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Environmental Sustainability and Sport
by
Taryn Barry
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation
University of Alberta
© Taryn Barry, 2025
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Abstract
Research recognized the lack of transparency and public reporting of environmental
initiatives among professional sport organizations, and it remains relatively unknown as to the
explicit, strategic ways organizations communicate and promote their environmental
sustainability (ES) activities. This dissertation aims to investigate this topic further by studying
how organizations communicate their ES initiatives. To do so, three separate case studies were
conducted. In the second chapter, using a content analysis of text from Candidature Files,
rhetorical theory was employed as a lens to study the ways in which Olympic bid committees
employ rhetoric in their candidature files vis-à-vis their ES plans. The chapter revealed one
distinct rhetorical appeal emerged more than the others that underscored the value of
highlighting credibility in ES contexts. In the third chapter, a content analysis of public facing
news sources, and the lens of rhetorical theory were used to explore how partners of arenas with
naming rights agreements in the emerging ES category articulate such partnerships. This chapter
found the partners of ES naming rights agreements use various types of rhetoric to describe the
decision to coalesce around ES. In the fourth chapter, a cultural entrepreneurship lens and a
narrative analysis of text from public facing documents were employed to better understand the
ways in which professional sport arenas with third-party green building certification employ
narratives to communicate their venue’s broad ES practices. It was found that organizations that
do receive green building certification are almost always going to publicly communicate it as it
may provide an opportunity to be perceived as optimally distinct. The insights from these three
chapters may bring forward implications for the broader sport sector as an effective climate
change and environmental sustainability communicator, while also bringing concurrent
organizational and market advantages.
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Preface
This dissertation is an original work by Taryn Barry.
This dissertation is formatted in three publishable papers (Chapter Two, Three and Four). Dr.
Daniel S. Mason, as the supervisory author, was involved in manuscript composition and
revisions to these chapters.
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Dedication
I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, John and Pamela Barry.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Daniel Mason, for his intellect, empathy, sense of
humour and his ability to adeptly challenge me in my research and writing. I also want to thank
my supervisory committee members, Dr. Brian Soebbing and Dr. Marvin Washington, my
university examiner, Dr. Emily Block, and my external committee member, Dr. Brian
McCullough. I also extend my gratitude to the Sport Ecology Research Group and founding
members for welcoming me in the Graduate Student Mentorship Initiative for three years. In
addition, I want to thank the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation for continuing to
welcome me as a student from my undergraduate degree to my master’s degree, and then again
as a PhD student. It’s a special place, and I’m grateful to all those along the way that supported
and inspired me. I want to particularly thank Dr. Ann Hall, Dr. Elizabeth Halpenny, Dr. Kerry
Mummery, and Dr. Tom Hinch.
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Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii
Preface ........................................................................................................................................... iii
Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................ v
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1
Sport Ecology Research .............................................................................................................. 4
Research Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 5
Theoretical Perspectives ............................................................................................................. 6
Research Chapters ..................................................................................................................... 10
Chapter 2: Environmental Sustainability, Embedded Agency, and Rhetorical Appeals of
Winning Olympic Bids ............................................................................................................... 13
Rhetorical Theory ..................................................................................................................... 17
Evolution of the Candidature Process ....................................................................................... 23
Method ...................................................................................................................................... 25
Results ....................................................................................................................................... 29
Discussion and Implications ..................................................................................................... 38
Future Research ........................................................................................................................ 41
Chapter 3: Environmental Sustainability and Professional Sport Naming Rights
Agreements .................................................................................................................................. 45
Arenas with Naming Rights Agreements that Center Environmental Sustainability ............... 49
Review of Literature ................................................................................................................. 52
Rhetorical Theory ..................................................................................................................... 55
Methods..................................................................................................................................... 57
Results ....................................................................................................................................... 62
Discussion, Implications, and Future Research ........................................................................ 71
Chapter 4: Environmental Sustainability and Professional Sport Green Certified Arenas 77
Review of Literature ................................................................................................................. 81
Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................. 82
Methods..................................................................................................................................... 88
Results ....................................................................................................................................... 94
Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 102
Implications............................................................................................................................. 105
Future Research and Limitations ............................................................................................ 106
Chapter 5: Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 108
Summary of Research Findings .............................................................................................. 109
Implications............................................................................................................................. 111
Future Research Opportunities ............................................................................................... 114
References .................................................................................................................................. 117
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List of Tables
Chapter 2
Table 1: Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 26
Table 2: Major Institutional Changes ................................................................................... 29
Chapter 3
Table 3: Ethos-Based Arguments ......................................................................................... 34
Table 4: Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 59
Table 5: Rhetorical Argument Types .................................................................................... 63
Chapter 4
Table 6: Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 90
Table 7: Themes…………………………………………………………………………….95
1
Chapter 1: Introduction
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The earth is experiencing rapid warming and global environmental change. Climate
change, referred to as long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns (United Nations,
N.D.) occurs mainly from human activities and burning fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gas
emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) (Crutzen, 2002; IPCC, 2018; Rockström et al., 2009;
Steffen et al., 2007; World Meteorological Organization, 2022). The effects of climate change
threaten the lives and livelihood of people and urgent responses are crucial to reduce carbon
emissions (Thomas et al., 2004).
One response to climate change is the notion of sustainability, which can be defined as
“meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs” (Brundland Report, 1987). Environmental sustainability, then, can be described
as an ecosystem’s ability to maintain and expand while remaining balanced and healthy.
Goodland (1995) described the concept as the “maintenance of natural capital” (p. 10) that
benefits society. Natural capital includes air, water, soil, air, water, and all living things. Sutton
(2004) later described it as “the ability to maintain the qualities that are valued in the physical
environment” (p.1).
Furthermore, the concept of sustainable development was defined as an effort to combine
increasing concerns about socio-economic issues with environmental issues (Hopwood et al.,
2005). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member
States in 2015, provided a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet,
now and into the future. Central to the Agenda are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), which make up an urgent call for action by the countries who have joined this global
partnership. These goals recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that
improve health and education, reduce inequality, and drive economic growth – all while tackling
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climate change and working to preserve and protect our forests and oceans (United Nations,
2022).
The sports sector’s contribution is also recognized in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) (United
Nations, 2022). The Agenda states:
Sport is also an important enabler of sustainable development. We recognize the growing
contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of
tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and
of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social
inclusion objectives (United Nations, N.D.a, para. 37).
There is growing pressure to incorporate sustainable and green practices in sport because
of the increasing social and cultural acceptance that the sport sector has a responsibility to
environmental sustainability and climate justice. For example, researchers such as Sartore-
Baldwin et al. (2017) argued the sport sector has an obligation to reduce its environment impacts
and high carbon emissions. The sport sector contributes to increasing carbon emissions globally
with the construction of sports facilities (World Green Building Council, 2022) and the hosting
of mass sporting events (Geeraert & Gauthier, 2018; Mller, 2015; Sobol, 2015). While the
United Nations (UN) (2022) contended that sport organizations only consume a small quantity of
energy compared to other major industries, the UN emphasized the influence that the sport sector
may have in conveying socially responsible messages to the public and knowledge users across
various sectors.
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Sport Ecology Research
Since 2010, sport management research grew substantially in the sub-discipline of sport
ecology (McCullough et al., 2016b; McCullough et al., 2020b; Orr & Inoue, 2019), which is the
“study of sport, the natural environment, and the bidirectional relationship between the two
…that is, sport impacts the natural environment and is impacted by the natural environment”
(McCullough et al., 2020a, p. 1).
Sport management researchers investigated sport and the environmental impacts
(McCullough et al., 2020a), climate vulnerability and adaptation (Dingle & Stewart, 2018),
attitudes and consumer behaviours (Trail & McCullough, 2021; Wicker, 2019), event
sustainability (Mallen et al., 2010a; Ross & Leopkey, 2017), facility sustainability (Kellison &
Hong, 2015; Mallen et al., 2010b; Mallen & Chard, 2012), fan engagement (Casper et al., 2020);
managing sustainability in sport (McCullough et al., 2016a; Sartore-Baldwin & McCullough,
2017); and marketing and communications (Inoue & Kent, 2014; Kellison & Kim, 2014;
McCullough et al., 2020b; Trendafilova & Babiak, 2013).
For example, researchers demonstrated the sport sector’s visible commitment to
environmentally sustainable actions may positively influence other sport entities and spectators
(McCullough, et al., 2016a) through sustainability messaging campaigns (Trail & McCullough,
2017) and leveraging fan identification to guide sustainable behaviours (McCullough, 2013;
McCullough & Kellison, 2016). Notably, the professional sport sector in North America has
pursued sustainable facility practices (Kellison & Hong, 2015; McCullough et al., 2016a).
Moreover, these initiatives and sustainability commitments have been communicated on the
organizations’ various public platforms (Mallen et al., 2013). More recently, McCullough et al.,
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(2020a) articulated that public engagement through the sport sector “can be considered the next
frontier of sustainability work” (p.1).
Research Purpose
The sport sector’s motivations as to why they are pursuing environmental sustainability has
been examined, with researchers discovering that sport managers may seek out corporate social
responsibility (CSR) for competitive advantage purposes (Babiak & Trendafilova, 2011), while
others pursue pro-environmental initiatives to save costs (Kellison & Hong, 2015). Meanwhile,
McCullough et al., (2020a) found a lack of transparency and public reporting of environmental
initiatives among professional sport organizations. However, what remains relatively unknown is
the explicit, strategic ways organizations communicate and promote their environmental
sustainability practices publicly to various stakeholders. As such, this dissertation aims to
investigate further by studying how organizations communicate their environmental
sustainability initiatives.
To investigate this topic, the dissertation will be comprised of three case studies.
Furthermore, the following research questions guided this dissertation:
1) In what ways do winning Olympic bid committees/candidature cities employ rhetoric to
demonstrate the capacity to host an ES Games?
2) What are the rhetorical arguments articulated by the partners of naming rights agreements
in the environmental sustainability category?
3) What are the narratives that green certified professional sport organizations employ about
their environmental sustainability practices?
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Theoretical Perspectives
Rhetorical Theory
For the first two research questions, rhetorical theory is used as a lens to explore the
research topic. Central to rhetorical theory is the relationship between the audience and the rhetor
(Borchers, 2006). As a result, an interaction and exchange of information between individuals or
groups occurs. When this exchange is effective, it is able to bring people together successfully
(Borchers, 2006).
These chapters employ Aristotelian Rhetoric, as it provides a practical framework for
analyzing persuasive arguments. Aristotle (1954) defined rhetoric as the perception of the means
of persuasion. Thus, rhetorical theory is concerned with “the art of persuasion”. Aristotle
recognized three proofs that comprise the art of rhetoric, namely, pathos (moral, value, and
emotion), logos (logical and rationality), and ethos (character and authority). Influenced by
previous considerations from Plato and Aristotle, the use of rhetoric has been debated in
management research to build trust or as a threat of deception. Rhetorical theory is a useful
analysis tool for determining the circumstances through which text is created, for whom it is
written for, how the medium where the text is located creates constraints or freedoms, and how
these contextual elements shape the creation of the text (Gaigich & Zickel, 2018). Furthermore,
Green and Li (2011) described the research approach rhetorical institutionalism as the strategic
deployment of linguistic elements and rhetorical insights to describe institutionally embedded
agency. Or rather, that agency may be embedded in rhetoric and thus actors’ choices may be
constrained or enabled by the language they employ. Therefore, employing rhetoric as a
theoretical lens will be valuable in defining the kinds of argumentative appeals in the sporting
contexts of Olympic Bids and naming rights agreements.
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Cultural Entrepreneurship
While rhetorical theory was the lens employed for the first two research questions, the
cultural entrepreneurship framework was used to answer the third research question. Past cultural
entrepreneurship scholarship (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001) highlighted the entrepreneurial story as
central to acquiring resources and legitimizing firms’ new ventures. More recently, Lounsbury
and Glynn (2019) proposed the research agenda with cultural entrepreneurship must expand
beyond the legitimation of new ventures, since all kind of behaviour and action is
entrepreneurial. Central to the framework is the communicative activity of storytelling, which is
an attempt to construct an ideal organizational identity that differentiates it from others in a given
institutional field (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019). An institutional field is a “cornerstone of
institutional theory” and “a community of organizations that interact together” (Zietsma, 2017, p.
7), “frequently and fatefully” (Scott, 1995, p. 207-208). Fligstein and McAdam (2012) argued
that the field is “the basic structural building block of modern political/organizational life”.
The role that culture (i.e., mutual values, norms, traditions, beliefs, and behaviours) plays
in storytelling is via cultural resonance – the symbolism that is embedded in communication and
entices the audience (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019). As such, it is the cultural resonance of identity
narratives that makes symbolic communication thought-provoking to audiences since it is the
audience who evaluates and legitimizes entrepreneurial actions (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019).
The theoretical concepts of legitimacy and optimal distinctiveness are both essential
elements in cultural entrepreneurship. Legitimacy is described as a strategic approach to obtain
resources through competition (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978), while optimal distinctiveness
emphasizes actors’ drive to be both “the same and different at the same time” (Brewer, 1991, p.
475). A more recent definition of cultural entrepreneurship recognized that in pursuit of this
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distinctiveness, actors draw on cultural resources such as language, logics, discourse, and other
symbolic elements to advance their business goals (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019).
Employing key concepts of legitimacy and optimal distinctiveness, the cultural
entrepreneurship framework is valuable in exploring the ways in which organizations promote
their environmental sustainability activities and moreover how they employ narratives and
storytelling to do so.
