Abstract
We are living in times of tremendous ecological change (Winn & Kirchgeorg, 2005). In response, the UnitedNations (UN) promotes a movement towards safeguarding the natural environment or environmentalsustainability (ES). Sport has not been immune from the challenges of ES and, thus, the guiding researchquestion of the current investigation was: How does sport communicate its participation in environmentalsustainability (ES)? To answer this research question this study focused on sport facilities that were home to aprofessional Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise during 2011; specifically, the analysis focused on thefacilities’ website communications on ES. This investigation utilized a content analysis process for datacollection that involved four steps framed with an adaptation of the design by Krippendorff (1980) and Weber(1985). Data analysis was framed with the principles of environmental performance by Glavi? and Lukman(2007) as well as ES components by Mallen and Chard (2012). The results showed that sport facilitiescommunicated a pattern towards some ES action; specifically, renewable resource use, resource minimization,and recycling were communicated as the key areas of focus for sustainability.
Highlights
Sport has not been immune from the challenges of ES and, the guiding research question of the current investigation was: How does sport communicate its participation in environmental sustainability (ES)? To answer this research question this study focused on sport facilities that were home to a professional Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise during 2011; the analysis focused on the facilities’ website communications on ES
The results showed that sport facilities communicated a pattern towards some ES action; renewable resource use, resource minimization, and recycling were communicated as the key areas of focus for sustainability
We are living in times of “massive discontinuous ecological change” (Winn & Kirchgeorg, 2005, p. 233) and the authoritative United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) and UNEP Global Environment Outlook 4 (2007) offer evidence that human activities are responsible for generating negative environmental changes and conditions
Summary
We are living in times of “massive discontinuous ecological change” (Winn & Kirchgeorg, 2005, p. 233) and the authoritative United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) and UNEP Global Environment Outlook 4 (2007) offer evidence that human activities are responsible for generating negative environmental changes and conditions. According to the UN World Commission on Environment and Development, the Brundtland Report (1987), a response to environmental conditions requires a focus on sustainability. In this sense, sport has not been immune from ecological challenges and the guiding research question for this study is: How does sport communicate its participation in environmental sustainability (ES)? According to Olstoorn et al (2001) “each set of [environmental performance] indicators should be specific to the organizational context and the information requirements of the user” This means that sport specific understandings concerning ES are needed for each of the multiple contexts including the professional, semi-professional and non-professional sport competition spheres, along with multiple sub-sectors such as sport www.ccsenet.org/jms
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