GOAL — a sustainability program developed by founding members Oak View Group, State Farm Arena and NBA sports tenants Atlanta Hawks, Fenway Sports Group and green building expert Jason F. McLennan — released a report outlining the impact of the first year of work.
The group's 2024 Impact Report reflects data from 40 concert venues in the US, Canada and the UK, including large-scale facilities that regularly host music programs such as Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena, Southern California's Acrisure Arena and Austin's Moody Center. GOAL (which stands for Green Operations & Advanced Leadership) aims to collect data and create a roadmap for a more sustainable live events and venues industry. The report presented members' current performance and identified what future benchmarks could mean for the environment.
The report states that members' premises routed 32% of waste through reuse, composting and recycling in the last year. If that diversion rate reached 90 percent for all GOAL members, they could avoid emissions “equivalent to driving to the moon and back 75 times in a typical gas-powered car,” according to the report.
The average member space used 14.48 million gallons of water during the year. If each member reduced their water use by 5%, there would be enough water for every citizen in the US, Canada and the UK to have a glass of water.
“The sports and entertainment industry has historically prioritized marketing over positive environmental impact, with venues making statements about sustainability without necessarily following through with concerted action,” McLennan said in the report. “As we move forward, venues need to hold themselves and each other accountable, and a consistent rubric for assessment is essential to building trust and continuous improvement.”
The report also describes individual efforts at various member venues, with Tampa's Amalie Arena installing a central power plant in 2022 to generate electricity on-site, a project that brought the arena's Scope 1 and 2 emissions (direct greenhouse emissions that from sources controlled or owned by an organization and indirect greenhouse emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, steam, heating or cooling, respectively) to 51% less than the average NHL arena. New Jersey's Prudential Center purchased two electric Zambonis, while Atlanta's State Farm Arena is in the process of quantifying all of its natural gas emissions so they can be offset. The average NBA Arena currently produces 1,611 metric tons of Scope 1 carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, three GOAL members — State Farm Arena, Climate Pledge Arena and UBS Arena in New York — have achieved the US Green Building Council's TRUE Zero Waste certification, meaning they send at least 90% of their total waste to recycling , compost, donate or reuse.
“I love GOAL. It's the most important thing we've done for sustainability,” OVG president/CEO Tim Leiweke he said Advertising sign on March. “Getting other people in the industry to commit to GOAL is extremely important. This is one of [OVG’s] higher priorities”.
Find the full report here.
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