Research Paradigm and Methodology
The study of social phenomena investigates “a social world which people have constructed
and which they reproduce through their continuing activities” and which they are “constantly
involved in interpreting” (Blaikie, 1993, p. 36). Furthermore, Crotty (1998) affirmed “[i]t is the
view that all knowledge, and therefore all meaningful reality as such, is contingent upon human
practices, being constructed in and out of interaction between human beings and their world and
developed and transmitted within an essentially social context” (p. 42). Since this dissertation
investigated how organizations communicate their environmental sustainability initiatives and
practices, it was conducted from a qualitative research approach. A qualitative research approach
was indispensable for this dissertation because it is interpreted as “an approach for exploring and
understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem”
(Creswell, 2014, p. 32). In addition, qualitative research “uses words as data… collected and
analyzed in all sorts of ways” (Clarke & Braun, 2013, p. 3-4), which is appropriate data to collect
for the research questions posed in this dissertation.
Rather than predict outcomes as implicit in a positivist paradigm, qualitative research
draws from interpretivist and constructivist paradigms, seeking to deeply understand a research
subject or subjects (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). Creswell & Poth (2016) explained that
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interpretivism seeks to build knowledge from understanding individuals’ unique viewpoints and
the meaning attached to those viewpoints, while constructivism views knowledge as constructed
as people work to make sense of their experience. With that, this dissertation used constructivism
as its research paradigm. Crotty (1998) suggested “meanings are constructed by human beings as
they engage with the world they are interpreting. Before there were consciousnesses on earth
capable of interpreting the world, the world held no meaning at all” (p. 43), later explaining that
constructionism claims unequivocally is that there are no ‘true’ or ‘valid’ interpretations, but
there are useful, liberating, and rewarding forms of interpretations (Crotty, 1998).
Furthermore, a constructivist approach is appropriate for this dissertation because
constructivism seeks diverse perspectives and “accepts the idea of multiple voices and multiple
representations” (Edwards & Skinner, 2009, p. 27). For instance, Guba and Lincoln (1994)
indicated a constructivism ontology is often referred to as relativism, or the notion that reality is
made up of "multiple, tangible mental constructions, socially and experientially based, local and
specific in nature” and “dependent for their form and context on the individual persons or groups
holding the constructions" (Guba & Lincoln, 1994, p. 110-111). To investigate these multiple
realities, a constructivist supports a subjective epistemology whereby “knowledge is
symbolically constructed and not objective" (Hatch, 1985, p. 161). As such, a constructivist
paradigm similar to what Denzin and Lincoln (2005) discussed was applied: a relativist ontology
(multiple realities), a subjectivist epistemology (cocreate understandings between knower and
respondent), and employing qualitative methods in the natural world.
Moreover, this dissertation employed case study methodology. Creswell (1998) described a
case study as an exploration of a bounded system which may be a program, an event, an activity,
or a group of individuals. Single case design is intrinsic in nature and is useful for testing the
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“applicability of existing theories to real world data” (Willig, 2001, p. 74). The examination of a
single case is valuable for presenting complex phenomena, confirming and disconfirming theory,
examining an extreme or unique case, revealing something new or an example of something
common, or investigating something that the researcher has obtained uncommon or privileged
access to, over time (McCormick, 1996; Yin, 2018).
Research Chapters
This dissertation is made up of three case studies. By employing multiple data sources,
research questions, and methods, it allows for triangulation across the three cases. The three case
studies are summarized below. In Chapter 2 – Environmental Sustainability, Embedded Agency,
and Rhetorical Appeals of Winning Olympic Bids – rhetorical theory was applied as a lens to
study the ways in which Olympic bid committees employ rhetoric in their environmental
sustainability plans of their candidature files.
Meanwhile, in Chapter 3 – Environmental Sustainability and Professional Sport Naming
Rights Agreements – rhetorical theory was employed to explore how partners of arenas with
naming rights agreements in the emerging environmental sustainability category articulate such
partnerships.
Finally, in Chapter 4 – Environmental Sustainability and Professional Sport Green
Certified Arenas – an analysis of narratives deployed by organizations and the lens of cultural
entrepreneurship was used to better understand the ways in which professional sport arenas with
third-party green building certification employ narratives to communicate their venue’s broad
environmental sustainability practices.
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Researcher Positionality
A researcher’s positionality in qualitative research describes an individual’s worldview
and the position they assume in research (Savin-Baden & Major, 2013). My positionality as a
researcher informs this dissertation in three specific ways. I am first and foremost inspired to
study this topic because of my deep concern for the natural environment, the planet, wildlife, and
humanity. With that, I find it easy to take a cynical perspective that both governments and
corporations are not doing enough to reduce the drastic and catastrophic effects of climate
change. As such, I perceive the natural environment as the protagonist in this dissertation, while
the sport sector is the main actor. Secondly, I have the tendency to be mostly underwhelmed by
most government agencies and corporations’ environmental sustainability efforts and actions on
climate change. Thirdly, I recognize that climate change is a grand challenge1, involving
significant geo-political complexity.
This positionality impacts the research I conduct. To challenge myself as a researcher, I
have chosen to think about and reflect on the evidence that unfolds before me cautiously. As
such, my inclination for skepticism combined with my attempts at cautious optimism leaves an
impression that I am neutral or lacking a strong opinion on where the sport sector stands today as
a participant and leader in environmental sustainability, based on the analysis and outcomes of
my three case studies.
The focus of my dissertation is more on how sport organizations strategically use
discursive practices such as rhetoric and narratives to describe their environmental sustainability
1 Grand challenges, like climate change, are “complex, entailing many interactions and associations, emergent
understandings, and nonlinear dynamics. Second, grand challenges confront organizations with radical uncertainty,
by which we mean that actors cannot define the possible future states of the world, and therefore cannot forecast the
consequences of their present actions, or whether future others will appreciate them. And third, grand challenges are
evaluative, cutting across jurisdictional boundaries, implicating multiple criteria of worth, and revealing new
concerns even as they are being tackled. Taken together, these three facets pose formidable organizational
challenges” Ferrero et al. 2015, p. 364)
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practices. Chapter Two reveals winning candidature cities of Olympic Games employ ethos-
based arguments to demonstrate their credibility and competency to host an ES Games, while
Chapter Three illustrates that venue partners who participate in naming rights agreements
centered around ES speak to the value it brings their organization as well as the natural
environment. Meanwhile, Chapter Four highlights that a few particular NBA and NHL third-
party green buildings arenas are taking additional steps to become re-certified or gain additional
third-party certifications. These are outcomes that may be driven by organization’s desire to
compete or increase revenue, however, in a way, they can be seen as steps taken towards a
sustainable future.
In sum, these case studies are important to bring greater understanding to how sport
organizations are engaging in and communicating about environmental sustainability, which
provides insight into why and how they signal their initiatives in the way they do. This
dissertation also brings forward practical implications for the broader sport sector to be an
effective climate change and environmental sustainability communicator, while also emphasizing
concurrent organizational and market advantages.
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Chapter 2: Environmental Sustainability, Embedded Agency, and Rhetorical Appeals of
Winning Olympic Bids
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Environmental sustainability (ES) has increasingly become a focal point of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to the threat of climate change (IPCC, 2019) and
the potential long-term ecological footprint resulting from the construction, air travel and vehicle
emissions, waste management, and general event pollution of the Olympic Games (Games). The
IOC’s response to such environmental concerns has been reflected in the addition of an
environment theme to the Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire in 1992, as well as the
adoption of policies that centered on the environment such as the Olympic Movement’s Agenda
21 in 1999, the Olympic Agenda 2020 in 2014, and the Olympic Agenda 2020+5 in 2021.
Subsequently, there has been growing and evolving importance placed in the Candidature
Procedure and Questionnaire (Questionnaire) by the IOC on bid committees, to contribute more
comprehensive ES plans in their candidature files, colloquially known as “bid books”.
It has been suggested that with growing pressure from the IOC to reduce the
environmental impact of the Games, candidature cities represented by bid committees2 tend to
overpromise on environmental sustainability plans as a way to attract votes (Pentifallo &
VanWynsberghe, 2012). Meanwhile, Ross and Leopkey (2017) applied an institutional theory
framework to study how environmental practices were adopted and institutionalized within the
Olympic Games. They found due to institutional pressures, bid committees adopted similar
approaches and exhibited isomorphic tendencies of environmental practices presented in the ES
plans of bid books. Their study also showed that one of their three themes, zero impact, was
voluntarily shared by bid committees as it was not prompted by the Questionnaire. The
researchers’ discussion of this latter finding was limited, but it inspires an important question
about how institutions – and the IOC Questionnaire - both constrain and enable agency.
2 The terminology “bid committees” and “candidature cities” are used interchangeably in this chapter to mean the
group of actors representing the candidature file/bid book submitted to the IOC.
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As the IOC continues to urge candidature cities to underscore environmental
sustainability through a highly institutionalized bidding and planning process by asking more
elaborate questions in the Questionnaire, it remains unclear how winning cities adapted by using
linguistic elements in their bids to influence IOC members. Therefore, it is critical to understand
just how these bid committees craft their responses to the IOC’s Questionnaire.
One approach to crafting persuasive responses is by using rhetoric. Rhetoric, or “the art
of persuasion” (Aristotle, 1954), is a form of “discourse calculated to influence an audience
toward some end” (Gill & Whedbee, 1997, p. 157). Furthermore, Aristotelian Rhetoric
emphasizes the key role that temporality plays in shaping rhetorical discourse. For instance,
Aristotle (1954) contended that arguments for particular actions should be substantiated in
examples of the past, “for we judge of future events by divination from past events” (p. 63).
Moreover Aristotle (1954) described three rhetorical appeals or argument types - pathos (moral,
value, and emotion), logos (logical and rationality), and ethos (character and authority).
Research demonstrated that rhetoric may be used as either a means to manipulate
organizational structures and decision making (Barley & Kunda, 1992; Markel, 2005) or to
maintain trustworthiness and effective communication (Murthy & Gosal, 2016; Yang et al.,
2018). Meanwhile, researchers Green and Li (2011) crafted the term rhetorical institutionalism
to refer to the strategic use of rhetorical language as an indication of an actor’s embedded
agency, or rather the choice to ignore particular elements of their institutional field3 while
centering others. Other works such as Lauermann (2016) suggested that the abstract rhetorical
assertions made in Olympic bid books may showcase the candidature city’s capacity to host the
Games. In other words, making rhetorical claims may justify knowledge and profoundly
3 An institutional field is “a community of organizations that interact together” (Zietsma, 2017, p. 7), “frequently
and fatefully” (Scott, 1995, p. 207-208).
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influence what is accepted as an objective reality. Yet, these claims and the notion of embedded
agency have not been investigated empirically in this context.
This chapter uses conceptualizations of both classical rhetoric (Aristotle, 1954) and new
rhetoric (Green & Li, 2011) to investigate how distinct arguments combined with temporal
elements are employed by bid committees. More specifically, this chapter sought to answer the
following research question: In what ways do winning Olympic bid committees/candidature
cities employ rhetoric to demonstrate the capacity to host an ES Games? Thus, a qualitative case
study approach (Yin, 2018) was employed to study the “environmental sustainability”4 rhetoric
of winning candidature files of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games (N=16) ranging from
1992 to present day. As the following results will show, of the three rhetorical appeals, two
forms were obviously constrained by institutional pressures of the Questionnaire itself, while bid
committees were able to employ ethos-based arguments more strategically to demonstrate their
unique characteristics and ES capacity. These results are important because it underscores the
embedded agency candidature cities may have to pre-emptively plan and promote the
environmental sustainability practices they have already implemented in their city and region.
The chapter is organized as follows: first, an overview of rhetorical theory, followed by a
review of literature, including the evolution of the candidature process is presented. From there,
the methods used to conduct this chapter are summarized, a detailed overview of the results are
presented, followed by a discussion and implications section. To conclude, the research
limitations and future research recommendations are given.
4 For the purpose of this chapter, environmental sustainability, is defined as: “Maintenance of natural capital”
(Goodland, 1995, p. 10), and “[t]he ability to maintain the qualities that are valued in the physical environment”
(Sutton, 2004, p.1).
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Rhetorical Theory
Rhetorical theory is a useful analytical tool for determining the circumstances through
which text is created, for whom it is written for, how the medium where the text is located
creates constraints or freedoms, and how these contextual elements shape the creation of the text
(Gaigich & Zickel, 2018). Rhetoric was defined by Burke (1969) as “the use of language as a
symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols” (p. 43). By
using rhetoric, social actors may create and assign meaning, while also constructing an identity
and the world in which they are situated in (Billig, 1996). Moreover, rhetoric is perceived as the
effort to purposefully communicate the organization’s values and preferences of its leadership.
Zbaracki (1998) defined rhetoric as “a stream of discourse used to construct, spread, or sustain a
set of assumptions” (p. 609). Lawrence and Suddaby (2006) provided clarity, explaining that
while discourse focuses on the words spoken or written with attention on the content of the
communication, rhetoric is a type of discourse that has elements of beliefs and ideals.
Aristotle defined rhetoric as the perception of the means of persuasion (Aristotle, 1954).
Aristotle placed significance on temporality in rhetorical discourse by distinguishing between
three genres of discourse – forensic, epideictic, and deliberative – that respectively correspond to
different periods of time – past, present, and future (p. 32). Aristotle (1954) contended that
arguments for particular actions should be grounded in examples from the past “for we judge of
future events by divination from past events” (p. 63). Others such as Poulakos (1983) explained
“rhetorical timing” – or Kairos – requires a rhetorical act “[to] show respect for the temporal
dimensions of a situation” and be guided by “the temporality of the situation within which it
occurs” (p. 30).
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Aristotle also recognized three proofs that constitute the art of rhetoric, namely, pathos
(moral, value, and emotion), logos (logical and rationality, and ethos (character and authority).
