound
(02:17):
up in sustainability.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah sure, and hey, look you're the one that brought
it up. So I'll start with go birds. We do
bring a lot of green to the NFL because our
colors are green. I know, Rob, your colors are green too,
but I do like ours better. Just putting that out there,
I think it's just it's just closer to nature for me,
you know.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I just to add for our listeners, I am a
chets fan and I am wearing.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
The merch today.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah. On that note, I'm originally from Germany. Actually I
have a green biology, so I guess I was always
really interested in how nature turns, you know, and how
earth works. I really didn't pursue that career too much
might add to doctor, but I decided after my pre
med to go more into the you know, public speaking
acting world of things, and made my way to New
(03:02):
York City and eventually ended up at Disney working there
for five years. My last role I was a public spokesperson,
and then the Eagles hired me and I've been here
for about twelve years. But eight years ago the Eagles
asked me, hey, can can you be our spokesperson for
our sustainability brand, and that has certainly enlightened me over
the years speaking about it and now learning so much
about sustainability and what sports can do in the sustainability sector.
(03:25):
So now our Gold Green Initiative as we call it,
is really part of our DNA and what we do,
and I'm sure we'll get a little bit more into
the details of it, but yeah, it's exciting to be
part of it.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
So you were there so twelve years so you were
there for the Super Bowl. Did you get a ring?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I did? Oh nice, Yeah, I know, it's awesome. I'll
let you see it one day.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Rob all right, Roger, Yeah, very much inspired, absolutely, very
much inspired in a similar way to Norman. It kind
of thinking back to high school. And I was blessed
enough to be high school McDonald's all American and have
a to select many schools, and you know, my passion
was problem solving.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I was a math and.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Science guy, even though my dad's political science and African
American history and wanted me to write books with him.
And I said, Dad, you know one plus one always
equals to you know, I'm not confused necessarily by the
history there.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
But now, on a.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Serious note, took a liking to problem solving as an
electrical engineer and graduate, you know, had a chance to
go overseas and and start to work on what we
call AI today, but back then it was distributed control
systems and technology on automation and working in factories and
plants to leverage automation for efficiencies, which we'll be talking
(04:39):
about today as well. And so yeah, that started my
career and then eventually had a chance to jump into
a consumer facing brand called Young Brands and created the
chief sustainabil Officer role there and working sustainability from ESG
all the way to how we design, build, operate and
maintain our facilities around the globe. So it's been a
fun journey. And now partnering with no people like normal
(05:00):
with lots of energy and really passionate about sustainability in.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
The sports world. So I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So Roger, tell me about the work of the Green
Sports Alliance. Where did it come from, what does it do,
who's involved?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, I always say I'm standing on the shoulders of
giants and those that come before you and have set
kind of the standard.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
And you know, I have to give credit to me.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I think you just said that because you talked about
giants fans.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
On the wings of eagles, maybe maybe I should have
said that, thank.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
You, thank you, thank you for clarifying.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
But we do have an awesome board of folks that
are actually in the space and understand it and have
experience myriad of experience and have a passion for not
just doing the right thing, but also what are the
science and businesses acumen behind that. And so the Green
Sports Alliance is a collection of over three hundred plus teams, leagues, venues, federations, universities, colleges,
(05:55):
including what we call solutions providers, which are the technology
companies like Honeywell, ge Alan Bradley folks that bring solutions
to the table for those venues and teams to be
able to leverage those solutions to improve their businesses. It
improves it in a way to reduce energy, waste and water,
which is around the sustainability solutions that we're looking for.
(06:16):
So it's a privilege and honor to be the executive director,
but it's really the team's leagues and folks on our
board that actually do all the work, so appreciate them.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
So, Norman, you work for a professional sports team, you know,
there's that saying winning is in everything, it's the only thing.
So why does the team care about sustainability?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
It's really our owner. I think it has to start
with ownership of an NFL team. Our owner really believes
that we're a corporate citizen. You know, you've probably heard
that before from companies and sports teams, and I remember
Disney they said that, right, we're a corporate citizen and
we have a responsibility just like you and I. And
so the charge to the folks who open up the
stadium in two thousand and three was, hey, what can
(06:55):
we do in the sustainability space? And so then, you
know when sustainability really wasn't the top of the conversation
in two thousand and three when you build a stadium
and they realized that, hey, you know the first electric
bill was because the heat was actually electric was so astronomical.
It decided, Yo, we got to do something here quick.
(07:16):
I think that's where it started. It was really you know,
people who work in sports who really have no idea
what it sustainability really meant at that time, and like,
what can we do? We started recycling paper blue bin
under everyone's desk, and then eventually said, hey, we can
print double sided. That's new to Hey, let's use the
TV instead of printing notes, right, and so from there
(07:36):
it just evolved and has grown tremendously over the years.
