Northwest-based Green Sports Alliance gets lots of new members, grows

In March, I wrote a DJC article here on the Green Spots Alliance, a coalition of teams that aim to identify and adopt environmental initiatives while sharing best practices and experiences. It's a really nifty concept with all  all-Northwest founding teams and venues including the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Sounders FC, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Storm, Safeco Field, Qwest Field and Qwest Event Center, KeyArena at Seattle Center, Portland Trail Blazers, Vancouver Canucks, the Rose Garden in Portland and Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

The group recently announced the six founding member teams have been joined by more than 20 professional sports teams and 19 venues, three professional leagues and two universities. All the new members are listed below.

At the March event, Scott Jenkins, vice president of ballpark operations with the Seattle Mariners, said the rest of the sports industry is not yet convinced. So having this many teams sign on and agree to participate could end up spurring change.

Jenkins said green initiatives are better for both the bottom line and the environment. Jenkins said then the Mariners have the lowest energy intensive footprint in baseball and still cut $500,000 from their water and energy budget in 2010. One thing the Mariners did is replace all old urinals with efficient ones that use 16 ounces per flush. But Jenkins said new sports construction projects still install urinals that use 128 ounces per flush, when it would cost the same to install efficient ones, saving operating expenses.

Here are the newest members of the alliance:

• Minnesota Twins, Target Field
• San Diego Padres, PETCO Park,
• Washington Stealth, Everett Silvertips, Comcast Arena
• Detroit Lions, Ford Field
• Seattle Thunderbirds, ShoWare Center
• St. Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium
• Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Clinic Courts and Lake Erie Monsters, Quicken Loans Arena
• Florida Marlins
• Kansas City Chiefs, Kauffman Stadium
• Arizona State University
• University of Washington
• Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Pete Times Forum
• Cleveland Indians, Progressive Field
• Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field
• Philadelphia Flyers, Wells Fargo Center
• Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park

In early August, the group will hold a three day summit in Portland. For more information on the event or the alliance, go here.