Aristotle defined pathos as the value and emotional based appeals that provide persuasive
messages to influence an audience to action (Aristotle, 1954). Pathos has an impact on the
decisions and actions of readers (Ramage & Bean, 1998). Aristotle described logos in reference
to the proofs available in the logics of speech, words, or arguments. Logos may suggest
rationality and intellect. Others such as Randall and Woodbridge (1960) explained that to act in
accordance with logos is to act intelligently, while Herrick (1997), suggested that logos is the
study of reasoning and arguments. Lastly, ethos refers to how trustworthy or credible the writer
is. As Aristotle contended, the term ethos is the persuasive potential of a writer’s character
(Aristotle, 1954) and the effect of ethos on the audience is often termed an argument’s ethical
appeal (Ramage & Bean, 1998).
While classical rhetoric focuses on how we use words and the persuasion as influence
(Aristotle, 1991), more recently organizational theorists defined rhetoric as the strategic use of
language for political reasons or persuasion as communication (Cheney et al., 2004; Hartelius &
Browning, 2008). More aptly, new rhetoric emphasized how words may use the actors who
employ it and the audience that interacts with it (Borchers, 2006). As a result, an exchange of
information and interaction between individuals or groups occurs, and when effective, it is able
to bring people together (Borchers, 2006). Furthermore, new rhetoric can be described as
recurring patterns of goals and shared assumptions embedded in texts and exchanges that are
projected to influence audiences on either contentious or ambiguous issues (Cheney et al., 2004).
Influenced by previous considerations from Plato and Aristotle, new rhetoric has been debated in
management research as a threat of deception, or as a means to build trust. In other words,
19
“contemporary theorists emphasize rhetoric’s good and bad qualities, its potential to be used for
productive and destructive ends” (Hartelius & Browning, 2008, p. 18-19), later suggesting that
“it’s not just that rhetoric can be good or bad; it is that rhetoric permeates human interaction as
long as language is being used deliberately” (p. 19).
Of those theorists, Barley and Kunda (1992) argued rhetoric is used to control and
manipulate organizational structures and decision processes. For example, research from Markel
(2005) investigated rhetoric in U.S. businesses’ privacy–policy statements, finding that rhetoric
is used by companies to misdirect the truth, or as a tool of deception, to project a particular
image to website visitors. Other empirical research has demonstrated that cities may invoke
optimism through carefully chosen discourse to facilitate trustworthiness and mobilize citizen
participation in sustainability initiatives (Vergara et al., 2021). Meanwhile, Murthy and Gosal’s
(2016) study applied Aristotle’s Rhetoric to industrial communication (i.e., Ethernet). The
authors contended when two or more actors performed an industrial task, there should be
harmonization and understanding via effective communication. Furthermore, the results showed
that with the help of Aristotle’s three persuasive appeals of rhetoric, industrial communication
could result in effective use of discourse. More recently, Yang et al. (2018) investigated
communication between users and the service providers of the sharing economy by conducting a
survey of 171 Airbnb users. Results indicated that rhetorical cues of credibility, emotive bonding,
and accommodation, were positively associated with perceived trustworthiness of Airbnb hosts
and more broadly the Airbnb brand. These results demonstrated trustworthiness is key for
communication between clients and service providers in order to make the persuasion perform.
Rhetoric has also been employed by researchers Myers and Macnaghten (1998) to study
environmentalism and climate change. The researchers argued that “an effective rhetoric is a
20
precondition, not an alternative, to environmental action” (p.335) since “a rhetorical approach
recognizes that communication is multidimensional, not just carrying information from source to
receiver, but setting off a complex web of interactions” (p. 335).
More recently, Sant and Mason (2019) applied the lens of new rhetoric (Perelman &
Olbrechts-Tyteca, 1957) to investigate the ways in which city leaders strategically deployed and
utilized provocative symbols, such as rhetoric, to promote a specific agenda to different
stakeholders, persuade various audiences, and garner overall support for new arena construction
projects. Sant and Mason’s (2019) results from interviews with local stakeholders in eight
Canadian cities highlighted that arena supporters gave specific reasons, via rhetorical
legitimation strategies, to justify arena construction projects surrounding issues related to
economic development, expanding the city’s tax base, enhanced reputation and status, and event
hosting.
Rhetoric and Institutional Theory
Alvesson (1993) was notably the first researcher to make the connection between
institutional theory and rhetoric. Alvesson (1993) contributed to institutional theory by starting
from the premise that actors as agents use rhetoric to navigate the contingency and ambiguity of
institutional life. Contingency (possibility) and ambiguity (vagueness) make it conceivable for an
actor to have choices, or otherwise described as agency (Alvesson, 1993; Aristotle, 1991). Using
language strategically may indicate an actor’s agency, as actors ignore elements of their
institutional field while centering others (Green & Li, 2011). In addition, Alvesson (1993)
maintained that an agents’ claim to ethos and expertise could be more influential than the
capability itself, by stating “being perceived as an expert is then more crucial than being one”
21
(Alvesson, 1993, p. 1004). Therefore, making rhetorical claims may justify knowledge and
profoundly influence what is accepted as an objective reality (Green & Li, 2011).
Structural Institutionalism vs Agency Institutionalism
Structural institutionalists such as DiMaggio and Powell (1983) argued that firms begin
to demonstrate isomorphic similarities and become homogeneous in the pursuit of legitimacy, by
conforming to the mimetic, normative, and coercive pressures of their institutional field. Green
and Li (2011) provided critique that structural institutionalism focuses exclusively on exogenous
shocks, or unexpected and unpredictable events, by discounting insights that could surface from
applying an institutional lens to linguistic elements.
In response to structural institutionalism, some scholars introduced an actor’s agency
back into institutional analysis (DiMaggio, 1988; Fligstein, 1997; Oliver, 1991). Agency
institutionalism adopts the idea that institutional fields are heterogeneous and therefore
comprised of conflicting and multiple institutional logics (Thornton & Ocasio, 1999). Actors can
create or change institutions when they have the resources to imagine and realize interests they
regard highly (DiMaggio, 1988). Researchers found that actors and organizations vary in their
capability to ignore, deviate from, engage with, or respond to institutional pressures (Battilana et
al., 2009; Oliver, 1991). Agency institutionalism also has its critics, suggesting that actors’
motives, actions, and rationality are conditioned by the very institutions they are trying to change
(Battilana et al., 2009; Holm, 1995; Powell & Colyvas, 2008). The contradiction is that
individuals are capable of shaping social structures while also being shaped by those very
structures, which Seo and Creed (2002) described as the “paradox of embedded agency” p. 233).
22
Rhetorical Institutionalism
In response to the divide between agency institutionalism and structural institutionalism,
Green and Li (2011) described and built upon insights from classical and new rhetoric to explain
how institutions both constrain and enable agency. They named this general research approach
rhetorical institutionalism, defining it as “the deployment of linguistic approaches in general and
rhetorical insights in particular to explain institutionally embedded agency” (p. 1670). Rhetorical
institutionalism highlights the significance of language in institutional life by linking classical
and new rhetorical insights to highlight not only how agency may be embedded in rhetorical
elements but also how language constrains and enables actors’ choices. In this context, Green
and Li (2011) described structure as shaping agency that actors may take for granted and
reproduce meanings and actions, while agency shapes structure as actors employ language to
deconstruct these unconscious understandings.
The authors pointed to Burke’s (1978) rhetorical theory of motives5 as it may address the
problem of embedded agency by distinguishing between conscious action and unconscious
motion by avoiding actions being taken-for-granted. Critics of Burke’s model argued that this
system is dualist and does not solve the paradox of embedded agency (Conrad & Macom, 1995).
Green and Li (2011) responded to this claim by theorizing that language and rhetoric is not a
distinct practice or secondary to social structures but a practice of doing. They referred to Burke
(1966) who contended that humans are a “symbol-using, symbol-making, and symbol-misusing
animal” (p.6). The authors recommended to neither favour agency nor structure by focusing on
the transition and movement of action into motion, and motion into action. Movement from
action to motion represents an increase in an actor’s taken-for-grantedness, an increase in
5 Motives are names given to situations to form the legitimacy of actions (Burke,1969).
23
structural constraints, and a decrease in agency. With time, as practices become motion into
action due to an exogenous shock, this transformation from habit back into conscious action
suggests a decline in taken-for-grantedness, a decline in structural constraints, and a rise in
agency.
In sum, using rhetoric as a theoretical lens is useful in determining the kinds of
argumentative appeals and temporality that are employed in candidature files by winning bid
committees. A rhetorical lens can also highlight how bid committees are using elements of
rhetoric to demonstrate capacity to host an ES Games and make them more attractive as potential
host cities.
Evolution of the Candidature Process
A candidature file is defined as a comprehensive overview and roadmap of the proposed
Olympic projects that a city plans to implement should host rights be granted (The Olympic
Studies Centre, 2018a; 2018b). The candidature file, or bid book, is a written proposal and
response to the Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire (Questionnaire) – an extensive
document spanning a number of themes, such as environment and meteorology, venues, legacy,
vision and games concept, and sustainability. Candidature cities are represented by bid
committees, which are made up of officials and elites from the cities, regions, and/or countries
that put forward a proposal to host the Games. Lauermann (2016) defined bid committees as
“temporary entities (typically a limited-life corporation or nonprofit organization) tasked with
gathering political support, securing sponsorships and developing a business model, designing
site plans and venue architecture, and writing the bid proposal” (p. 83).
The candidature process and the documentation submitted to the IOC have evolved since
the early iterations of the Olympic Games. For example, going back to 1896, candidates simply
24
expressed an interest in hosting the Games to the IOC. In 1920, the City of Antwerp (Belgium)
submitted a leather-bound book that presented its Games plan. By the 1950s, the IOC requested
more information from candidates, so a Questionnaire was introduced for the 1960 candidature
process consisting of 13 questions. By 1992, the IOC introduced a more comprehensive process
and technical Questionnaire for the 2000 Games (The Olympic Studies Centre, 2018a, 2018b;
The Olympic Studies Centre, 2019). It was after the 1992 Albertville (France) Games that the
role and protection of the environment became formally institutionalized by the IOC and in the
candidature process (Pentifallo & VanWynsberghe, 2012). More recently, between 2008 and
2022, a two-phase application process was introduced. Candidates were first required to submit a
response to a list of IOC questions. If accepted, the IOC gave candidates an additional
Questionnaire to respond to (The Olympic Studies Centre, 2018a, 2018b).
Yet despite the increasing focus of sustainability in the candidature process, research
demonstrated that positive environmental outcomes have decreased between the Barcelona 1992
and the Tokyo 2020 Games (Müller et al., 2021). In addition, with mounting environmental
concerns, among other issues such as fewer candidates bidding to host the event, Olympic
Agenda 2020 was adopted by the IOC in December 2014. Olympic Agenda 2020 was a list of 40
detailed recommendations developed through a collaborative process involving Olympic
Movement stakeholders and external experts. The recommendations ranged from changing the
bidding process to highlighting the necessity of sustainable practices, to reducing the economic
costs of hosting the Games (IOC, 2018).
An important element of the Olympic Agenda 2020 was to redesign the candidature
process with the aim to reduce the economic and environmental burden on host cities, regions, or
countries, by giving bid committees permission to maximize the use of existing and temporary
25
venues in their hosting plans (IOC, 2021a; IOC, 2021b). Furthermore, Agenda 2020 gave the
IOC authorization to have targeted or continuous communication6 with potential (and preferred)
cities, regions, or countries, as future hosts. As one IOC leader explained: “[t]he new approach is
dictated by rigour, good governance and transparency. It is governed by rules of conduct for both
the continuous dialogue and the targeted dialogue, and the Commission’s terms of reference are
diligently enforced” (IOC, 2021c, para. 6). In other words, this updated governance approach
may influence bid committees in their presentation of environmental sustainability initiatives and
legacy plans.
Finally, in March 2021, the IOC approved the 2020+5 strategic pathway - an extension of
Agenda 2020, that determines the direction of the Olympic Movement until 2025 (IOC, 2021d).
These adaptations from Agenda 2020 and 2020+5 have impacted the candidature process in
recent application time periods. For the 2024 Games, candidates were asked to submit only one
file that contained three thematic sections. For the 2026 Games, candidates were asked to submit
one file but with a reduction in the number of questions to respond to (The Olympic Studies
Centre, 2018a, 2018b). The 2028 Games had a similar candidate process. French Alps7 2030 and
Brisbane 2032 were the first Games chosen based on targeted dialogue.
Method
For this chapter, a constructivist paradigm was used, employing a relativist ontology
(multiple realities), a subjectivist epistemology (co-create understandings between knower and
respondent), and employing qualitative methods in a case study approach (Creswell,1998). A
6 Continuous dialogue is described as dialogue in perpetuity with interested hosts that is exploratory and non-
committal. Targeted dialogue is defined as invited discussions by the IOC Executive Board to one or more preferred
hosts to discuss future projects (IOC, 2021b, para. 30-33).
7 The Winter Olympic bids book for French Alps 2030 was not included in this chapter as the documents were not
publicly available at the time of data collection and analysis.
26
constructivist approach was deemed appropriate because constructivism seeks diverse
perspectives and “accepts the idea of multiple voices and multiple representations” (Edwards &
Skinner, 2009, p. 27). To investigate these multiple realities, a constructivist supports a
subjective epistemology whereby knowledge is symbolically constructed (Hatch, 1985).
Data Collection
Winning candidature files from 19928 to present day were gathered from both the
Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The documents were accessed from the Olympic World
Library via The Olympic Studies Centre (IOC, 2018b). Table 1 indicates the candidature files
and host cities that are included in this chapter. Text from the candidature files were collected, as
the unit of analysis for this chapter was the textual passages from candidature files. The
institution was considered the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic
Movement, respectively, and the field was considered cities in competition with one another via
the candidature process.
