Keeping Pace with Sustainable Sports Trends in 2025
Sports have the incredible potential to inspire change. In addition to engaging fans around the world, sports franchises have large financial resources, star power, and media coverage to influence other brands to follow in their footsteps. More and more sports organizations are leveraging this power for sustainability. NFL Green, MLB Together, stadium requirements for the FIFA World Cup and The Olympics are just a few initiatives indicating growing support for environmental and social action in sports organizations. Let’s look at the leaderboard for what sustainable trends are taking the field right now.
Click the image to check out the Raiders Playbook for 2024
Sports organizations take many approaches to addressing sustainability, from reducing impacts within their operations to supporting environmental causes that align with their values. The Las Vegas Raiders publish an annual sustainability Impact Playbook detailing their stadium efficiencies, environmental impacts, and community efforts. Similarly, many venues and organizations take part in the Sustainable Sport Index, an effort to benchmark sustainability data across the sports industry. When it comes to finding complementary causes to support, NFL Green focuses on environmental issues confronting localities that host the annual Super Bowl. This year’s game in New Orleans supported an offshore artificial reef project that engaged many local partners including restaurants, fishers, veterans, and volunteers. Both operational changes and outreach programs make a dent in sustainability gains, with the most effective programs integrating both approaches.
With extreme weather and other climate concerns making headlines daily, carbon emissions are in focus. Stadiums, arenas and ballparks are making changes to their operations and infrastructure, like New York City FC, which has plans to build a new stadium powered with renewable energy that may eventually be operated off the grid. For existing venues, many are retrofitting their infrastructure for reusable energy, like MetLife Stadium, which installed 1,350 solar panels. These improvements lower the footprints of the facilities and increase their resilience in the face of disruptions like natural disasters.
Honeycomb Strategies Guide to Water and Energy Conservation
Want to go deeper with facility improvements? Download our free guide focused on venue impact efficiency.
Read more about The Eagles’ innovative carbon balancing system here.
But, according to the Sustainable Sport Index 2024, only 3% of reporting teams purchase carbon offsets to account for emissions spent in team travel. The Philadelphia Eagles are a notable exception, who partner with The Ocean Foundation to restore mangrove forests to compensate for emissions spent. While future innovations such as electrified fleets, alternative jet fuels, and rail travel can be powerful alternatives to airplane travel, there’s no evidence that teams are yet taking these steps en masse, which will be necessary to effectively address the total carbon footprint of sports.
On the flip side, many venues rely on local public transportation to reduce game day emissions. Providence Park in Portland, Oregon, home to the Portland Timbers and Thorns, doesn’t even have its own parking garage, incentivizing fans to take public transit by including ride fare in the cost of their game day ticket, and by providing ample free bicycle parking. On game days, public street parking is more expensive than on other days to de-incentivize driving and the congestion it causes.
When it comes to trash and waste, many stadiums are now implementing cup and serviceware reuse programs (Green Sports alliance has published a great playbook on the topic) with companies like r.World, Bold Reuse, and Cup Zero making waves. In an informal poll conducted on our social media channels in January, Honeycomb Strategies’ followers indicated that reusables were the sustainable trend they were most excited about.
Other single-use amenities like umbrella bags and rain ponchos are going green too with companies like Green Gear providing alternatives to plastic versions. Similarly, teams are using upcycled materials to make one-of-a-kind team swag, like these bucket hats, fanny packs, and windbreakers made by Angel City FC from fan banners in partnership with local Los Angeles upcycled fashion house Suay Sew Shop.
And to make their impact even larger, teams are debuting Green Games that involve fans and make sustainability efforts visible, like the Indianapolis Colts, who partnered with Coca Cola to game-ify recycling at Lucas Oil Stadium (see pictures below). Lots of collegiate programs feature zero waste events, such as University of Colorado Boulder’s Ralphie’s Green Stampede, the first NCAA Division I sustainability program which has attracted the sponsorship of several brands to support its efforts. By involving fans in sustainability efforts, sports teams leverage their enormous influence to gain momentum for their programs and affect change beyond the stadium gates. Another one of our audience polls showed that the number one motivator for change among fans was knowing their impact.
All these great initiatives are just the beginning; sustainability has a deep bench of untapped potential that can still be played. The more fans, venues, teams, sponsors, leagues participate in green initiatives, the bigger the win.
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