I think eventually a key component to any sports team
having sustainability as really part of the DNA and their
brand is to attract corporate partners to help you out
because they're the experts in that field. Especially when you
get corporate partners who are in the sustainability field. And
(07:59):
so we were fortunate enough to form a partnership, for example,
with Energy and they now own and operate the largest
solar power plant here on our grounds of any stadium
in the world, and so we produce forty percent of
our own energy. And people see that and they say, oh,
you know, our sports team, we want to start like
we want to build a power plant. But that's really
not where you should start. It's really the low hanging fruit,
(08:19):
you know, where we started. And eventually it can lead
to that because it's you know, we're certainly no experts
at running a power plant, and so you really need
corporate partners to help you out with that. But that's
just one one key component that I believe is really
important when you have a few hundred people running large
sports teams like ours to make a sustainability project successful.
(08:40):
And then the Green Sports Alliance, because I always believe
the Green Sports Alliance is almost like a mediary between
those entities that are experts in the field of sports
and the sports teams themselves, because if we only have
a few hundred people and we're focused on winning on
Bardy trophies as we are right now, Sorry, your team's
not rob Maybe one day it will be, but I'm sorry,
(09:02):
but hey, look, I've been there. I've been there. It's
no fun to lose. The Green Sports Alignes really helps
us figure out what should we focus on, what can
we do, where should we go, what's a better way
to get LEAD certified, and all those types of questions
because they have those connections that can help you get
those answers.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
What are some of the more material issues or challenges
for sports franchise from a sustainability angle.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, I can jump in and then pass it to Norman.
So from our standpoint, as Norman was saying, you know,
we had the luxury of working within our DC in
the early days and doing a lot of the research
and really doing deep dives on this whole transition to
a renewable energy economy. And when you think about it,
Norman hit a couple of points. You know, one is
(09:44):
what is the business case in the ROI and so
you have to pull this into what we call the
triple bottom line that people remember it's people profit planet
and so then the power of the end is what
we believed in at Young Brands. You know with our
CEO there that you can do both, you know, and
when you have link partners as through this transition and
what's material so it is if you can do it
(10:04):
you know understanding how to manage your waste and understanding
you know, can I do a better contract by creating
a sorting team and managing my supply chain on the
way in so I don't have as much waste on
the way out, and maybe I can reduce the number
of pickups, the number of bends that I need, et
cetera to be more efficient and then some value might
be there with cardboard in the third party market, aluminum
(10:26):
in the third party market where you can actually give
some returns on that. So it becomes a business focused opportunity.
But you also at the same time can reduce your waste.
The other thing that Norman talked about is, you know,
partnering with brands that have the same values as you do.
You know, they also want to actually minimize their carbon
footprint scope one, two or three. And if we join together,
(10:46):
there's a partnership there that creates value on both sides,
and you share in that value. I would think what
other things that are material or like could be composting
or reuse infrastructure that you can set up that goes
beyond the wall of the stadium and the lines of
the field where you're actually helping the community. And there's
some value in understanding that not everything is a purely
(11:07):
financial return, it's a non financial or brand building or
community building. Because those are the folks that come to
your games, right Norman. They come and they grow green fans, right.
They are really happy about what you guys are doing,
and so that creates brand power. And collectively as a
league or leagues among leagues, when we talk about the NBA,
the NFL, all of us doing it together, we actually
(11:30):
create change at a systemic you know, a scale that
could create a system change, which is really what we're
looking for. So I really excited that we do take
that approach, working with Scott Jenkins and others and people
that have been in this business that have developed some
of these playbooks to drive a business impact as well.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, I would add to that asking the right questions
just to you know, on a scale right running a
sports team. Roger brought up aluminum. I'll give you an
example here. We, you know, used to send all of
our co mingled recyclables with our waist taller up to
a plant with basically a giant transformer robot. I don't
know if it speaks, but it looks crazy and it
(12:12):
picks out all the trash and then sorts it. And
you know, we used to get some money for some
of those recyclables, Like we used to get about seventy
five dollars a ton for aluminum, and so then we asked,
you know, if hey, it could be the same now
for the last ten years, we get seventy five dollars
a ton. It's great, you know, several tons of aluminum
every season. And so then we asked the question, well,
could we get more for aluminum? Luminium price are pretty high,
(12:34):
and the waiste taller said, yeah, the problem is you
have to bail it yourself, and said, well, how difficult
is that? Well, you have to buy a bailer. How
difficult is that to operate?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Not easy?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
We can train I mean really easy. We can train
a guy in like one hour. Okay, great. How much
is a bailer? About ten to fifteen grand? Okay? How
much can we get per ton of aluminum? Probably at
twelve hundred dollars a ton. We're like, whoa wait a minute,
we need to get a bailer right now. So you
know about eight years ago we got that bailer and
we and baling aluminum. And then now we actually played
a stock market. We store our bales of aluminum down
(13:05):
in the in the undeveloped space. We call it underneath
the stadium. And I'll tell you what, after a playoff game,
you walk down there, you get drunk just by the fumes.