Table 1: Data Collection
Host City
Year
Hosted
Year Bid
Submitted
Olympic
Category
Theme/Location of Environmental
Sustainability Text
Sydney
Salt Lake City
Athens
Torino
Beijing
Vancouver
London
Sochi
Rio de Janeiro
PyeongChang
Tokyo
Beijing
Paris
Milano-Cortina
Los Angeles
Brisbane
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
2026
2028
2032
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016, 2017
2017
2016, 2017
2021
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
Summer
Winter
Environment
Environmental protection
Environmental protection
Environmental protection and meteorology
Environmental protection and meteorology
Environmental protection and meteorology
Environment and meteorology
Environment and meteorology
Environment and meteorology
Environment and meteorology
Environment
Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability and Legacy
Sustainability
Sustainability
8 Candidature cities/Bid committees for the 2000 iteration of the Games submitted bid books in 1992.
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It should be noted that the Winter Olympic bids books for French Alps 2030 and Salt
Lake City 2034 were not included in this chapter as the documents were not publicly available at
the time of data collection and analysis.
The reason that only winning bids were included in this chapter was to control for a city’s
motivation to bid for an Olympic Games. Research illustrates that cities may have different
motivations for bidding for events such as the Olympic Games (Leopkey et al., 2021), including
increasing sport participation, uniting the nation and community building, urban development
planning, raising its global profile, promoting tourism, increasing business obtained by local
entrepreneurs, or constructing a city’s destination brand (Bason & Grix, 2017; Brown et al.,
2002; Chalip & Leyns, 2002). As such, cities often leverage their bid (Chalip, 2004) for these
varying outcomes (Bason & Grix, 2017), which may influence the types of rhetorical appeals bid
committees make and how ES initiatives are embedded in this process. For this reason, only
winning bids were examined in this chapter, as by doing so it could be determined that the
motivation to bid was to win and host the Games.
In addition, the date range was chosen because the 1992 Games in Albertville were
deemed significantly harmful to the environment (Chappelet, 2008) and, as researchers Pentifallo
and VanWynsberghe (2012) argued, it was after Albertville that the role and protection of the
environment became formally established by the IOC as its members introduced a more
technical Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire (The Olympic Studies Centre, 2019; The
Olympic Studies Centre, 2018). Shortly after, in 1994, the IOC amended its charter to state that
the Games should be held under conditions that respected the environment, while adopting the
environment as the third pillar of the Olympic Movement (Chappelet, 2008). As such, data were
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collected from candidature files at the cusp of this institutional change where environmental
sustainability was added to the Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire.
Furthermore, while the more recent Questionnaire asks candidature cities about
sustainability from a broader perspective (social, economic, environmental), this chapter focuses
specifically on “environmental sustainability” rhetoric. This reason for this focus was due to the
impending global climate crisis and the IOC’s specific attempt to address negative environmental
impacts of the Games by adopting new policies in 1992.
Data Analysis
This chapter employed a modified content analysis as the intent of the analysis was to
locate and find rhetorical elements in the text of the bid books. A content analysis allows for a
systematic, theory-driven approach to text that examines both the manifest (physically present)
and latent content (implicit meaning) of the materials (Mayring, 2000). The first phase of
inductive analysis focused on the manifest content of the data. Each candidature file was read
through once. Structural coding methods were utilized, which “acts as a labeling and indexing
device, allowing researchers to quickly access data likely to be relevant to a particular analysis
from a larger data set” (Namey et al., 2008, p. 141).
During this inductive process the location of “environmental sustainability” rhetoric in the
bid books was influenced by the evolution of the Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire. The
primary location and theme of each bid book is recorded in Table 1. These changes to the
Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire were noted and categorized to ensure historical
accuracy of the Olympic candidature process for the analysis. In addition, at times bid
committees discussed environmental sustainability (ES) outcomes in their vision statements and
legacy sections as well. Albeit the notion of legacy only became formally introduced in the
29
Questionnaire for the 2012 iteration of the Olympic Games. Many of these changes to the themes
were likely due to institutional changes at the IOC level (Ross & Leopkey, 2017), which would
also be impacted by the broader environmental sustainability sector in which the IOC partners or
collaborates with (for example, when developing Agenda 2020, the IOC brought together experts
external to the organization to help form the recommendations). These institutional changes are
shown in Table 2. For this reason, this chapter primarily focused on the text that was included
under the theme that discussed environmental sustainability, but other themes in the bid book
were studied, for example, the introduction or games vision sections, if the content of the text
focused on or had implications for the natural environment.
Table 2: Major Institutional Changes
Description
Year adopted
Theme on environment added to the Candidature Procedure and
Questionnaire.
1992
Olympic Agenda 21 adopted by IOC members to play an active part in the
sustainable development of the planet.
*Addition of Legacy as early as 2010, officially in 2012 (Leopkey &
Parent, 2012).
1999
Olympic Agenda 2020 adopted to encourage economic, social and
environmental sustainability. *Agenda 2020 + 5 adopted in 2021
2014
The next step in the analysis was a deductive coding approach that was guided by
literature on rhetoric, and Aristotle’s (1954) notions of temporality and three appeals (logos,
pathos, and ethos). The purpose of employing Aristotelian Rhetoric to deductively code the text
was to both locate and to further determine the latent meaning of the arguments. In sum, second
cycle coding methods such as pattern matching were used to analyze latent content and develop
major themes from the data (Saldaña, 2013). The results are presented below.
Results
Perhaps unsurprisingly, logos- and pathos-based arguments were largely guided by the
structure and questions of the Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire. There were notable
30
differences in pathos-based (emotion) arguments in Winter bid books from summer bid books. In
Winter bid books, candidature cities highlighted the beauty and value of the natural environment
in their region, which was likely emphasized because many winter sport events take place
outdoors on snow. There are numerous examples from the bid books spanning 1992 to present
day. For brevity, two examples are presented below. For example, logical arguments were
impacted by the iterations of the Questionnaire, which provided the template and rationale as to
how a city could host an environmentally sustainable Games. The following example from the
Questionnaire for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games demonstrates this further:
Q 5.7 Sustainability Management System. Provide details on any certifiable management
system standard and/or reporting standard that will be used to support the SMS, and state
whether there will be any form of assurance and independent verification (IOC, 2014, p.
81, para. 7-8).
This question to the candidature cities reveals to a bid committee the need to adopt a
certifiable management system and reporting standard as an indicator of a strong bid and
environmental sustainability plan, and thus, it gives the bid committee an opportunity to logically
respond to the question as to how this task is accomplished in the future. For instance, Beijing
2022, responded to this question by stating that the “Bid Committee has started to explore and
build a sustainable management system in cooperation with third- party institutions” and will
“adopt the standardised and internationalised sustainability management knowledge and
approaches (Guide on Establishing the Sustainability Programme, ISO 20121 –Event
Sustainability Management System –- Requirements with Guidance for Use)” (Beijing 2022
Candidate City, 2014, p. 65, para. 1). Further on in the bid, the candidature city stated: “[t]he
operational quality of the sustainability management system of Beijing 2022 will be evaluated by
31
the third party to identify potential risks and put forward suggestions for improvement” (Beijing
2022 Candidate City, 2014, p. 66, para. 3).
Like logos-based arguments, pathos-based arguments that convey emotion, were embedded
in the various iterations of the Questionnaire as well. For example, the IOC expressed:
It is fundamental that during the entire life cycle of the Games, from the beginning of the
bid to the post-Olympic period, all measures are taken to exploit opportunities, prevent or
minimise negative impact and contribute to the harmonious integration of the Olympic
Games into the natural surroundings (IOC, 2014, p. 79, para. 2).
Meanwhile, the Beijing 2022 Bid Committee responded with similar sentiment:
The action plan of “Green Olympics, Green Homeland” will be launched on 5 June 2015,
the “World Environment Day”, which aims to advocate the concept of green, low-carbon
and sustainable development and encourage public participation in building a green
homeland. The action plan has four dimensions: Launch green education campaigns, and
enhance the public’s environmental awareness; Promote green practices and a green
lifestyle; Conduct green supervision, and maintain ecological balance; Engage in green
cooperation, and inherit the culture of a harmonious environment (Beijing 2022
Candidate City, 2014, p. 50, para. 2).
The Beijing bid committee emphasized the importance of hosting an environmentally
sustainable games, such as maintaining ecological balance and the harmonious integration of the
natural environment into the Games. The bid committee used similar language to the IOC to
express pathos-based arguments. For both the logos and pathos examples above, these responses
focused on future action, rather than sustainable practices that have already been achieved.
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Ethos-Based Arguments
In contrast, ethos-based arguments that were rooted in the past or sometimes present and
emerged as the rhetorical tool that winning committees employed to demonstrate their capacity.
While these responses were guided by the Questionnaire, like logos and pathos-based arguments,
candidature cities employed ethos-based arguments to elevate past and present qualifications as
well as actions already taken in the context of environmental sustainability. In comparison,
future forward statements were centered in logos- or pathos- based appeals. Responses to queries
were not uniform across all winning bids. Bid committees spoke of actions already taken to make
convincing arguments that were unique to their city’s context. For example, while a focus on
green building certification was more prominent in the last fifteen years and one might expect
many winning bids to highlight certification, only LA 2028 emphasized the number of green
building certifications already received.9
With the emergence of ethos-based arguments in the context of candidature files/bid
books, the remainder of the results and discussion section below focuses on past and present
ethos-based arguments and themes/categories that emerged from the analysis. More specifically,
there were 19 different ethos-based arguments that were employed by the winning candidature
cities in the sample. To reiterate, ethos-based arguments refer to the credibility and character of
the writer —in this case the bid committee, and by extension the city itself. These nineteen
argument types are described in Table 3. Many of these arguments demonstrated actions already
taken with direct ES outcomes. Further, substantive differences in ethos-based arguments
between summer and winter bid books were not apparent. Table 3 breaks down the 19 argument
types into six categories, which include: collaboration; legislation; certification; infrastructure;
9 One reason for LA 2028 being the only candidature city to make this claim is because only LA has achieved this
outcome, making it unique to their city context.
33
environmental harm reduction; and bid/event leveraging. Collaboration represents any
consultation and/or partnerships with the public or private sector. Legislation exemplifies any
law, policy or legislation put forward by any level of government. Infrastructure illustrates the
facilities, buildings, amenities led by the municipality or in some cases private sector.
Certification includes formal accreditation the bid committee highlighted that has already been
achieved. Environmental harm reduction represents any activity that aims reduced harmful
impacts to the environment. Finally, Leveraging bids/events acknowledges previous bid attempts
and/or event hosting to demonstrate relevant expertise. As each category was prompted by the
Questionnaire, responses differed by winning bid committees depending on what specific actions
and unique city characteristics they could accurately speak to.
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Table 3: Ethos-Based Arguments
Ethos-based
Argument
Winning Bids
books
Exemplar
Collaboration
Community
and public
engagement
Salt Lake City
2002
“In March 1984, Salt Lake City and the State of Utah created a task force to conduct a
feasibility study to examine the concept of hosting the Olympic Winter Games….18 public
hearings and workshops were held to address the concerns and issues of the public at large.
Representatives from local ecological organizations were involved in these hearings and their
interests were incorporated into the overall plan” (Salt Lake City Bid Committee, 2002,
Environmental Protection, p. 68, para. 5).
Research
Development
Athens 2004,
Vancouver
2010
“The Ministry of the Environment funds university research centres which conduct research into
the relationship between pollution and health” (Athens 2004 Olympic Bid Committee, 1996,
Environmental Protection, p. 50, para. 11).
Partnerships
LA 2028, Paris
2024,
Vancouver
2010, Sydney
2002, Milan -
Cortina 2026
“Environmental groups, particularly Greenpeace, and conservation authorities, have
enthusiastically endorsed Sydney’s Bid” (Sydney Olympics 2000 Bid Ltd., 1993, Environment,
p. 63, para. 2).
Legislation
Environmental
legislation and
laws
LA 2028,
Athens 2004
“The state of California passed Senate Bill 32 that requires a 40% reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions, through aggressive environmental regulations and policies, Los Angeles and the state
of California” (Los Angeles Candidate City Olympic Games 2024, 2016, Sustainability, p. 64,
para. 4).
Leadership in
climate change
measures
Paris 2024,
Milano-
Cortina 2026
“The Paris Agreement on Climate Change, unanimously
adopted by 195 countries on 12 December 2015…. In June 2016, France was the first major
industrialised country to ratify the agreement (Paris Candidate City Olympic Games 2024, 2016,
Sustainability, p. 88, para. 12).
Protected park
system
Salt Lake City
2002, Torino
2006
“Ten places in the area surrounding Turin have been designated as Heritage Sites for Humanity
by UNESCO” (Salt Lake City Bid Committee, 1994, Environmental Protection and
Meteorology, p. 70. para. 2)
35
Certification
Sustainable
building
certifications
LA 2028
“LA is a leader on sustainability policies and practices with: More LEED-certified municipal
building square footage than any other city in the US and the world.” (Los Angeles Candidate
City Olympic Games 2024, 2016, Legacy and Long-term Plan Integration and Alignment -
Book 1, p. 22., para. 12).
Social
responsibility
standards
Paris 2024
“The Paris Region Agenda 21 plan has received the French Local Agenda 21 award and has
been ISO 26000 certified since 2013” (Paris Candidate City Olympic Games 2024, 2016,
Legacy & Long-term Plan Integration and Alignment, p. 36. para. 4).
Infrastructure
Use of existing
facilities
Beijing, 2022,
PyeongChang,
2018, Tokyo
2020
“A total of 12 competition venues are proposed for Beijing 2022. Six are existing venues,
namely the National Aquatics Centre, National Indoor Stadium, Capital Indoor Stadium,
Wukesong Sports Centre, which are legacies of Beijing 2008, and the Genting Snow Park A and
B in Zhangjiakou” (Beijing 2022 Candidate City, 2014, Vision, Legacy, and Engagement, p.
