“The biggest ecological impact of running events is actually the fan travel. That can be anywhere between 65% and 80% of the carbon footprint of the event industry,” says Justin Zeulner, Founder of the Wave Foundation.
Recognising this, the NBA has implemented measures to reduce the impact of fan travel. For the 2024 All-Star Game in Indianapolis, the league offered free public transport to and from the arena, mitigating a substantial number of individual car journeys.
In April 2023, the NBA Arena Sustainability Task Force was launched to unite all venues in sharing best practices, accelerating progress in eco-data collection, impact reduction, and climate justice.
As Allen says, what started as “the right thing to do” has now become “an essential business management obligation,” proving that sustainability can be integral to business success.