It's really cool. And then the not that I do
that all the time, but you look at when prices
of aluminium are high or waist tarler comes and picks
up all the bales of aluminum and we make a
lot more money, which is good.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Oh, that's really cool. Broadrating. Other examples from some of
the sports leagues or teams you've seen.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
We can't tell all our secrets unless you're remember so
if you can drive some membership a good one, Well,
I'm learning, I'm loving for Norman. I'm loving for Norman.
We gotta figure us out. Now.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
We do have some ideas, like with reuse, which is
a really hot topic right now, and it's an old concept,
right We used to have the old milk bottles that
would show up at our house. Now I'm not that old,
but I remember reading the stories and they would do that.
But I do remember the pepsi bottles that were glass,
which would you get, you know, a quarter or back
and then those days maybe a.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Dime to get the return.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
So so reuse and looking at what we call life
cycle analysis, really putting an engineering view on what is
the cost associated with each of the solutions and really
what is the impact to the environment, and understanding which
direction you should go depending on your market. Do you
have infrastructure for composts, do you have infrastructure.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
For you reuse?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
You know, can we put a sponsorship deal on top
of that aluminum trade off?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You know? Is that in our premium suites, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
So look at all those opportunities and decisions and then
make our choices and we put those in our playbooks
based on what Norman said is real life examples and
you know the best Always tell this to our business
partners out there that will have sustainability solutions is your
best salespeople will be the members like the teams and
leagues and clubs that you support, because if they love
(14:52):
it and they see the value, then they're going to
promote you. And that's how you grow your business. And
so really it is about that. So there's a lot
more in our playbooks, and go to our website at
Green Sports Alliance dot org and you'll find a whole
bunch of resources there for you.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
I would add, if Woody Johnson did want to sell
a team, I would be happy to buy it and
join the Green Sports Alliance. But maybe then I'll get
your secrets.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I'll partner with you. I got a thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
So are there key differences though between sports and venues?
Like I imagine a football team that plays outdoors and the
fall is different than baseball team that plays in summer
versus a basketball or a hockey team that plays indoors
in the winter, are there certain practices that maybe are
not transferable.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
I'll talk about differences and similarities and then pass it
over to Norman, and so I think the similarities are,
you know, we all have waste, you know, we're all
working with fans and fan engagement, and we're always using utility.
So there's a lot of standards that are out there.
The lead standards when you look at you know, United
States Green Building Council and how you build to those
standards are pretty similar, but there might be local differences.
(16:03):
Like I talked about around what infrastructure is available, Do
I have composts available and those kind of things, and
do I have you know, do I have a cover
over my stadium or in my open air like most
baseball stadiums.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
So that's going to determine some different things too.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
And then I would say space, you know, availability of
space and typically what's my capacity for arena. So when
you're talking about seventy two thousand fans versus ten thousand fans,
that's a significant difference on how I might manage or what.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Space I might need.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
So we do try to have some general standards and
then go into customization depending on which team, league club
we're dealing with. And then regional differences based on where
you are in the US or where you are in
the world may change based on local government regulations and laws.
So I'll pass it to Norman because he you know,
I know you'd had that hydrogen field station, and you
(16:53):
guys are out in front.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
With a lot of different technologies, so you could probably
add to that, yeah, I would.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
I always like to say we are competitors on the field,
but off the field and sustainability, we're really all partners.
I do talk to quite a few of my colleagues
and arenas around the world. I've also chatted quite often,
for example, with Omar at the NHL, who leads their
sustainability efforts, Omer Mitchell, and then any Horn who leads
(17:22):
it at the NBA, and you know, so there's there's
quite a few colleagues of mine who you know, we
exchange information, especially when we run across you know, any
type of initiative that we don't know too much about.
I remember talking to formula E Julia pal about, you know,
offsetting the Formulae offsets pretty much all their travel, you know,
(17:43):
by investing into the ocean and with carbon mitigation and
so we do the same for our team travel with
a smaller project than obviously they travel all around the world.
So I agree with Roger. There really are so many
key factors right where you are, what you run and
all that. But but some things are very similar, uh,
And that is is that the tree is a tree
(18:04):
is a tree, right, It's you know, the earth is
the same for all of us, and whatever you do.