015, para.17 ).
Transportation
strategy
Beijing 2008,
Brisbane 2032,
London 2012
“Queensland is home to the Queensland Electric Super Highway, the world's longest electric
super highway in a single state” (Australian Olympic Committee, 2021, Sustainability, p. 66,
para. 13.)
Renewable
energy sources
Athens 2004,
LA 2028, Rio
2016
“Least per capita water use of any US city over 1 million people” and “Most solar power
installed of any city in the United States” (Los Angeles Candidate City Olympic Games 2024,
2016, Legacy and Long-term Plan Integration and Alignment - Book 1, p. 22, para. 15).
Waste
treatment and
investment
Beijing 2008
“Over the last two years, Beijing Municipal Government has invested US$3.6 billion to improve
the environment with a two-fold increase in wastewater treatment, a three-fold increase in
natural gas supply, and a 30% lift in pollution-free disposal of solid wastes” (Beijing 2008
Candidate City, 2000, Environmental Protection and Meteorology, p. 55, para. 7).
Location of
venues
Vancouver
2010
“This rich natural heritage is a key element of what defines BC and its citizens. As a result,
great care has been taken in the selection of 2010 Games venue locations to ensure that this
precious natural heritage is respected and not diminished” (Vancouver 2010 Candidate City,
2002, Environmental Protection and Meteorology, p. 57, para. 6).
Air and Water
Quality
Beijing 2008,
London 2012,
PyeongChang
2018, Salt
Lake City
“The quality of London’s drinking water is virtually unsurpassed…The Thames Basin, from
which London obtains its water, is probably the most effectively managed water resource
catchment in the world. Some 55% of the rainfall is captured and used to supply potable water”
(London 2012 Candidate City, 2004, Environment and Meteorology, p. 71, para. 3-4).
36
2002, Sochi
2014
Environmental Harm Reduction
Carbon Offsets
Rio 2016
“The creation of the already-funded Carbon Park will have the capacity to offset the direct
emissions of the Games, a project that will be validated by the technical mechanisms of the
Kyoto Protocol as a Clean Development Mechanism project” (Rio, 2008, Environment and
Meteorology, p. 107, para. 2).
Fossil Fuel
phaseout
Athens 2004
“Greece was one of the first countries to reduce the lead content of petrol. As a result, lead
concentrations in the atmosphere are now well below the permitted levels, and as the use of
unleaded petrol becomes more widespread, are expected to drop still further” (Athens 2004
Olympic Bid Committee, 1996, Environmental Protection, p. 50, para. 9).
Environmental
pollution
compensation
Sochi 2014
“Sochi 2014 has elected to include environmental pollution compensation in the budgets for
sports facilities and infrastructure projects…the Laura Hotel Complex construction project has
already generated more than US$2 million for the benefit of the Sochi National Park” (Sochi
2014 Bid Committee, 2006, Environment and Meteorology, p. 83. para. 1-2).
Bid/Event Leveraging
Past and
current
Olympic bids
PyeongChang,
2018, Rio
2016, Tokyo
2020
“The 2020 Bid builds on significant 2016 Bid commitments already implemented, such as the
planting of 20 hectares of the Sea Forest, other greening projects, new road infrastructure and
the building of the Jigoro Kano Memorial International Sport Institute.” (Tokyo 2020 Olympic
Games Bid Committee, 2013, Vision, Legacy, and Communication, p. 006, para. 14).
Hosted major
events
Beijing 2022,
Paris 2024,
Rio 2016
“Rio's recent event experience and the resulting legacy, both physical and intellectual, will
ensure excellent Games delivery. More than USD2 billion was spent on the successful 2007 Pan
American and Parapan American Games, providing an important part of the foundations for the
Rio 2016 plans” (Rio, 2008, Vision, Legacy, and Communication, p. 21, para. 6-7).
37
Most notably, and despite the structured format of the Questionnaire over the bidding
years, bid committees incorporated ethos-based arguments using past tense and sometimes
present tense linguistical elements such as morphemes and semantics.10 Examples of morphemes
with temporal features of the past used by bid committees included terms such as implemented,
funded, generated, created, managed, invested, spent, installed, designated, adopted, and passed,
which is illustrated in Table 3 in the exemplar column.
In addition, there were many different types of ethos-based arguments employed by
candidature cities, although very few employed a breadth of arguments. One of the only notable
bid committees to do so was LA 2028, who employed several different types of arguments and
clearly demonstrated how a record of renewable energy source usage, established laws, and
current green certifications afforded them credibility as a host city. That being said, while many
bid committees only provided one or two ethos-based arguments, some made these types of
arguments more prominently.11 For example, while Rio 2016 did not employ multiple ethos-
based arguments, the number of previous events hosted was featured, as was an articulation of
how that experience lent workforce expertise as well as environmental knowledge to host the
future Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Paris 2024 attempted to invoke a sense of credibility via the
Paris Agreement12 and the positive impacts hosting the event has had on local, regional and
national climate change policies. Other candidature cities such as Salt Lake City 2002 distinctly
shared how a historic national park system, coupled with citizens’ desire to protect the land, was
an asset in hosting an environmentally sustainable Games.
10 Morphemes are the smallest units of language and affixes such as “ed” “un-“, and “es”. While semantics refers to
the way language conveys meaning (University of North Texas College of Education, N.D.).
11 Arguments were deemed more prominent where they were: 1) easily located in the bid book under the
environmental sustainability theme, and 2) clearly articulated as credible actions taken.
12 The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. It was negotiated by
196 parties during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference close to Paris, France (United Nations
Climate Change, N.D.).
38
Discussion and Implications
This chapter investigated the ways in which winning Olympic candidature cities employ
rhetoric to demonstrate their capacity to host an environmentally sustainable Olympic Games.
Moreover, it sought to better understand how institutions – and the IOC Candidature Procedure
and Questionnaire - both constrain and enable agency. It was found that winning candidature
cities used a particular type of rhetoric – ethos - and linguistical elements – temporality – to
demonstrate this capacity. By doing so, the results reveal that bidding committees may be able to
voluntarily showcase their expertise notwithstanding the rigidity of the Questionnaire process.
The discussion below explores both the theoretical and practical contributions that emerged at
the intersection of rhetoric and the concepts of embedded agency, temporality and truth and
knowledge.
Green and Li (2011), who created the term rhetorical institutionalism, argued that the
deliberate use of rhetorical language may indicate an actor’s embedded agency, or choice to
ignore elements of their institutional field while centering others. For this study, the institution
was considered the IOC, and the field was considered cities in competition with one another via
the candidature process. As previously mentioned, this chapter revealed that candidature cities
employed ethos-based arguments based on their city or regional features, which in turn
demonstrated this notion of embedded agency. This finding emphasizes how candidature cities
can act as agents by using rhetoric strategically within a highly institutional field. It is also
significant because it shows how candidature cities strategically employ rhetoric to demonstrate
their ES capacity. Rather than becoming complacent and repetitive, winning bid committees
demonstrated Green and Li’s (2011) motion into action by displaying particular rhetorical
39
arguments using temporal features that illustrated a decline in constraints and taken-for-
grantedness and a rise in agency.
Aristotle (1954) explained that by sharing examples of the past, specific actions are
substantiated. By using Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals and conceptualizations of temporality, this
chapter was able to highlight how the intersection of rhetoric, embedded agency and temporality
is important in generating perceived truth and knowledge (Scott, 1967) of environmental
sustainability actions. This finding contributes to previous research (see Murthy & Gosal, 2016;
Vergara et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2018) that shows that rhetoric can be a tool to foster
trustworthiness. For example, many of the ethos-based arguments such as certifications achieved,
legislation passed, or protected park areas created, may be fact checked by the IOC or other
interested parties to determine if the bid committee accurately depicted the actions undertaken.
This outcome may emphasize that candidature cities are attempting to showcase to the IOC that
they are trustworthy as a potential host city. For instance, when bid committees are choosing
what to emphasize in the bid book in order to convince IOC members, it appears the bid
committees focus on highlighting the existing characteristics of their cities that make them an
ideal place to host an ES Games, rather than just promising potential outcomes.
As such, ethos-based arguments not only provide an opportunity to voluntarily – and with
embedded agency – share and highlight the unique characteristics of their city or region as they
respond to the Questionnaire, but also evoke a sense of trust amongst the IOC and other event
stakeholders such as local sponsors. In other words, making rhetorical claims may justify
knowledge and profoundly influence what is accepted as an objective reality (Green & Li, 2011).
40
This finding highlights that while many factors may play into why a city is chosen to host
a Games, embedded agency is available to bid committees by how they strategically employ
ethos-based rhetoric to describe their attributes and accomplishments.
There are practical implications for future candidature cities that are motivated to
demonstrate a willingness to host an environmentally sustainable event. Considering there is
existing literature that shows that bids tend to overpromise on their plans (Pentifallo &
VanWynsberghe, 2012), it is recommended that bid committees employ arguments that can be
proven and fact checked because they are more likely to be considered trustworthy; a more
convincing argument is one that you can verify with evidence. By doing so, candidature cities
can practice their embedded agency by showing how temporal features of actions (past and
present), within the confines of the structural aspects of a bid book.
Moreover, candidature cities who want more control over process can focus on existing
sustainable practices, rather than promising something they potentially cannot deliver. For
instance, returning to the six categories that emerged in the results (collaboration, legislation,
certification, infrastructure, environmental harm reduction, and bid/event leveraging), each may
be significantly guided by a city government’s decision-making process. While this finding is not
surprising considering the IOC develops the Questionnaire in the context of candidature cities to
respond to, what makes this confirmation interesting is that a city’s bid planning should be
started years in advance so that they can highlight not just what they plan to do but what they
have already done. Furthermore, candidature cities that are motivated to host an environmentally
sustainable Games may want to first consider prioritizing investing resources into developing a
priori long-term sustainability strategies so that when it comes time to bid, these actions can be
underscored in the bid book. Highlighting these actions can be useful for IOC voting members
41
and it is recommended to the IOC that they prioritize these types of ethos-based arguments that
highlight actions completed, rather than logos and pathos-based arguments that are subjective
and future facing promises. That being said, candidature cities need to be mindful of individual
geographical, economic, social, political, and environmental contexts and future goals when
pursuing such initiatives.
In addition, if host cities have unique kinds of characteristics that should be emphasized,
such as a prominent national park system, then these attributes should be described in ways that
the event will allow them to further leverage them. Candidature cities considering a bid to attain
tangible and measurable environmental outcomes should consider making it clear to the IOC in
the bid book, the list of actions already completed in environmental sustainability contexts, such
as in the introduction or preamble of the bid book. In addition to that, bid committees may
consider clarifying if some actions previously adopted are independent of the Olympic
Movement and bidding process, as this may reveal that the city and region are committed more
broadly to environmental sustainability, and efforts are not solely in attempt to win a bid. In
other words, a combination of appeasing the IOC while also demonstrating an authentic desire to
evolve as a sustainable city and region may be most effective. This strategy could be beneficial
for cities looking to host other events, not just an Olympic Games. By doing so, candidature
cities can craft much stronger rationale as to why they should host any event, not just from an
environmentally sustainable perspective but to highlight other necessities such as security and
governance.
Future Research
This chapter investigated only winning bids. As such, this parameter was a research
limitation. Therefore, future research could recognize the varying motivations candidature cities
have for bidding while controlling for past failed bids to further explore both ES rhetoric and
42
leveraging. Researchers could investigate whether failed bid committees used fact-based
arguments similar to winning bids, or if failed bids employ different types of rhetoric that
overpromise with aim to deceive or manipulate IOC voters. For instance, considering that
previous research has argued that the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi led to irreparable
environmental destruction caused by illegal unloading of construction waste and toxic water
(Mller, 2015; Sobol, 2015), what were some of the arguments the Sochi bid committee made in
their candidature file and how were these arguments different or similar to those in winning bid
books of the same bidding year? Exploring what deceptive rhetoric is used in bid books may
have practical implications for other event bidding governing bodies as well as host cities,
outside of the Olympic Games.
There are several other directions for future research based on the contributions above.
Researchers could interview members of winning bid committees to investigate their intent to
use rhetoric when they were putting together their bid books. For example, how critically did
they consider spotlighting the existing characteristics of their cities that made them ideal places
to host an ES Games? Additionally, researchers could explore if these ethos-based arguments are
convincing by interviewing IOC members on the criteria used to assess ES plans of bid books.
Presented with these augments, the IOC may better understand what they should be looking for
in future iterations of the Games.
Meanwhile, this chapter underscored the notion of embedded agency in highly
institutionalized forms such as bidding process and Questionnaire. As such, researchers could
use embedded agency as a lens to interview and further investigate city officials and stakeholders
in their quest to host an environmentally friendly Games. By doing so, researchers may better
understand the institutional forces that play or do not play a role in how key knowledge users
43
coalesce around a common vision and action plan to host a major event, especially as we see
global temperatures rising and candidature cities pivot to adopt a more sustainable framework in
their event hosting aspirations.
Furthermore, Green and Li (2011) recommended to neither to favour agency nor structure
by focusing on the transition and movement of action into motion, and motion into action. They
explained that as practices become motion into action due to an exogenous shocks or unexpected
events, this transformation from habit back into conscious action suggests a decline in taken-for-
grantedness, a decline in structural constraints, and a rise in agency. Future research could
investigate further what type of exogenous shocks occurred for these candidature cities to move
towards a more environmentally sustainable city. Was it local or global climate factors? Or did
the corporate community drive this change as they look to moving towards alternative sources of
energy?
