AmericanAirlines Arena, Philips Arena Become LEED Certified

Philips Arena Becomes First NBA Or NHL Arena To Become LEED Certified

AmericanAirlines Arena officials in Miami today will announce that the facility has received LEED certification under the existing buildings category. Yesterday in Atlanta, Philips Arena brass announced their facility achieved LEED status, the first ever venue in the NBA or NHL to earn that green label. “Philips Arena was first by about three hours, but they were both certified on the same day,” said U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) President Rick Fedrizzi (Don Muret, SportsBusiness Journal). Atlanta Spirit co-Owner Rutherford Seydel yesterday at a press conference said that Atlanta Spirit's eight owners all "agreed to take steps to meet the federal standards." In Atlanta, Kristi Swartz notes among other things, the arena has "new carpet with recycled material, compact-fluorescent lamps and more recycling." Water conservation measures "have cut water usage by 2 million gallons over the past 11 months." Philips Arena President Bob Williams "didn't say how much it cost to revamp the building, but said the plan was to make the project revenue neutral" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 4/7).

WASTIN' AWAY AGAIN: Heat President of Business Operations Eric Woolworth said the team has signed Waste Management to a multi-year deal as the official sponsor for LEED certification. The team and its new sponsor are in the process of defining how Waste Management will activate the agreement in the arena, Woolworth said. LEED, an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a voluntary sustainability program organized by the USGBC, a nonprofit group not affiliated with the federal government (Muret).