I always like to say this, whatever you do will
make a difference. I think what's really important. I was
kintually going to add this at the last question you
had there earlier, but I think whatever you do in sustainability,
especially right now, with some of these things, I believe
(18:24):
that the right place to start isn't at so how
can we make money with aluminum? The right place to
start is that we should recycle aluminum. Then when you
recycle aluminum, you ask questions, how can we better recycle aluminum,
which then leads to the ROI and I think there
are a lot of examples like that that if you
(18:47):
just you know, there's also counter examples to that you
invest into maybe a project that doesn't work, and I'll
give you an example for that. We're not We're not
shy of sharing some of our some of our unsuccessful initiatives, right. So,
because when you're in sustainability and it's such a in
sports and it's such a new frontier that we're that
(19:07):
we're all really stepping into, right, then you have to
try out some things. Sometimes that's where we're really careful
most of the time. But we got a biodigestor in
the stadium and our practice facility. The want of the
stadium churned through a lot of post consumer food waste,
and it created a real problem for us with fruit
flies in the building. And then it created a real
problem for us with our sewage line, and so we
(19:29):
had to get rid of it at the stadium. It
just wasn't working for us at the practice facility because
it's a lot smaller. It works now there's talk about
digestive composters that you use outside the stadium and that
work with less water and don't really need a sewage
line and create composts, and so there's constant innovation happening, right.
And sometimes you have great success with the aluminum and
(19:51):
sometimes you don't have so much success, right, And but
that that can't have you shy away from and can't
have you ask the question at well, if we if
we install this technology, will it help us make money?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I think in sustainability it really has to come from
this is proven. We've asked enough people and it seems
like we look, we asked for example, the Green Sports Alliance,
like who else is doing this? They put us in
touch with several other sports teams. They've been successful at it.
Let's explore it and then let's do it eventually, then
you'll ask the right questions, you know, figure out how
(20:24):
you can actually get an ROI on that. That's tough.
That's a tough selling point, especially when the number one
discussion on the table really is like, hey, you know,
what's our bottom line here and how can we make
money with this? Sustainability has just got to be part
of your DNA and your program where you say like,
it is what we do, and when you do that,
I believe that you can figure out how to have
(20:45):
a good ROI with it as well. That's more philosophical.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
No, I appreciate that you sure that sewage issue wasn't
related to the Cowboys fans.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Say you said it, not me. That's actually funny.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
What are some of the sustainable practices teams are engaged
in that may surprise the average fan.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
Norman.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
I mean, the hydrogen is probably the most interesting thing.
But you know, I don't know if everybody knows the
reuse movement that's happening with the Motors Center in Portland UH.
And then some of the new startup companies are World
Bold Reuse, which is a woman owned business, and there's
several others, and so that that reuse, you know, exploding
and figuring out these wash hubs that create jobs in
(21:29):
the economy. And then I'll talk about the Kansas City Current,
which is a women's UH all women's league in the
first stadium built for women only, right.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
For their women.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
And we talked about God Jenkins who helped open that
up with the with the family there and they made
a huge investment. But we had a symposium there recently
and just going there and seeing you know, the equity
UH side of it and you know women GM a
woman you know, pitch and making sure the pitch was
at its right height.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
And so to see all that happen.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Is part of what I look at as sustainability the
broader context. It's the equity and inclusion side of it,
and I think that's valuable too when you really think
about including everybody into those leadership positions. But the point is,
you know that those stadiums and those things are happening,
and a lot a lot of people might know about it.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
So the explosion of women's.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Sports and that evaluation, you know, is I think is important.
And they're including sustainability as part of that that winning combination.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
How do you get more fans involved with your sustainability plans?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Well, I don't have any fans, I think, Norman, you
have all the fans.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
No.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
For us, we do a lot of volunteer, Like we'll
be at college football playoffs just this week, right, and
so we're actually starting there. And you know, we think
about youth as the next generation. We call it playing
for the next generation, and it's a real imperative for us.
It's a pillar for us of what we stand for
is that the next leaders just sustainability, but leaders of
(23:03):
our local government, leaders of our corporations, leaders of our
sports teams. Those are the folks that are the next generation.
And we want to include a holistic view around sustainability
because it's part of their ethos right now and to
actually do that, you have to be very authentic, like
Norman would tell you, you have to have some value proposition
where they can engage and you have things that they
(23:25):
can actually relate to and actually do. So what we
do is can create volunteer opportunities actually to come into
the Green Sports Alliance. We have opportunities to bring collegiate students,
and then when we do our summit, we have volunteers
and we actually execute some of the local sustainability initiatives
like zero waste initiatives, whether it be our summit or
(23:47):
whether it be at a college football playoffs, where you have,
you know, a week and a half of events across
the whole spectrum of footprint that we look at. And
so I think that's really important and they want to
know and they want to be engaged. But that's how
we engage them. But I know there's some more creative
fan engagement that Noman can talk about as well.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Fans come to our venues to get away from everyday
life support their favorite sports team, whether it's your NFL team,
your collegiate sporting events, whether it's a musical act right
and any other performance monster jam. You know, I don't know,
and so I think fans don't necessarily come to the
(24:29):
stadium to be educated on sustainability.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Knowing that, I think you have to build a strategy
around a fun way to engage fans. So in our
stadium you'll find some cool signs. Right. It might show
the kicker where it says kickback your thermostat two degrees
and save one thousand dollars on the electric bill.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
We used to have one in the men's urinals on
the two hundred level that said recycle your beer here
you know, but yours.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And it also said trash our opponents, but recycle your
trash at home, you know, so you can. There's really
fun ways to engage your fans. I think when you're fan.