Finally, recognizing that with the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC can begin
targeted dialogue with potential candidature cities, and there will be fewer unsuccessful bids
each bidding year since once “[o]nce a Targeted Dialogue has been opened, no other city, region
or National Olympic Committee can apply to host that edition until the International Olympic
Committee (IOC)'s Executive Board has decided whether there should be an election” (IOC,
2023). Future research could focus on the rhetorical arguments that are related to the special ES
capabilities of targeted candidature cities. Results from such research could illuminate if targeted
dialogue impacts rhetoric used to describe leveraging strategies of candidature cities and by what
means they change from previous bidding years.
To conclude, the winning Olympic bids in this chapter employed 19 different types of
ethos-based rhetoric that can be grouped into six categories. Considering the IOC has continued
44
to invest in making the Olympic Movement more sustainable by adopting environment-focused
agendas over the last few decades, the IOC should contemplate assessing and placing greater
weight on the ethos-based arguments that bid committees make in their bid books as it may
better demonstrate a candidature city’s capacity and capability to host an environmentally
sustainable Olympic Games.
45
Chapter 3: Environmental Sustainability and Professional Sport Naming Rights
Agreements
46
Historically, naming right agreements of professional sport venues were held by financial
institutions, airlines, or businesses in the telecommunications industry (Clark et al., 2002). Since
2020, the notion of environmental sustainability has become an emerging category13 in the venue
naming rights market (Broughton, 2021). One reason for this emergence may be because the
professional sport sector is being urged to act in a more sustainable way (McCullough et al.,
2016) due to rising negative impacts of climate change (World Meteorological Organization,
2022). Additionally, this growing pressure may present new business opportunities for
stadiums/arenas as well as naming rights holders (Gillooly et al., 2020).
For example, the CEO of Innovative Partnerships Group – representing the Phoenix Suns
in the naming rights agreement of Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, posited that “a
relationship with a sustainability company provides multiple touchpoints that give stakeholders
an opportunity to spotlight their efforts to both their fans and their business partners, something
that is more difficult to do with an insurance company or automaker” (Broughton, 2021, para. 3).
Later the CEO argued that “[t]wenty years ago, naming rights were more of an ego deal for
CEOs, and a decade ago it was a marketing decision…But naming rights in 2021 is a holistic
business decision” (Broughton, 2021, para. 6). Thus, integrating environmental sustainability in
naming rights agreements may bring new opportunities for the naming rights agreement holders
and the teams and/or the venues. However, there is little to no research that exploring the ways in
which the organizations within these partnerships, such as the facility operator, facility owner,
team, or the naming rights holder engage with these arrangements.
13 Some organizational scholars take a psychological view of categories as if they are abstractions that link to
concepts that can be described by particular attributes (Glaser et al. 2020; Mervis & Rosch, 1981). While category
theory is the basis of some organizational research, for the purpose of this chapter, any mention of a category simply
refers to naming rights agreements with similar characteristics i.e., environmental sustainability or financial
institutions.
47
One way to study this new phenomenon is by employing rhetorical theory, as rhetoric is
described as the persuasive arguments (Aristotle, 1954) or discourse used by organizational
members in their interactions with each other and outsiders (Golant & Sillince, 2007). Rhetorical
theory suggests how effective communication may be produced while also providing a method to
analyze the messages. For instance, Aristotelian Rhetoric is classified into the different
arguments people make and the specific strategies that may be employed to make the rhetoric
effective (Borchers, 2006, p. 13). In other words, rhetoric can help make sense of and organize
the types of arguments that are being made about a particular topic or issue, such as sports
facilities and sustainability.
Thus, rhetorical theory will help better understand the nature of these partnerships, by
analyzing what they are saying and how they are saying it. It is important to investigate these
partnerships as it will bring insight into the manner through which these organizations use the
environmental sustainability component of the agreement as part of a broader business decision
to promote their interests. For the purpose of this chapter, a holistic business decision “considers
economic, social, environmental, and ethical factors to create balanced and sustainable
outcomes” (Savour Soil Permaculture, 2025, para. 2). Environmental sustainability, for example,
can be one touchpoint that business leaders can leverage to connect all aspects of their business
operations. Also, these insights have practical implications for sport leaders seeking out naming
rights agreements that center around environmental sustainability.
Therefore, this chapter asked the following research question: What are the rhetorical
arguments articulated by the partners of naming rights agreements in the environmental
sustainability category? To answer this question, an embedded case study approach (Yin, 2003)
was employed to explore the discourse in the public communications of the three current
48
examples that are part of this emerging trend in North American professional sport. These arenas
include Ball Arena, home to the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA)
and the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL) in Denver, Colorado;
Climate Pledge Arena, a recently (re)constructed, multi-purpose arena home to the Seattle
Kraken of the NHL; and Footprint Center home to the Phoenix Suns of the NBA in Phoenix,
Arizona. In addition, a fourth arena, Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, and home to
the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA and the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, was added to
explore how an arena with a recent naming rights agreement not in the sustainability category
employs rhetorical elements to explain environmental sustainability.
As will be shown, the partners of ES naming rights agreements use various types of
rhetoric to describe the decision to coalesce around environmental sustainability. Moreover,
analysis uncovers that the venues (teams, operator, and/or owner) employ additional
argumentative appeals when discussing the relationship with ES and the naming rights holder.
Meanwhile, the facility without an ES naming rights agreement (Crypto.com arena) addresses
very little concerning environment sustainability, suggesting that ES-based naming rights
agreements add a new way that teams and facilities can leverage their naming rights
partnerships.
This chapter is organized by as follows. First, an overview of each arena is provided,
followed by a review of the most relevant literature, beginning with a history of naming rights
agreements, and an overview of rhetoric and rhetorical theory. From there, the methods used to
conduct the chapter will be summarized, followed by a results section. Finally, a discussion
section that includes implications, future research and research limitations will be provided.
49
Arenas with Naming Rights Agreements that Center Environmental Sustainability
Ball Arena
Ball Arena, located in downtown Denver, Colorado, opened in 1999 and is home to the
Denver Nuggets of the NBA and the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL (Ball Arena, 2025). The
arena is owned and operated by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE); an American
professional sports and entertainment company also located in Denver. KSE’s products include
professional sport franchises, real estate (arenas and stadiums), media groups, and an esports
franchise. The arena was privately financed and cost US$187 million, which is approximately
US$360 million in 2025 when adjusting for inflation. KSE is currently looking at investing in
mixed-use amenities and places of residence, proposing an “ambitious sustainability program for
the Ball Arena which we wish to continue through the development that prioritizes mixed
mobility, water management, embodied carbon, and health outcomes for the community” (KSE,
2022).
From its opening through 2020, the naming rights to the arena were held by PepsiCo
(Pepsi Center). In October 2020, the naming rights were sold to Ball Corporation, a Colorado-
based company that makes recyclable aluminum cups, as part of a global multi-year agreement
with KSE (Ball Arena, 2025). The terms of the deal were not made public, but Forbes estimated
the naming rights component to be worth [US]$6 million a year for an undisclosed number of
years (Badenhausen, 2020, para. 11). As part of the agreement, all KSE-owned venues and teams
used Ball aluminum cups to reduce plastic waste (SportsPro Media, 2020; The Denver Post,
2020). With this agreement in place, Ball Arena stated that Ball Corporation is its exclusive
sustainability partner (Ball Arena, 2025). While Ball Corporation is the world’s largest
manufacturer of recyclable food and metal beverage containers, it diversified into other business
50
streams. For instance, up until 2024, Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp - the manufacturer
of military rockets, was an owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation (it was recently acquired by
BAE systems Inc.).
The Ball Arena website currently promotes one environmental sustainability initiative,
which is a program called “Play Clean”. It was launched in 2008 and further developed by the
arena and teams to become “the first major entertainment venue in Colorado to provide single-
stream recycling of plastic cups, all bottles, and clean paper products used during events” (Ball
Arena, 2025). As such, the partnership and agreement with Ball Corporation looks to be a natural
extension of existing initiatives.
Climate Pledge Arena
Climate Pledge Arena (2025a) is a multi-use arena located in downtown Seattle,
Washington, in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center. It originally opened in 1962,
but from 2018 to 2021 the facility previously known as Key Arena underwent a billion-dollar
redevelopment and renovation (Eide, 2019). Today, the arena is home to the Seattle Kraken of
the NHL, the main anchor tenant.
Climate Pledge Arena was the first professional sports venue to align its naming rights
with climate change and an environmental cause and arguably started the ES naming rights
agreement trend (Broughton, 2021). Amazon announced the arena would be named after a
multinational cross sector pledge, The Climate Pledge,14 rather than Amazon, to bring focus and
attention to climate change. Amazon obtained the naming rights for the facility, in partnership
with the team and the arena developer and operator – Oak View Group. Oak View Group (OVG)
was founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff as a development, advisory, and investment firm
14 Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge with Global Optimism in 2019 and became the first company to sign the
pledge. Signatories commit to net zero carbon across its businesses by 2040 (The Climate Pledge, 2025).
51
in the sport and entertainment venue industry. OVG is the self-proclaimed “largest developer of
sports and live entertainment venues in the world” and “developer and operator of Climate
Pledge Arena – The Most Sustainable Venue in the World” (Oak View Group, N.D., para. 1-2).
The naming rights for the arena were secured by Amazon for an undisclosed amount in
2020 although it has been suggested that the total value of the agreement is between US$300
million and $400 million (McCormick, 2021, para. 40). The City of Seattle and OVG signed a
39-year lease with two, eight-year renewable options (Climate Pledge Arena, 2025b). The
ownership group is made up of OVG who owns 51% of the arena, as well as the Seattle Hockey
Partners (who also own the Seattle Kraken), made up of billionaire David Bonderman, Tod
Leiweke (the brother of CEO of OVG, Tim Leiweke), and movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer,
who owns 49% of the venue (McCormick, 2021, para. 38). OVG and the City of Seattle agreed
that the ownership keep all naming-rights revenue (McCormick, 2021, para. 40).
Upon reveal of the naming rights agreement in 2020, officials announced that the arena
would be the first zero-carbon arena in the world, powered only by renewable energy (Climate
Pledge Arena, 2025c). Various environment sustainability practices are listed on Climate Pledge
Arena’s website, including the chosen methods to meet targets, approaches to evaluation, and
annual reporting (Climate Pledge Arena, 2025d).
Footprint Center
Footprint Center is located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, and is home to the Phoenix
Suns of the NBA. Former names of the arena included America West Arena from 1992-2006,
US Airways Center from 2006-2016, Talking Stick Resort Arena from 2015-2020 and PHX
Arena from 2020-2021 (Reichard, 2020). The arena opened in 1992 at a cost of US$89 million
which is roughly US$203 million in 2025 when adjusting for inflation. It is owned by the City of
52
Phoenix and operated by Phoenix Arena Development, L.P., an affiliate of the Phoenix Suns
(City of Phoenix, 2025). The arena was originally publicly financed and refurbished in later
years through a mix of public and private financing (Dalpino, 2022). For instance, the arena was
funded through the city’s Sports Facilities Fund as well as tax revenue from tourism on hotels
and rental cars, and more recently the Phoenix Suns paid approximately US$80 million in
renovation costs (City of Phoenix, 2025).
In July 2021, it was announced that Arizona-based materials science company, Footprint, had
secured naming rights, naming the arena the Footprint Center as part of a long-term partnership
between Footprint and the Suns ownership (NBA, 2025). The terms of the agreement were not
disclosed but reportedly Footprint sought a 10-year minimum deal worth US$9 million annually
(Lefton & Lombordo, 2021, para. 1).
Footprint was founded in 2014 and creates fiber-based packaging to address the environmental
crisis of plastic pollution (Footprint, 2025a). Footprint shares that “the company has grown into a
force of over 2,000 eco-warriors, focused on creating a brighter, more sustainable future” (Footprint
Center, 2025, para. 9), stating that “[they] will set a new standard in sports and entertainment
sustainability, and demonstrate what’s possible for other venues around the world” (Footprint, 2025b,
para. 3).
Review of Literature
Naming rights can be defined as “a particular type or form of sponsorship, which
involves an exchange of money from a naming rights sponsor to the facility owner (known as the
rights holder) in return for the right to name that facility or stadium” (Gillooly et al., 2020, p. 1).
Corporate sponsors can contract these agreements in various ways depending on the ownership
of the venue, which may be by a public authority or team owner (Voigt, 2004). According to
53
Crompton and Howard (2003), the first naming rights agreement was made in 1971 for a
National Football League stadium between Schaefer Brewing Company and the New England
Patriots. The average naming rights agreement is approximately US$5 million annually.
Although it is difficult to know what an average naming rights deal goes for in dollars and length
in professional sport, as the terms of these deals are often not publicly shared (Sports Business
Journal, 2024), the best estimate from Sports Business Journal’s Resource Guide LIVE is that
deals average US$107.9 million in value and 22 years in length (Dosh, 2019).
Various types of companies bid for naming rights. In the early years, venue sponsorships
were typically held by financial institutions and banks, airlines, and beer companies. In the next
wave, internet, telecommunications, and technology-focused companies became more prominent
in naming rights sponsorships (Clark et al., 2002). Up until the early 2000s, approximately 80%
of naming rights deals were between sport facilities and brands that were based in the same
region (Lefton, 2009). For example, one of the first companies to negotiate an agreement locally
was the retailer Target, based in Minnesota, USA. Since 1990, Target has held the naming rights
to Target Center, home of the Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA) (Gillooly et al. 2020). As seen
with Target, local companies use naming rights to increase visibility across the region while also
embedding themselves as part of the local community (Gillooly et al. 2020) – thus increasing
brand awareness and positive views from the public (DeSchriver & Jensen, 2003).
Naming rights agreements are valuable to both entities in the partnership. First, the venue
owner/operator receives substantial revenues. McCarthy and Irwin (2000) suggested that facility
naming rights agreements are a reliable source of income for a professional sports franchise.
