As most of you know, the NHL has made a commitment to the environment and is quite proud, as it should be, that it is the first professional sports organization to have ever issued a sustainability report. It has measured its arenas’ environmental footprint, uses a lot of clean energy (in fact they’re the 25th largest user of green power in the EPA’s Green Power Partnership), and, especially in Canada, have several sustainable programs in place, like recycling. Now the NHL wants to extend its Greener Rink ideas beyond its own back yard.

On October 6, 2016, when the 2016 Stanley Cup Champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins, made their championship visit to the White House, US President Barack Obama took the opportunity to further both his and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s green goals marking the day as Green Sports Day. In his speech, Obama thanked Bettman and the NHL for leading the way in environmentally sustainable sports “because we want to continue to have ice, so that we can play hockey.”

I’m embedding the video and it’s worth a watch because President Obama is SO GOOD AT STANDUP he even gave the gears to Phil Kessel…

This month, stemming from Green Sports Day and its own sustainability pledges, the NHL is reaching out to the grassroots with its Greener Rinks Initiative.

Intelligence Gathering

By gathering and analyzing the intelligence gleaned from a survey, the NHL will get an even better understanding of ice arenas and their impact on the environment. The NHL is asking arena managers and owners to share data about their facility outlining everything from their audience capacity to energy and water use, utility providers and specifics about their consumption.

There’s other info asked for too, like the kind of upgrades that have been made in the past three years and the kind of upgrades that are expected to be made in the near future — and whether there are any major retrofits in the cards.

If this survey is answered by even just a quarter of all ice arenas in North America, and answered to the very best of their abilities, the resulting data will give the NHL an amazing snapshot of the arena landscape. And, in submitting your arena’s data, since you agree to let it be shared with NHL partners, the resulting market intelligence could even assist with sales.

In return for handing over your data, you’ll be thanked with a 40% discount off one order made from shop.nhl.com.

What do you think about the survey? Have you been sent a request to fill one out? If so, who sent it to you? Have you filled it out? And, maybe most importantly, what will you spend your discount on?

Leave me a comment and let us know!

Like this post?  You might also like my other posts on The Hockey Mom.

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