We have a lot of fans coming through our building
on tours. Right, that's the time that we share all
of our sustainability initiatives and showcase some of our sustainability
projects that we have going on in the stadium, whether
(25:19):
it's children, adults, and fandom, you know, And you mix
that in, right, while they are looking at the locker
room and they're looking at the Lombardi trophy, you also
showcase the three D printed Lombardi trophy that was made
out of bottle caps. And you know, you share how
the grass is recycled three times a year when the
field has changed. You know, how the solar power plant works.
And as Roger mentioned earlier, the newest addition to our
(25:41):
sustainability program our hydrogen fueling station that was installed last
year in the back of the stadium. And we'll soon
be powering a forklift and then eventually our fleet of
vehicles that we use here in the stadium and so
and that's a first, by the way, for any stadium
in the world. And those kinds of things I think
are exciting to share. I think then it's social media, right,
(26:04):
we have folks coming, whether it's from our media relations
department or you know, PR and front and social media
folks that want to learn about this, you Rob with Bloomberg,
you know, giving us a voice to share these messages
that then kind of trickles out into the world. I
remember we became the first sports team to offset our
(26:25):
team travel by investing in mangrove restoration projects in Puerto Rico.
And when we did and planting seagrass as well. And
when we did that, we reached I remember two point
six million in just the first week, and and that
was the first time that BBC World News actually wanted
(26:47):
to do a live interview with us on this project.
And so I think when you do things like this
because it's the right thing to do and you know,
you're having fun with it and you're creating really cool
and getting you know, part of really cool projects like this,
it helps you get that message out in a way
where it isn't forced, you know. I think that's really
important for sports teams, is that the message isn't forced.
(27:09):
You know that it is a sustainable messaging that will
last with our fans. You see what I did there.
I'm you know, once in a while, man, I'm proud
of what I say. Sometimes I worry a lot. That's
that's why I usually have a PR person with me too.
They know when to tap me on the shoulder and
say stop talking. But yeah, I think it's I think
(27:33):
if it's an organic messaging that kind of just goes
along with what fans get to experience and have fun with,
I think it works.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
What about the players, do they have any interest in this?
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah? You know, I'll start there. Roger and I'll let
you talk about it. I get that question all the time, Rob,
because our players have millions of social media followers and
obviously are the stars, right, Norman isn't the star, it's
the players. I get that, even though sometimes I wish
you joking. Hey, I get to be the storry with you,
Rob right here at Bloomberg. So I think it's really important.
(28:11):
And Roger, I'd love to hear your opinion on this too,
but I think it's really important to marry social responsibility
with sustainability. Both has to do with safe spaces in
the world. You know that that doesn't just mean having
a safe space to be, but also to play and
to and safe meaning not just safe from harm, but
(28:37):
also same from environmental harm. You know. I think my
best example of that would be the Eagles build a
playground every year, you know, having a safe space for
kids to play, but then including biological elements as well
as recycled elements and to teach that that is possible
and making it a safe space on multiple levels. I
think it's really important saying that to you because I
(28:59):
believe that when you marry those two it really reaches
into the athlete space because a lot of athletes have
projects in the social responsibility space, whether it's from areas
they came from, whether it's things they've experienced as children.
There's a lot of engagement in the social responsibility space.
And when you marry sustainability with social responsibility, you can
(29:22):
get athletes to really, you know, see that holistic picture
of what it means to create a safe space and
be part of it. You do get athletes like I
remember Connor Barwin was one of ours who super engaged
in the environmental space now actually has his own agency
that works in the environmental space, and so he, you know,
(29:43):
one of the first guys to drive a tesla and
or bike to work and was constantly engaged on a
sustainability and space there.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
But that being said, I think it is important. I
think they have a huge voice. It does, especially with
the youth, hit a certain note that I can't reach,
or that you know, Roger maybe can't reach. But if
our athletes are involved, then there's a lot more listening years,
that's for sure.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
Yeah, yeah, I'd have to join in on that. I mean,
you set me up beautifully, Norman. You know, the reason
we watch are the athletes you know, the reason we
watch are the athletes. They're amazing, right, and so and
then the other point that Norman's making is that, you know,
we look at too narrowly sometimes at sustainability. And when
(30:28):
I took this job, you know, I really talked about
not just changing light bulbs and not just trying to
save water through irrigation, but you know, what are those
things that really are important to us, you know, and
that's the future of the next generation. And there were
some real challenges in Norman, I have to say it.