While the corporate sponsor benefits from an amenity clause that allows for personal
identification of the building through advertising signage (Anzivino, 2001). The value of
54
perceived media exposure will justify the cost for many sponsors (Dosh, 2019). Crompton and
Howard (2003) argued the most significant motives for companies to get involved in naming
rights agreements are to use the facility to gain constant brand exposure and to generate revenue
through the sale of its services and products. Clark et al. (2002) suggested other motivations for
stadium sponsorships, including awareness, brand positioning, image enhancement, and
constituted one component of a broader marketing and communications plan for the company.
For example, the number of high-profile events that are hosted and often broadcasted in a sports
facility can provide cost effective and profitable advertising (Clark et al., 2002; DeSchriver &
Jensen, 2003).
Some researchers observed an increase in the stock price of the venue’s sponsor when the
agreement is announced (Clark et al., 2002). In addition, DeSchriver and Jensen (2003) found a
facility hosting a new team influenced demand from naming rights sponsors while the price has
increased over time. Leeds et al. (2007) argued that there is limited evidence that naming rights
show significant effect on the valuation of companies. However, Jensen (2017) analyzed 700
different sponsorships in the financial services industry, confirming that naming rights
agreements had a US$3 million price premium in comparison to other types of sponsorships.
Martin et al. (2020) examined how corporate naming rights impact the behaviour of
sports consumers relative to their game attendance and sponsor/team branding efforts. The
authors found that there is minimal risk to the sports team and the sponsoring organization
entering into these agreements because fans do appear to separate the team from the sponsor.
They explained that if a fan has a good or bad experience with a sponsoring business, it has a
more significant impact on the fan’s attitudes toward that sponsor than the team.
55
Consumer attitudes towards naming-rights sponsorships in US college sports have also
been investigated (Chen & Zhang, 2011; Reysen et al., 2012). These studies examined the broad
question of how fans react to the re-naming of a college sport stadium. Chen and Zhang (2011)
found that fans would have negative attitudes toward a naming sponsor, as well as negative
purchase intentions toward that sponsor’s products, while Reysen et al. (2012) found that
corporate renaming of a college basketball arena would illicit strong feelings of anger amongst
fans. Some of the factors that anticipated these attitudes included team identification and
attitudes toward the sponsor and stadium identification (Chen & Zhang, 2011; Reysen et al.,
2012). However, there has been limited research on naming rights agreements since these two
studies have been published. One reason for the lack of research investigation in the past 10
years may be because there has been little change in the type of corporate sponsor that is in this
partnership with the venue, until recently with the emergence of ES-based naming rights
agreements.
Rhetorical Theory
In basic terms, rhetoric refers to the symbols used in communication while rhetorical
theory provides the explanations for how rhetoric works and what it does (Borchers, 2006).
Burke’s (1969) model of socially constructed communication views rhetoric as facilitating
identification between a speaker and its audience, which is a process that results in an identity
transformation. Organizational researchers used rhetorical theory to better understand
organizational actions (Abrahamson, 1997).
Rhetorical theory was founded on Aristotle’s (1954) idea that rhetoric is “the faculty of
observing in a given case the available means of persuasion” (p.24). Hartelius and Browning
(2008) suggested “rhetoric as an interpretive lens allows management scholars to study how
56
organizational members use language—particularly, powerful symbols—in concrete ways” (p.
22). Sillince and Suddaby (2008) contended that the examination of rhetoric in organizational
research recognizes the role of language in creating reality, while King and Kugler (2000)
explained actors such as managers promote the adoption of new practices by providing
discursive rationalizations that in turn legitimize the new practices.
Rhetorical strategies are comprised of both linguistic and argumentative techniques that
necessitate a temporal play between absence and presence. For this, all “language acts”, argued
Derrida (1995), “entail a certain structure of the promise” (p. 384). Meanwhile, Martin (2022),
proposed that a promise is a commitment to something in the future, but a commitment can fail
or be overlooked (Martin, 2022). Furthermore, while discourse focuses on the words spoken or
written, with special attention to the content of the communication, rhetoric is a kind of discourse
that has elements of ideology (Lawrence & Suddaby, 2006). Some scholars draw on rhetoric’s
manipulation as a central feature, finding there is power and ideology behind the language.
Others such as Ehninger (1968) maintained that all actors use rhetoric. Hartelius and Browning
(2008) more recently argued that rhetoric is not just good or bad, but that it permeates human
interaction as long as language is used intentionally.
Rhetorical legitimation strategies are also specific ways of employing rhetoric to
establish a sense of legitimacy (Erkama & Vaara, 2010). Legitimation is viewed as comprising of
ethos (character and authority), pathos (moral, value, and emotion), and logos (logic and
rationality) (Aristotle 1954). Aristotle argued these three persuasive appeals are the foundation of
communication. Ethos appeals to the authority and reputation of the speaker or writer. According
to Gagich and Zickel (2018), this credibility emerges from the speaker’s knowledge and
expertise on the subject, while the writer’s character is determined by personal history and
57
personality traits. Ethos may emerge from the writer employing language, imagery, and phrasing
that aligns with the audience’s values to form a sense of trust (Gagich & Zickel, 2018).
Meanwhile, pathos appeals to emotions and morals, which to Aristotle (1954) is a legitimate
form of persuasion. The third mode of engagement is logos, which appeals to logic. Logos can
emerge using logical reasoning such as exemplifiers, comparisons, cause and effect thinking, and
inductive and deductive reasoning (Gagich & Zickel, 2018).
More recently, Aristotelian rhetoric has been applied in sport management research. For
instance, Sant and Mason (2019) investigated the ways in which city stakeholders strategically
deployed and utilized provocative symbols, such as rhetoric, to promote a specific agenda to
different stakeholders, persuade various audiences, and gain overall support of new arena
construction projects. The researchers applied the lens of New Rhetoric, termed by Perelman and
Olbrechts-Tyteca (1957) as a theory of argumentation. New Rhetoric is described as recurring
patterns of goals and shared assumptions embedded in texts and exchanges that are projected to
influence audiences on either contentious or ambiguous issues (Cheney et al., 2004). Sant and
Mason’s (2019) results from interviews with local stakeholders in eight Canadian cities
emphasized that arena supporters shared reasoning, through rhetorical legitimation strategies,
such as expanding the city’s tax base, event hosting, issues related to economic development,
and enhanced reputation and status, to rationalize arena construction projects.
Methods
This chapter used an embedded case study approach - comprised of smaller sub-case
studies with the aim provide a more nuanced and complex understanding of the case by
comparing subunits (Yin, 2003). The units of analysis were the textual passages from the
documents collected such as news articles, press releases, website articles and webpages, as well
58
as any other public resources provided by the arenas and the collaborative partners of the arenas
on the topic of environmental sustainability. The sub-units of analysis were the similarities and
differences in how the partners articulated said partnerships across the three different arenas.
Meanwhile, the institutional field15 is the competition between arenas in North American
professional sport.
Articles were searched for using Factiva in January 2024 and again in July 2024, with the
exact search terms, “[Arena’s name]” and sustainability” or “[Arena’s name]” and environment”.
Primary data included direct quotes from news articles and press releases from multiple arena
partners. In addition, text from arena websites were collected to gather any public facing
information related to the arena’s environmental sustainability initiatives. Table 4 summarizes
the data collected for this chapter.
15 An institutional field is a “cornerstone of institutional theory” and “a community of organizations that interact
together” (Zietsma, 2017, p. 7), “frequently and fatefully” (Scott, 1995, p. 207-208).
59
Table 4: Data Collection
Arena Partners
Data Collected
Factiva
Arena Website
Ball Arena
Venue Owner/Operator:
Kroenke Sports and Entertainment
(KSE)
Naming Rights Holder: Ball
Corporation (Ball Corp.)
Teams: Denver Nuggets (NBA)
and Colorado Avalanche (NHL)
17
news
articles
1 webpage
(https://www.ballarena.com/aren
a-information/play-clean/)
Climate
Pledge
Arena
Venue Owner: Public-Private
Partnership between Oak View
Group, Seattle Kraken Hockey,
and Seattle Center
Venue Operator: Oak View
Group (OVG)
Team: Seattle Kraken (NHL)
Naming Rights Holder: Amazon
71
news
articles
2 webpages
(https://www.climatepledgearen
a.com/sustainability/,
https://www.climatepledgearena.
com/sustainability-dashboard/)
Footprint
Center
Venue Owner: City of Phoenix
Venue Operator: Phoenix Suns
(Suns) (NBA)
Team: Phoenix Suns
Naming Rights Holder:
Footprint Inc. (Footprint)
11
news
articles
1 webpage
(https://www.footprintcenter.co
m/sustainability/)
Crypto.com
Arena
Venue Owner/Operator:
Anschutz Entertainment Group
(AEG)
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
(NBA) and Los Angeles Kings
(NHL).
Naming Rights Holder:
Crypto.com
2 news
articles
1 webpage
(https://www.cryptoarena.com/ar
ena-info/environmental-
sustainability)
As presented in Table 4, Climate Pledge Arena had significantly more news articles
written about the topic than Ball Arena and Footprint Center, which is likely due to the
uniqueness of Amazon forgoing the opportunity to name the arena after itself and instead
choosing to name it after a global cross-sector environmental pledge. Of the three arenas, Ball
Arena had the least amount of publicly available information specifically about the arena’s
environmental sustainability initiatives and how it pertains to the naming rights agreement with
60
Ball Corporation. Both the Climate Pledge Arena website and the Footprint Center website
include video and audio recordings. For example, Footprint Center presented videos about
sustainability with NBA players, and later has a series called “The Plastic Problem”. Climate
Pledge Arena had videos linked to YouTube that show the venue’s historic roof.16
A fourth arena was chosen to compare and contrast ES naming rights agreements with.
The criteria for choosing an arena that would compare to the three venues in the ES Category,
included the following: 1) be a closed roof facility, 2) be a new naming rights agreement and not
an extension of a previous agreement, 3) be home to an NBA and/or NHL team, and 4) have
solidified the agreement between 2020-2021 (this timeline aligns with when the ES naming
rights trend emerged). It was found that Crypto.com Arena met this criterion. Crypto.com Arena
opened in 1999 and was originally called Staples Center. In 2021, the naming rights were sold to
Crypto.com for a reported $700 million (US over 20 years)” (ESPN, 2021, para. 3). Crypto.com
is a cryptocurrency17 platform that is headquartered in Singapore (ESPN, 2021, para. 5).
News articles were compiled from Factiva and search terms similar to the first three
arenas included, “Crypto.com Arena” and “Sustainability” and/or “Environment”. With limited
results, the search terms “Crypto.com Arena” and “Naming Rights” was also inputted. Of those
articles, two discussed environmental sustainability, but only one was in the context of the
naming rights deal. In addition to that, google news was used to double check if there were any
missing articles not on Factiva that focused on how the partners of agreements talked about the
16 Although examined, these videos were not transcribed or included in the data collection since data saturation had
been achieved with the text-based data.
17 A cryptocurrency is a type of virtual asset that is protected using cryptography. It typically uses a system called a
blockchain to record and keep a history of transactions. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ether, are
independent, meaning they do not rely on governments, central banks, or other central authorities for backing. You
can obtain cryptocurrency in many ways, and new methods are being developed all the time (Government of
Canada, 2023, para.1).
61
relationship and sponsorship deal. Finally, Crypto.com Arena’s webpage on sustainability was
analyzed for similarities or differences from the other three arenas discussed.
Data Analysis
A content analysis was undertaken, which provides researchers the opportunity to better
understand social reality in scientific yet subjective manner (Zhang & Wildemuth, 2009).
Mayring (2000) described a content analysis as the study of the manifest and latent content of
documents, texts, and communication artifacts. Kondracki et al. (2002) explained that content
analysis assumes that texts are a rich data source with the potential to demonstrate valuable
knowledge about a particular context. Further, Krippendorff (2019) illuminated that a content
analysis is a research tool involving specific procedures “for making replicable and valid
inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use” (p. 24). As this
chapter explores textual documents to find the types of rhetorical arguments (ethos, pathos, and
logos) used across partners and arenas, a content analysis was chosen to further investigate both
latent and manifest content.
To code the data, Yin’s (2014) coding strategies for case study research were employed by
“searching for promising patterns, insights, or concepts – the goal being to define your priorities
for what to analyze and why” (p. 135). Analysis began with open coding, in order to create
descriptive, multidimensional categories to form the preliminary foundation for analysis. Next,
deductive coding approach was used guided by the literature review. Specifically, data were
coded using Aristotle’s three persuasive appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos). Phrases, words, and
events that appear through analysis were grouped together in the same category. To conclude,
axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) was employed to re-examine the categories first
identified. This multi-phase approach to coding allowed for exploring and understanding specific
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phenomena and experiences, while also allowing for critical analysis and intensive review of the
data to locate the codes and patterns in the data.
Results
Analysis of the three arenas with naming rights agreements in the ES emerging category
revealed that there were several ethos-, pathos-, and logos-based arguments employed by both
the venue operators and owners, and the naming rights holders, albeit there were some
differences in who made which argument (venue and/or naming rights holder). For Ball Arena,
KSE was driving the arguments as the venue owner and operator, while it was found that
arguments made on behalf of Footprint Center were exclusively driven by the venue operator -
the Phoenix Suns. Arguments employed by Climate Pledge Arena were primarily led by Oak
View Group, who represents the ownership group and operates the venue. Table 5 below
provides a summary.
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Table 5: Rhetorical Argument Types
Ball Arena
Venue: KSE
Naming Rights Holder: Ball Corp.
