A frenzy of construction activity has arisen to the cause of building new New York-area sports stadiums. It’s not that the old stadiums were falling apart but because new stadiums represent presumably more interest and revenues for the sports teams. Even though tear-down and construction of the stadiums could reap environmental disaster, as long as more money pours out from the stadiums, that’s all that really seems to matter. Green building has been gaining in popularity and is much easier to utilize and abide by environmental rules. It’s good to see that many of the new stadiums will be green, but unfortunately some of the new arenas decided against any sort of environmental aspects during and after construction. Lew Blaustein wrote an excellent article, "Green fields of dreams," for green-links.org detailing his search for answers about how green the new stadiums are/will be. Below are some sum-ups of his findings:

The Prudential Arena for NHL’s New Jersey Devils in Newark, NJ:
Green aspect: The fact that it will be downtown and easily accessible by public transport, something that their old Continental Arena in the Meadowlands did not offer.
Non-green aspects: Everything else about it, even though ironically the architect firm HOK Sport has collaborated with the U.S. Green Building Council on other stadiums.

Red Bull Park for the Red Bull New York major league soccer team in Harrison, NJ:
Green aspects: The new stadium will reclaim New Jersey’s largest brownfield (a commerical or industrial site unused due to environmental pollution) area and will clean up 100 acres along the Passaic River waterfront. It will also be accessible by public transport. Once built and in use, the stadium will supply only recycled paper products from a local company and will use clean energy supplied by carrier PSE&G.
Non-green aspects: Building plans and materials are not finalized and therefore LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) compliancy — in other words, the green building industry benchmark guidelines — is not certain.

Citi Field for baseball’s New York Mets in Flushing, NY:
Green aspects: Lew calls it a "veritable Green Grand Slam!" Will be LEED-compliant where possible during construction and operation. Public transportation, green energy use, sustainable building operations, among other implementations, are emphasized.
Non-green aspects: LEED currently does not have guidelines for open-air stadiums, but this stadium’s commitment to environmental protection sets its own high standards.

New Yankee Stadium for baseball’s New York Yankees in Bronx, NY:
Green aspects: No one associated with the stadium would talk to Lew about its greenness, therefore making him come to the conclusion that it is not green. Everyone likes good publicity, so he concluded that they would definitely be willing to talk up any sort of green aspect in the building or design if there was any. However, a new MetroNorth train stop is to be built by the stadium, giving it access by public transport.
Non-green aspects: The land taken over for building the stadium was two well-used public parks. A new mall will be built next to the stadium that will attract CO₂-spewing vehicles.

Barclay’s Center Atlantic Yards for New Jersey Nets basketball team in Brooklyn, NY:
Green aspects: This Frank Gehry-designed stadium will be completely LEED-compliant and the first LEED-certified green arena. It will be built on environmentally-damaged land and will develop and clean up the area, creating public spaces, environmental homes, and office buildings. Construction will minimize environmental damage by using particulate filters, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, and noise barriers, among other things. Once completed, the arena will be easily accessed by public transportation and sewer overflow into the Gowanus Canal will be reduced by simply reusing rainwater.
Non-green aspects: Lew didn’t write about any.

Jets-Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ:
Green aspects: Sustainabilty is a definite high priority for the building of this stadium. The separate teams decided to share the stadium, thereby cutting down instantly on the environmental detriment of building two different stadiums. A new light rail system will be constructed and car traffic is anticipated to be cut by 5,000 vehicles per game. Construction will be LEED-compliant.
Non-green aspects: Lew didn’t write about any.

keeping the earth ever green

Click here for the full article, "Green field of dreams."

For more on LEED, please visit the U.S. Green Building Council .

Lisa Tae-Ran Schroeder