Super Bowl 50 Fans Asked to Foster sustainable behaviour

Upgrading facilities to be LEED-certified, reducing carbon emissions, using recycled or compostable foodservice products, and diverting waste from landfills are common ways that sporting events are going green. However, especially with large events, much of the impact is contributed by the fans. Companies can use their advertisements to promote behavior change, or offer recyclable, zero-waste sporting goods.

The San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, to help meet their goal of delivering Super Bowl 50 as a “Net Positive” event, launched a new campaign this week: “Play Your Part” will recognize and reward fans for their sustainable behavior.

“Super Bowl 50 fans have an important role to play in helping us achieve the goal of delivering Super Bowl 50 as a net positive event. We can’t do it without them,” said Host Committee CEO Keith Bruce.

Fans can perform or pledge to perform actions such as taking public transit or riding their bike, using a reusable water bottle, properly recycling waste, or hosting a sustainable Super Bowl party. When they make a pledge to take action, fans will automatically be entered to win a pair of tickets to Super Bowl 50 and other prizes. Participants will also be rewarded with “GoodCoins” that they can use to support environmental causes. By giving their GoodCoins between January 25 through February 7, fans can weigh in on how the 50 Fund’s $200,000 Sustainable Environments Game Changer Grant will be allocated to a short list of Bay Area environmental non-profits.

The Play Your Part website also has information on actions that the Host Committee is taking to meet its net positive goal, including offsetting unavoidable emissions, serving locally sourced and organic food options, participating in a food recovery  program to redirect food waste, running a “Fan Express” charter bus with pickup points throughout the Bay Area and electric bus shuttles for media personnel, and more.