You know, it's just like, you know, the social side
(30:50):
of it is social justice, you know, environmental justice, and
you know, you know, it's how we take care of
our patriots that come back home, you know, to make
sure they have you know, mental health opportunities and you
know benefits because of their sacrifice. And so it's all
of us together that really when we think about the
center of sustainability is the human side of it. It's
the human rights side of all this, right, And so
(31:12):
when we kind of start to narrow out and you know,
kind of zoom back out to what that means when
the when the athletes there, they don't want to be
co opt you know, they want to support what they
believe in and be comfortable in how they present that.
And when you hit on that, they're all in. And
so we've been able to figure that out. One of
our examples on our board is Chris Paul, who's going
(31:32):
to have twenty years in the NBA, you know, and
is really focused on youth advocacy, youth programs, not only
in his AAU program, but literacy on financial literacy, making
sure historically black college and universities are supported through those
opportunities of education. And you know, we work with those
athletes like Connor that he was mentioning that do it
(31:55):
every day, right, and all we need to do is
support them with a platform like the Green Sports or
what they.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Might do with the teams.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
But they can add so much because unfortunately, people don't
follow science as much they do follow you know, heroes,
they do they follow those heroes and so when we
do have that match, it really is a beautiful thing.
And I think an opportunity for as Norman as you know,
across the leagues and we have these league conversations, is
how do we play that up in the airways like
(32:24):
when FIFA is here or when we're doing the Super
Bowl like telling those stories to millions and millions of
fans around the world. As a leader, making sure we
include that thirty second, too minute PSA that really showcases
what these folks are all about in an authentic and
genuine way, and then we'll have millions and millions of
followers in that space to do the same thing. So
it's a great point.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah, I have to add here that you know, I
saw not just athletes, but I think it was Cold
Play a couple years ago when they were in concert.
They began there with the message on all that they
were doing from renewable power to waste management.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, Rob, that's a great example. Actually, So when when
a concert comes to town, right, I'll give your listeners
a quick view behind the curtain. Here you meet with
the tour, right, and the tour not just on a
security front, but on the logistics front obviously, and they're like, hey,
how do you run your stadium? You know? So when
Coplay came to town, they that one of the first
conversations actually was look, the band wants to make sure
(33:23):
that the venue they're playing in is running their venue
in a sustainable way, we also have sustainable initiatives that
we so they would like to learn what you do,
and then they would also like to introduce some of
like there, you know, they had bikes in our concert.
People would go at the back and ride the bike
trying floor and you know, some really cool initiatives, and
that was really important to them. I think that's awesome,
(33:44):
right when an artist comes and says, hey, we want
to learn about what you're doing. This is important to us,
and we're going to introduce some areas that are going
to be some additional projects for you guys to have
during the concert. So I think that is cool, you know,
and that certainly engages the fans.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Now we've seen, certainly in the United States and a
number of public companies starting to pull back on their
sustainability or social commitments. Is there risk that we could
see something like that in sports? Or our owners pretty
strongly committed to this.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
So Roger, what do you think about this? I remember
Omar Mitchell, who heads the sustainability effort of He's a
dear friend of mine, but that's why I've mentioned twice already,
I guess, but he uh had sustainability efforts at the NHL,
and he says, there's only so long that we are
going to be able to have people, you know, learn
to play ice hockey on natural ice.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Yes, yes, it's a good intro. So so I guess
the point there is we need to protect sports, especially
outside sports. And so I think that's you know, what
is the future of sports if we have issues like
we were unfortunately and I'll bring it up, you know
out in LA where we have these these wild you know,
firestorms that probably haven't been caused over time, you know,
(34:56):
in these areas of climate and climate impact, and so
this resiliency that we need to have. We have to
think about the future of sports and not just you know,
the environmental side, but also the social side. And so
I think that's really important that we get ahead of it.
And I think some people are always going to be
fast adopters, like you know, like Norman and innovative and
(35:18):
ahead of the scene and setting the pace for others.
And I always think there's going to be somebody that's
kind of a little bit cautious and trying to really
figure it out and maybe a little slower. But as
a ecosystem with sports, including you know, ESPN, Fox, and
the networks and everybody working together. I still think having
clean air, having clean water, taking care of the people
(35:38):
that live in your community, those things are never going away.
It's universal. It's who we are and who we want
to be as a people. And having compassion and empathy
about those struggles and what we're seeing in LA and
responding to that in appropriate way. I think it's our
DNA as humans. So I do think we're all going
to continue to move in that direction, but at a
different pace, you know, for for each and every one
(36:00):
of us.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
So yeah, and I'll add to that, rob it where
where are your priorities? You know? I think if if
your priorities are in with that, you your brand is
is going to stand for Planet Earth as well as
for their fans and for you know, and that you're
going to make at least an effort, you know, to
(36:24):
to help alleviate some of the strain we put on
on Mother Earth. I think that's good, you know. I
think if your focus is not at all on that
and as you know, somewhere else, then usually at the
very end of you know, it might take some time
because and I always say this, right, this is where
you know, philosophy, Norman comes out again. But Earth can
(36:47):
heal pretty quickly, like it's pretty resilient. Man, It's it's
pretty amazing, you know. But it'll fight back to you know.
