The Philadelphia Eagles’ Sustainable Stadium

Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field is leading the way among professional sports venues in its green features and overall commitment to sustainability, according to a recent New York Times article.

The Philadelphia Eagles, who play at the “Linc,” as it is known, recently announced the upcoming installation of roughly 2,500 solar panels, 80 20-foot-tall wind turbines, and a generator that runs on natural gas and biodiesel. Together, these improvements give the Eagles’ home stadium the distinction of being the first stadium capable of generating all of its own electricity needs.

While sports stadiums consume a small piece of the energy pie, and generate a similarly small amount of its waste, these facilities are seen and used by millions of Americans daily, the article notes. This both underlines the significance and visibility of sustainable measures at these facilities, and helps combat the perception that sports teams are wasteful enterprises.

The Eagles’ commitment to sustainability “underscore[s] the position that we are all very visible and can make a significant effort in our communities,” said Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, in the article. “We think it’s smart business and the right thing to do.”

The stadium’s new panels and turbines will generate about 25 percent of its energy needs, while the generator will manufacture the remainder, according to the article.

“This is an opportunity to not be the stereotypical sports franchise that is not on the cutting edge,” said Jeffrey Lurie, the owner of the Eagles, who, with his wife, Christina, created a Go Green sustainability program in 2003, according to the article. “We’ve read a lot that excellent environmental practices are too expensive or not wise for a company. We challenged that.”

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Chris Timmerman
Contributing Writer
Green Education Services
www.greenedu.com