Super Bowl Sunday – How Eco Friendly Is it?

Is the NFL Super Bowl Sunday green?

 

chicken wings for super bowlThe figures for Super Bowl Sunday are nothing short of astonishing.

Consumption

On Super Bowl Sunday, fans will demolish:

  • 100 million pounds of chicken wings
  • 8 million pounds of popcorn (3.6 million kg)
  • 325 million gallons of beer

I found I simply couldn’t imagine 100 million pounds of chicken wings (45 million kilograms).  That’s a lot of chickens!

And popcorn is so incredibly light – how much popcorn must it take to make up 8 million pounds?

Apparently you could fill 493 Olympic-sized swimming pools with all that beer – but it still doesn’t help me to visualise just how much beer that is!

The average fan will consume 1200 calories (just during the match, no other meals).  Oh, and sales of anti-acid  will rocket on Monday!

Non Fans

While I’m dropping statistics around, I was interested to read that 40% of Super Bowl viewers are NOT fans of American Football.  That’s a really high figure, and shows that the games are truly great family entertainment.

NFL Sustainability

The NFL is big business, and everything about it is big – from the salaries to the massive stadiums, the advertising, huge screens, the parties around the country, and of course, the excitement, especially on Super Bowl Sunday.

The aftermath however, is not quite so pleasant.  Apart from the massive power consumption, the massive volumes of food and drink as well as the quantity of rubbish – either in bins or littered on the ground – is unbelievably huge.  Beer cans, food wrappers – you get the picture.

However, most NFL teams are making strides towards sustainability.

The garbage is collected and some of it is recycled.  (Not all of it can be recycled – food wrappers in particular are difficult to recycle due to food and grease stains as well as the materials they are made from).   The recycling saves the NFL money as it’s cheaper to send material for recycling than to pay to dump it at landfills.   Some of the large amounts of power needed for the stadiums is produced from renewable sources rather than totally from fossil fuels.

Many NFL teams have made some inroads into making their stadiums eco-friendly.

Patriots employees hand out recycling bags in the parking lot of Gillette Stadium; the stadium uses its own waste-water treatment system to recycle water, and provides some of its power via solar energy.

The New York Giants Stadium was constructed in association with the EPA and has some measures in place for water conservation and energy management.  Some green techniques were used during construction – for example, using construction rubble from the new stadium to fill the hole left by the old stadium, laying synthetic turf instead of natural grass to save water, indigenous planting and low-flow sanitary fittings also reduced water demands, and energy-efficient appliances and lighting were installed.

Metlife Stadium in New Jersey has been awarded “Certified Green Restaurant Stadium” due to its food outlets implementing some eco-friendly measures such as collecting all waste kitchen oil to be converted into biofuel, composting kitchen scraps, donating leftover food and eliminating polystyrene containers.

The NFL have been advertising their green efforts.  While their figures look impressive initially, they are unfortunately outweighed by the sheer volume of non-green consumption and disposal.

In addition, I have read many comments on various forums by people who feel that the NFL only carried out their green initiatives to simply save money and increase their profits, rather than wishing to genuinely be eco friendly.

My view – I don’t care!

My view?  I believe they could do more than they are currently doing.  But as to green initiatives only because they save money – frankly, I don’t care.  Irrespective of the motivation, the NFL’s green initiatives are making a difference to the planet, and it proves again that eco friendly options DO save money.

Super Bowl Sunday at Home

do not use disposable items for super bowlA final word – if you’re watching Super Bowl Sunday at home, don’t use disposables!  It’s just as much hassle to collect all the plastic plates and cups and put them in the trash, as it is to put crockery in the dishwasher.  You’ll save money – and the planet!

Enjoy Super Bowl Sunday!

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  • At 100g/chicken wing then 45million kg means 225million chickens – dead! The up side is that at least the teams are making an effort to be a little ecofriendly even if perhaps the motivation from the NFL may be a little skewed.

  • Hi eco-friendly Clare!
    Those numbers are hughe!!! Would have never guessed!
    Thanks for always giving ideas on how to save the planet in so many different ways!

  • Clare, we are bucking the trend here on SuperBowl Sunday. We made a giant salad out of fresh vegetales. No chicken wings at all! No beer!Just fresh pinapple juice.
    Big article in this weeks “Tico Times” newspaper about all the recycling going on in and around San Jose.

    Sonya Lenzo

    • Excellent Sonya – I LOVE it!
      And I bet you had just as much (if not more) fun than everyone else!
      Costa Rice really does do so much for the environment, I love hearing about it.
      Thanks!

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