And I think that's what Rogers brought up, you know,
And I think if we, you know, as a human race,
are so dull to not see that, then you know, well,
shame on us. Where are your priorities at? You know,
I'm so glad and happy that we have an owner
and Jeffrey Lourie at the Eagles who cares for the environment,
(37:09):
not just on a sustainability front, but for example, our
Eagles Autism Foundation has raised over close to thirty million
dollars in just five years. It's unprecedented, and one hundred
percent of the proceeds are going to autism research. You know,
I think that's cool. You know, when you have an
owner who really does want to do something like that
and cares for that there and he's not alone, by
the way, there's quite a few owners who do stuff
(37:31):
like that and it gets it. It's exciting to me
because there it shows you someone that whose priorities are
not just on All I want to do is win, win, win,
of course, of course he's he owns the villi of
Eagles because he wants to win. But the fact that
he also wants to win in the realm of autism,
he also wants to win in the realm of sustainability,
makes me proud to work for the Eagles because I
think the priorities are right.
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Yeah, I can add it to that, no woman, because
I think we say sustainability is not just environmental, it's
it's social and it's a collective of things. And so
the campaign that you know, the leagues got behind, and
I think under the leadership of Craft and the NFL
on the campaign to say no to hate right right,
and that you know, that whole thing was huge and
(38:13):
it continues to grow. And I think that's where we
need to have our minds is around how we bring
ourselves together versus how we keep ourselves apart and figure
out where the human side of this compassion and empathy
should be. And you know, the rest of the world
always watches what we do. You know, we are a
leader in the world, and I think when we bring
sports to that level where we do care and we
do put those messages out, you know, across not just
(38:36):
one league, but the collection collective of a league, we
have power, and I think that power to influence and
change over time could be significant in the things that
we want to do. We have a lot of research,
we have a lot of solutions, we have a lot
of technology. We just need to pull ourselves together and
focus and I think we can make a lot of good,
positive change. So yeah, that's why I'm excited about. You know,
(38:57):
you mentioned you know cold players, Billie Eilish, and you know,
a lot of these stadiums also have an opportunity to
participate in music. And when we think about play to
Zero and we're thinking about this whole concept of leveraging
sports and entertainment for good music, for impact. There's another
young guy by name Ay Young who's been doing the
Battery Tour for some quite some time. And these folks
(39:17):
are like pulling us in the pulling the world toward
this better future. And so I'm really proud of being
part of that.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
And Roger, you did touch a little bit on the
I want to take into this a little bit more
on natural disasters. You know, I think besides the adaptation
and some of these mitigation, you have adaptation that you know,
as a number of stadiums are confronted with this. I mean,
you just had the Baseball Stadium in Florida. I think
it got hit pretty hard by the hurricane. You know,
New Orleans. Obviously, everyone remembers pictures from the SUPERDOMA. Now
(39:47):
that's the host of this year's Super Bowl. So I
got to imagine there have been some investments there. So
can you talk about some of the investments that have
had to been put in place for adaptation.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 4 (39:58):
I mean I was on the University of Miami's camp,
and they're way ahead of the game, and so they've
built some of their buildings to be floodproof, right, understand
if the tide's going to rise and what that might
look like or if a hurricane comes, you know, and
you know, if you think about Europe as well, you know,
they've understood how to live in a world where the
tide is going to rise, you know, and how to
make infrastructure investment. I still think we have a long
(40:21):
ways to go here in the US, you know, especially
what we saw you know, just recently and continue to
witness in LA and so we're not quite there yet.
We're not you know, we don't understand that climate change
is not coming, It's already here, and so we need
to every time we build a new stadium, whether it's
into a dome or somebody's making a major remodel, think
(40:41):
with resiliency and the effect of climate impact has to
go into that design, and you're going to need to
make those investments up front. And the beautiful thing like
when we had the issues with COVID and you know,
we were looking to feed people.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
You know, I know, Norman, you guys did this. You know,
you turn your facilities.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
Into shelters in a way, like to bring food and
you know, be able to grab your food or vaccination centers.
