Oak View Group Leans Into Green With Sustainability Initiatives

A leader in live venue development around the globe, Oak View Group (Pollstar’s parent company) is also a groundbreaker in sustainability. 

“The passion, drive and commitment to sustainability starts with the ownership and leadership at OVG,” said Kristen Fulmer, OVG’s head of sustainability, adding that OVG founder Tim Leiweke “isn’t afraid to use his platform to talk about global issues that impact our industry, and society as a whole, specifically around climate change. And he isn’t afraid to use those words, and isn’t concerned about the political ramifications of talking about it.”

Support from the top, including OVG360 President Chris Granger, means that Fulmer doesn’t need to “sell in” the case for sustainability across OVG’s venue development, management and hospitality divisions across a portfolio of owned venues and client roster of arenas, convention centers, music festivals, performing arts centers and cultural institutions. 

“More broadly the company is quite large so we have a huge amount of opportunity to impact, both physically within the footprint of our venues and in communities where we engage,” said Fulmer. “And we also have a huge opportunity to influence millions of people that engage with our venues.”

One of the ways OVG interfaces with the industry is during the annual Pollstar Live! and VenuesNow conferences (OVG is the parent company of both trade publications).

“Part of our role in the world is to be conveners – both during the VenuesNow conference and Pollstar Live! – as well as convening smaller groups together focused on specific topics,” said Fulmer. “It’s been great to see sustainability brought to the forefront at some of these industry-wide events where people that might not think about sustainability every day are exposed to content and conversations around it.”   

Hearing from experts sharing best practices and real-world examples about successful conservation efforts advances the conversation around green initiatives.  

“The best way to inspire others to take similar sustainable actions is to have them talk to each other, have them hear what worked and what didn’t work, see physical examples of what it takes to get there,” explained Fulmer. “Sustainability-specific events are really meant to facilitate networking, allow people to share ideas and grow a network of trusted others across the industry that are all working against similar challenges.”

The messaging reaches consumers on the concourse. OVG’s hospitality division plays an important role in how the company speaks to consumers about conservation. For example, throughout April, OVG is offering a specialty cocktail, the Restoration Refresher, with $1 from every beverage sold to be donated to water restoration programs. The program aims to raise awareness of the need for water conservation and sustainable water management practices.

“Within food and beverage, it’s basically a closed loop system within the facility,” explained Fulmer. “For the most part, fans, visitors at venues, aren’t bringing anything in and they’re disposing of anything that they purchased or consumed – aside from merchandise – within the facility on their way out.”

Managing waste contained within the facility provides opportunities to reduce waste from controlling packaging to using locally sourced ingredients and composting.

Communication at every level matters and can change depending on the market. OVG strives to make all packaging compostable or recyclable but standards differ by market and there isn’t an across-the-board standard. 

“The key is to allow for some flexibility and recognizing that it’s really hard to make a standard, hard and fast rule,” explained Fulmer. “We try to help the different business sectors within OVG understand what their opportunities for impact are and then equip the teams with an understanding of how each of them can make a measurable impact within their own region.”

Conversation about sustainability is most productive early in the development phase of a new venue or before the start of a major renovation.

“When you have the ability to start from scratch – whether it’s a new construction or large-scale renovation project – that’s the perfect time to bake in sustainability strategies and set up operations for success,” said Fulmer.

OVG engages with operators on their needs and includes them in design discussions to ensure that the buildings run sustainably. There are constraints including the building site and other factors. When OVG reimagined CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore,  it was limited by the downtown footprint. 

“It only had so much physical space to expand,” Fulmer explained. “So, there are constraints space-wise that make it challenging to deploy certain sustainability solutions. In other markets you have other constraints like building codes, so that flexibility is really important and keeping that operator in mind throughout the process.”

In some cases, OVG is managing an existing facility with less control over existing space. In that case, the company looks to operations from water conservation to waste diversion to make a difference. 

“In venue management, that means pulling different sustainability levers than we would pull if we were starting the building from scratch or doing a renovation,” Fulmer offered. Being more focused on policies, standards and operational practices that aren’t so contingent on the physical building – especially if we can’t impact the physical building.”

OVG is also forging partnerships with industry organizations including a new relationship with the Events Industry Council (EIC) to increase certifications in the company’s portfolio of convention centers. 

“When we think of live events, we’re thinking about sports events or concerts, but more live events happen in convention centers,” said Fulmer. “More people flow through the doors of convention centers than arenas, typically. So, the environmental impact of the convention center industry is quite large. But the challenges are unique and different.”

OVG operates more than 240 venues including 60 convention centers through its OVG360 venue management division. The partnership with EIC provides tactical information and resources including education and professional development. 

“The Events Industry Council’s certification program is the way that the events industry speaks a common language around sustainability,” Fulmer added. 

A common language around sustainability is something that doesn’t currently exist in sports and entertainment but is something OVG is hoping to achieve through GOAL, Green Operations & Advanced Leadership, the program the company spearheaded alongside State Farm Arena and the Atlanta Hawks, Fenway Sports Group and green building figure Jason McLennan.

Call them OVGreener. The company, which is the developer of industry-leading sustainability anchors like Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, is making progress. Among its many green initiatives, Climate Pledge Arena has a “Rain to Rink” system collecting rainwater to make ice for the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. 

During Earth Month, the Moody Center in Austin, Texas, launched several programs around concert dates for Madonna, Bad Bunny and Hozier. Activations include corporate partnerships to engage visitors including an e-waste drive and expedited entry with Dell Technologies and a plastic bag recycling drop-off and waste sorting gamification with supermarket chain H-E-B.

“A great lever that they can pull is deploying sustainability efforts aligned with artists coming through,” observed Fulmer. “They have a lot of visibility in the arena and engagement with the Austin community, which is also sustainability minded.”

UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York, announced its own set of sustainability goals with three different pillars: Nourishing Our Neighborhood, Protecting Our Planet and Inspiring Our Industry, with a goal of hosting more education forums and sustainability events including a mini-sustainability conference in March with the New York Governor’s Office. 

“There are very different types of sustainability efforts and leadership across the OVG portfolio,” said Fulmer. “We want to celebrate those different approaches so that people can see that you don’t have to invest in a huge amount of technology and really expensive upgrades to be leaders in sustainability.”