by Karen Nelson

Since the Portland Trail Blazers first built the Rose Garden arena in downtown Portland, Oregon, the NBA team has striven to be a green leader not only in its industry, but its community.

In January 2010, the Rose Garden received LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), becoming the first sports arena to receive gold certification. In 2009, the organization was named one of the 100 Best Green Companies by the Oregon Business Journal.

GreenTech TV’s Karen Nelson and Andy Torrez sat down with Sarah Mensah, CMO of the Trail Blazers, and Justin Zeulner, Director of Property Management of AEG Facilities/Rose Quarter, to understand how the Trail Blazers’ green focus started and its plan to remain real “trail blazers” of green in the sports industry.

Part 1 of this series will focus on the beginning of the organization's green focus and how it has involved its community of fans and Portland area residents.

Next week, Part 2 will focus on the Trail Blazers’ green operations and green build efforts.

Q_Karen:

Could you tell us about the Trail Blazers early decision to be a green organization?

A_Sarah:

I think the genesis of green really began when we looked at where to locate the Rose Garden. We had two choices… locate to a suburban area which was typically where arenas were locating at the time or to think differently and locate right in the middle of the City of Portland, close to mass transit and in a place that was more accessible to both the urban community and the suburban residents.

And from that location decision, which was built on green principles, we expanded our thinking to consider the whole green-build idea which led to Gold certification. We really owe a lot of what we’re able to achieve today to the great foresight of the people who originally sited the Rose Garden where they did.

So being green has definitely been an evolutionary process. We feel that the Rose Garden site decision was the beginning of that evolution.

Q_Karen:

We’re going to focus on your LEED certification status in Part 2 of this series, so in addition to the green build initiative, what were some of the other green and sustainable practices that you began and why did you select those as early opportunities?

A_Sarah:

Our recycling program is important because we’ve expanded from recycling in the back of house to the front of the house in ways that allow our fans and people coming to the arena to recycle. We’ve worked very hard to make front of house recycling successful because we believe that it is also an opportunity to help the fans think about green practices when they’re throwing something away. We want them to think about whether what they are throwing away has to go to a landfill or can that item be recycled into mixed use containers; is it a can, a bottle, or plastic. We see this as educational and a process of developing better green habits. It just great is to see that the fans are enthusiastically using the recycling receptacles, really paying attention and wanting to participate.

We are also reducing our energy consumption by changing how we light the arena.

And in conjunction with our energy partner, Northwest Natural Gas and Pacific Power, we are purchasing renewable energy.

Q_Karen:

Clearly the Trail Blazers recognize the valuable role in the community. So have you developed any green community outreach programs?

A_Sarah:

Sports really does have a leadership role to play in the community. We take that responsibility very seriously. The Trail Blazers has a community platform that we call “Make It Better” which is focused on kids: where they live, learn and play. Our green initiatives fit nicely into this initiative and so we are now starting to develop green outreach through this mechanism.

Q_Karen:

Have any of the players taken on green as a mission?

A_Sarah:

Great question. We’re just starting to actively involve the players. Last year, Jerryd Bayless voluntarily took on an unofficial/official spokesperson role for our green initiatives. It was an important breakthrough opportunity to get players involved.

And now in the upcoming season, we plan to integrate as many of our players as we possibly can. We’ll have public service announcements during every game that will highlight our players on green subjects to help us expand our community engagement.

Q_Andy:

You’ve also hosted a “Bike to Blazers” day for the last three years. How is that working?

A_Justin:

We want to get people out of the cars and we felt that biking to our events would do that and be fun for our fans in the process. To make “Bike to Blazers” a success, we increased the number of bike racks which by the way, also encourages our employees to bike to work.

And we also integrated the Bike-to-Blazers idea with messages about using buses or the light rail to get to the arena events. We believe that if we can get people to start using transit once, they’ll choose transit on a regular basis.

It has been gratifying to see a shift in how people reach the arena.

Q_Andy:

With the success of “Bike to Blazers,” are you adding other green events next season?

A_Justin:

We already host a “Green Awareness” game that coincides with the NBA’s “Green Week.” And now we’re considering expanding the “Green Awareness” game idea to multiple games and partner with community organizations that would be onsite at the game with tables and interactive zones for our fans to learn more about how to live a more sustainable life in the Portland region.

Q_Karen:

You’ve made impressive progress. And we’ve found that it often takes the vision of many. For the Trail Blazers who were your green visionaries?

A_Sarah:

It really came from two directions, from the ground up and also from the top; from management and our owners who wanted a green arena. I think this is one reason why we’ve been so successful. Everyone here has supported the shift to being greener. It is been a very rewarding experience for everyone.

Q_Karen:

How has being green impacted the fans perception of the team? How has it changed your reputation with the community of Portland?

A_Sarah:

We really are interested in harnessing the attention and the power that the Trail Blazers brand brings and hopefully turning our fans into green ambassadors.

Q_Karen:

Thanks, Sarah and Justin for helping us understand how a sports team can make an big impact on an entire community.

Coming in Part 2, GreenTech TV will explore the operations side of the Trail Blazers’ green story.

Reprinted with permission from GreenTech TV