And so we've always responded in crisis situations from the
human side of it. But I think we need to
be forward thinking and think before the crisis happens and
try to get ahead of it with design or mitigate
what is causing the crisis in the first place. And
I think that's really what we're trying to do is
(41:19):
get to root.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Cause cost wise, right, so your listeners might be really
interested in like, well, it cost is only rising, whether
it's in the energy sector or you know, I remember
in Philadelphia several years ago, the meter, the water meter
actually for stormwater runoff changed from the size of the building,
the square footage of the building to the square footage
(41:40):
of land it occupied. So the high rises in Philadelphia
were like who And the stadiums in Philadelphia went like, well,
oh no, this is bad, you know, because we don't
have that many tempered spaces indoors. And so when you know,
the meter for stormwater runoff was like, well, we really
don't have that much tempered space for square footage. But
high rises downtown, of course, have a very small footprint.
(42:02):
When you think about it, you know, it actually led
to something really interesting. So then there are ways that
you can get credit on your tax bill when you
plant rainwater mitigation shrubbery plans, trees you know that that
filter the rain water as it goes down, you know,
and so what how much land mask can you take
on your footprint to build those gardens. So we actually
(42:24):
build several of these gardens, and that's really cool, you know,
it's because it's great for the environment. You know, sometimes
when stuff like that happens too, I think you can
really look at innovation more along the lines of like
what can we do here to save money. But you know,
because now that we have to pay all this money
for somewhere to run off, you know, do you do
you open up the entire parking lot and put water
(42:47):
cisterns below. You're going to bankrupt the team, right, that's
not going to be possible because you can't do that.
It's too much money. What what else can you do? Well,
when you keep asking again, when you keep asking those questions,
we figured out, Oh, you build those rain guardens. That's
going to give us some credit, you know, And you
can do stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (43:02):
You know.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
That. I think you know, when you really sit there
and think about it and talk to some of your engineers,
then you can figure some of those things out that
help you to mitigate the influence not only from an
environmental standpoint, but also from a governmental standpoint when as
prices are rising.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Last question for me, what what's next? What's next for
the Green Sports Alliance? Any exciting plans for the year ahead?
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Yeah? Well, first we got to watch this Super Bowl
fold right.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
It's well I hope it does. I hope it does.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
So we're going to be excited about that.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
We always are watching the championships and you know, thankful
to our partners and thank you to you, Rob. But
you know, we have our summit coming up here in June.
We're going to be in Miami, you know, the home
of the Heat and the Dolphins, in the University of Miami, so.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
We'll have all those folks participating.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
You know is FIFA has their headquarters there and so
that will be a good conversation. So looking forward to
having everybody join. We've got great sharing of knowledge that's
happened from the past and to playbooks that we'll talk about.
You know, one is how do you create a sustainability
strategy that hopefully we launch coming up. We launch reuse
in des decompnization last year, and so we have some
(44:21):
new technology and information that we want to share. But
also I'm most excited about the partnership that we have
with entertainment and talking about how to engage entertainment on
this journey in Project seventeen, which talks about the seventeen
development goals that I think is going to really help
super charge the events that we have coming up. So Norman,
(44:44):
more to share with you about that as well, because
I know you guys do a lot on your venues,
but I think the power of music and culture and
sports kind of combining through collaborative partnerships. One is with
Muhammad Ali to on their Compassion Index project that they'll
be doing with twelve cities. I'm really trying to get
to the heart of, you know, how we can have
more empathy and how do we really share in our
(45:06):
values and make that come through and how we behave
So yeah, just just a little insight under the under
the hood of all the great work. And then Green
Sports Day happens in October sixth where we actually highlight
all the great work by our members like the Eagles,
and I'm say there's been stadiums and you know all
the teams that I can't mention without time here. But
(45:27):
just so proud and privileged to be able to represent
the Green Sports Alliance and all the great work our
members do.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Great.
Speaker 1 (45:37):
Thanks very much. I'm afraid I'm now going to have
to blow the whistle and regulation, but thank you both
very much for joining us. Is a great conversation.
Speaker 4 (45:45):
Yeah, thanks Rob and Norm Man, you're a star man.
It's always hard to follow you man, So but I
appreciate appreciate you joining.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
And yeah, I appreciate it. I guess we don't have
any overtime here. And yeah, hey, look Rob, I do
appreciate I know you guys are out of the playoffs,
but you know, I do appreciate you rooting for the
for the birds as we go through this playoffs. So
thank you for that. Give Bloomberg at least you can
(46:14):
root for the birds on the green side.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
Hey, maybe maybe you can blame Bloomberg over to the
green sports lives they should be able to.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
Yeah, he is a part owner of the of the Orioles.
Speaker 4 (46:25):
Okay, okay, by thanks very much guys.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Listeners can find more information on sustainability issues on the
Bloomberg terminal by going to b I space ESG go.
If you have an ESG quandary or you would like
to ask bi's expert analysts or learn more about our research,
send us an email at ESG Currents at Bloomberg dot net.
And if you like this episode, please subscribe on Apple, Spotify,
or your favorite podcast platform.
Host
Eric Kane
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