Footprint Center
Venue: Suns
Naming Rights Holder: Footprint
Climate Pledge Arena
Venue: OVG
Naming Rights Holder: Amazon
Ethos
(credibility)
Strategic Partnership (venue and
the naming rights holder)
Strategic Partnership (venue)
Certification with credentialing
body (venue and the naming rights
holder)
Pathos (moral)
Not present
Future of the planet, future children
(venue and the naming rights holder)
Environmental sustainability is part
of core values (venue)
Fear and consequences of climate
change (naming rights holder)
Future of the planet, future children
(venue)
Fear/consequences of climate
change (venue)
Logos (logic)
Sustainable urban development
(venue)
Local collaboration (venue)
Reduce plastic waste (venue and
naming rights holder)
Growth strategy (naming rights
holder)
Sustainable urban development
(venue and naming rights holder)
Local collaboration (venue and
naming rights holder)
Reduce plastic waste (venue)
Growth strategy (venue and naming
rights holder)
Climate change action (venue and
naming rights holder)
Climate change science (venue)
Accountability and transparent
reporting (venue)
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As Table 5 demonstrates, naming rights holders and venue partners employed similar
arguments. There were three arguments that were only made by the venues that centered
environmentally sustainability, which include: environmental sustainability is part of core
values, accountability and transparent environmental sustainability reporting, and valuing
climate change science. Meanwhile, the naming rights holder did not drive any unique
arguments that the venue partners did not support themselves. In addition, only one quote found
in the data collected on Crypto.com Arena focused specifically on environmental sustainability
in the context of the naming rights agreement. This quote used rhetorical arguments such as the
importance of climate science. The rhetorical arguments from the three arenas with ES naming
rights agreements, as well as Crypto.com Arena, are described in more detail below.
Ethos-Based Arguments
Aristotle (1954) described ethos as the credibility of the speaker. There was a general
similarity in how the three arenas presented their credibility and ethos-based arguments.
Ball Arena
For Ball Arena, the partnership between Ball Corporation and KSE, emerged as a
foundational element of perceived credibility. For example, it was expressed that the partnership
demonstrated both companies' unwavering commitment to a sustainable future and supporting
the Denver community (PR Newswire, 2020, para. 2). Moreover, Matt Hutchings, KSE
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, claimed the value behind the partnership
was that “the aluminum cups, which are also available to fans at major events and venues across
the country and for purchase online and at mass retailers, are a demonstration of the partners'
commitment to advancing sustainability in the industry” (PR Newswire, 2022, para. 1), further
expressing, “[w]orking together, we believe this partnership is transformative and will continue
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to help redefine the way arenas and stadiums operate globally” (PR Newswire, 2022, para. 5).
However, Ball Arena’s website had very little information, and what is shared is related to the
venue’s history in recycling (Ball Arena, 2025, para. 1-2).
Climate Pledge Arena
Meanwhile, Climate Pledge Arena differed slightly in prominently highlighting the venue’s
certification with the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), as well as gaining Leadership
in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certification, and TRUE Zero Waste certification.
The website of Climate Pledge Arena (2025b) stated that credibility derives from ILFI standards
and being the first arena to gain this certification that requires a 20% embodied carbon reduction
(International Living Future Institute, 2025). Kara Hurst, Vice President of Worldwide
Sustainability at Amazon shared that “the arena's ILFI certification demonstrates the progress we
can make when Climate Pledge signatories work together" (PR Newswire, 2023, para. 6).
Furthermore, Jason F. McLennan, ILFI founder and board member as well as sustainability
advisor to Climate Pledge Arena expressed that the “NHL, Seattle, Oak View Group, and
Amazon are showing the world what ambitious climate action looks like…If an 18,100-seat
redeveloped arena can earn Zero Carbon Certification, any project can—as long as action on
climate change is made an urgent priority” (International Living Future Institute, 2020, para. 1).
Footprint Center
Footprint Center showed similarities to Ball Arena in how ethos-based appeals were
employed to define the venue’s credibility. It was claimed that this partnership allowed for
Footprint Center to become a single-use plastic-free and carbon-neutral venue, while also a place
for food and beverage suppliers to become educated on consumer waste and the transition away
from plastic use (NBA, 2021, para. 3). Footprint Center expanded more on the strategy to create
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this partnership. For example, when searching for partners, the Phoenix Suns approach "has
always been one around innovation and thinking about what's important" (Ortega, 2021, para.
25). The Suns’ representative went on to explain that while first looking for a jersey patch
partner in 2018, PayPal emerged on top because financial technology was a trending and
emerging industry at that time. As such, when choosing a naming rights partner for the venue
more recently, the Suns’ explained that “[o]ne of those categories that stuck out to us was just the
amount of opportunity [in] promoting environmental and social governance-type initiatives”
(Ortega, 2021, para. 27).
Pathos-Based Arguments
To review, Aristotle (1954) defined pathos as the emotional and moral appeals of the writer
or speaker. More broadly, the three arenas used similar emotional appeals – speaking to the
future planet, future grandchildren, and being an inspiration to others - to express the morality
behind a naming rights agreement that had environmentally sustainability at its forefront.
Ball Arena
Pathos-based arguments were absent from the multiple arena partners of Ball Arena.
Climate Pledge Arena
Climate Change Arena not only used rhetorical appeals to demonstrate a desire to create a
healthier planet for future communities and people, but the notion of fear was also employed to
illicit emotional responses from an audience. For instance, Tim Leiweke, Oak View CEO,
shared, “[t]he reason we’re passionate about this — and everyone should be passionate about it
— is we have an obligation to our grandkids to make a difference, and if we don’t do it soon,
we’re not going to be able to fix this [climate change catastrophe]” (Zillgitt, 2021, para. 5). The
Climate Pledge Arena website reinforced this urgency, stating, “Climate Pledge Arena serves as
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a long-lasting and regular reminder of the urgent need for climate action and will be the first net
zero carbon certified arena in the world” (Climate Pledge Arena, 2025c, para. 2).
Footprint Center
For Footprint Center, both the naming rights holder and the venue expressed that the
justification for the partnership was to protect the environment. For instance, when describing
the agreement, Footprint International Chief Marketing Officer Susan Koehler stated that it is
“[o]ur ultimate goal is to create a healthy planet and healthy people” (Ortega, 2021, para. 3).
Later, Dan Costello, the Phoenix Suns' Chief Revenue Officer expressed that “[we]
fundamentally believe that we need to leave this [area] in a better place than what we found
it…[t]his is the type of deal that will have an impact on, not just our kids, but our grandkids, and
we believe that eliminating plastics just makes our community and our health better” (Ortega,
2021, para. 34).
The partners within the arena were clear about being viewed as an organization that holds
deep rooted environmental values. For instance, it was explained that “[i]ntegrating Footprint's
plant-based fiber technology into our core business functions will mobilize partners and fans to
drive collective and systemic change, in our arena and beyond" (NBA, 2021, para. 2). Lastly, it
was Footprint’s CEO that used fear-based argument such as, “[w]e need to educate people on the
dangers of plastic and that ultimately helps our customers” (Brown, 2021, para. 20).
Logos-Based Arguments
Logos based arguments are what Aristotle (1954) described as the logic, reasoning and
justifications that writers make to justify their actions. Logical arguments were the most
prominent type of argument used in the case of all three arenas.
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Ball Arena
For Ball Arena, it was suggested that protecting the environment was a mutual
justification for working together. For example, “[t]he milestone also celebrates Ball and KSE's
ongoing dedication to environmental sustainability” (Werley, 2022, para. 1). However, what was
more prominent was that the partners from within Ball Arena deployed the argument that the
partnership with Ball Corporation and moving into the ES emerging category was more so
embedded in the City of Denver’s broader redevelopment plan. For instance, the senior vice
president of KSE, shared “[a]s a result, we have the potential to generate a truly unique regional
destination characterized as a mixed-use neighborhood that maintains Ball Arena as its
centerpiece” (Werley, 2022, para. 7). Furthermore, an executive discussed that KSE’s aim was to
choose a long-term partner that was based out of Colorado and shared a similar commitment to
the local community, creating quality jobs in the region, and environmental sustainability (PR
Newswire, 2020, para. 8). It was also indicated by Ball Corporation that the arena partnership
was part of a larger growth strategy into the sports and entertainment venue industry, globally
(Ball Corporation, 2021, para. 6). Framed in this way, the relationship between Ball Arena and
KSE represented a logical partnership.
Climate Pledge Arena
Of the three arenas, Climate Pledge Arena employed the most logos-based rhetoric.
While this rhetoric was employed in news articles, Climate Pledge Arena also used its website to
communicate with stakeholders how targets put forward by The Climate Pledge would be
achieved. For instance: “Climate Pledge Arena is a functional zero waste facility. This means
that over +90% of waste generated onsite is diverted from a landfill” (Climate Pledge Arena,
2025c, para. 9). Further, information about green energy opportunities and integrating these
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innovations are detailed on Climate Pledge Arena’s website. In addition, the website has added a
sustainability dashboard that summarizes how environmental targets are being met year over
year since the venue opened. In sum, Climate Pledge Arena provided quantifiable data to
logically describe environmental targets and the how the goals would be met. However, the most
interesting finding was that the naming rights partner - Amazon - did not employ logos-based
arguments to rationalize involvement in this project, other than protecting the environment and
addressing climate change. In fact, Amazon was minimally cited, used as a source in news
media, or featured on Climate Pledge Arena’s website, unless it was to discuss Amazon’s role in
creating The Climate Pledge. For example, the founder and CEO of Amazon stated that the
naming rights agreement is a “regular reminder of the urgent need for climate action” (Clifford,
2022, para. 6).
Footprint Center
Arena actors such as the Suns, used reducing plastic waste as a logical reason for why
this partnership was created. For instance, as Dan Costello, the Suns’ Chief Revenue Officer
shared:
We believe our partnership with Footprint will put Phoenix on the map for a more
sustainable future," and "[t]aking this step will position the Valley at the forefront of the
sustainability movement. A local effort to eliminate plastic and become carbon-neutral
will set a standard for innovation that can spread through the city and scale throughout
the sports and entertainment industry. Sustainable business is good business for our
teams, the community and the environment (Business Wire, 2021, para. 8).
Furthermore, Suns executives contended the goal was “to turn Footprint Center into one
of the most carbon neutral arenas in the NBA” (Sosa, 2022, para. 12). Footprint Center further
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detailed on their website that since 2012 there were 966 solar panels across 17,000 square feet on
top of the parking garage for the arena, generating 378,000 kilowatt-hours each year (Footprint
Center, 2025, para.11).
Meanwhile, Footprint and Footprint Center both acknowledged that the partnership
would help the broader region. For example, it was stated that “Footprint is a global leader that is
also Arizona-based and therefore shares our commitment to the Valley” (NBA, 2021, para. 2),
while Dan Costello, representing the Suns, suggested that there would be a “trickle-down effect”
from the naming rights agreement on the natural environment, not only on the Phoenix area, but
the region as a whole (Ortega, 2021, para. 33).
In addition, an executive from Footprint shared that once the venue was renamed, people
would come up to him in public and ask about the company (Brown, 2022, para. 11). While a
Suns executive concurred, stating that once the deal was announced, many corporate partners of
teams in the league wanted to know more about Footprint (Brown, 2022, para. 12).
Crypto.com Arena
While this chapter used an embedded case study to compare and contrast across the three
arenas that currently have ES in the naming rights, a fourth venue, Crypto.com Arena, was
chosen to compare across industry. The reason for this was to better understand how arenas with
ES naming rights agreements publicly communicate about such agreements in comparison to
those that have a naming rights agreements in another non-ES category. Ultimately, this chapter
revealed that at the cusp of the naming rights agreement being signed by AEG and Crypto.com,
the focus remained mostly on cryptocurrency’s recent entrance into the sport sponsorship
market, as well as the perceived attachment locals had to the long-standing name of the venue -
the Staples Center. When announcing the deal in late 2021, there was only one quote about
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Crypto.com and AEG’s commitment to the sustainability and community engagement of the Los
Angeles community. It states:
Working in the Los Angeles community to prioritize sustainability and community
engagement. AEG was one of the first companies to adopt a greenhouse reduction goal
that's based on the 1.5C global warming limit recommended by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Crypto.com committed to becoming carbon negative
by the end of 2022 by offsetting more carbon than is generated by all activities across the
organization (PR Newswire, 2021, para. 10.).
The website of Crypto.com Arena highlights the activities the arena has been participating
in since the opening of the venue in 1999, such as investing in renewable energy, installing solar
panels on the roof and interior LED lighting system, diverting more waste from landfills via
recycling and installing fuel cells that generate on site electricity and reduce the venue’s overall
carbon footprint (Crypto.com Arena, 2025). The website notably emphasizes AEG’s corporate
environmental sustainability program and provides a link to the site (Crypto.com Arena, 2025).
Ultimately, it was found that while the naming rights holders and venue partners that entered ES
naming rights agreements used different rhetorical arguments to emphasize environmental
sustainability, Crypto.com Arena focused very little on environmental sustainability.
Discussion, Implications, and Future Research
One limitation to this chapter is that since naming rights agreements that center around
environmental sustainability (ES) are a newer phenomenon, only three arenas in North America
currently have secured this type of partnership. Therefore, this chapter was exploratory and
found that the partners of ES naming rights agreements use various types of rhetorical appeals to
describe the business decision to coalesce around environmental sustainability. While some of
72
these arguments are directly linked to elements of climate change and environmental
sustainability, for instance, reduce plastic waste, future of the planet, and sustainable urban
development, other arguments implied the potential outcomes from making the holistic business
decision to integrate ES into the naming rights agreement, such as strategic partnership, growth
strategy, and local collaboration. These results reveal venue sponsorships may not be just a
financial means to an end, but seen by leaders to have outcomes that can lead more holistic
business outcomes, environmentally focused or otherwise.
As this chapter used an embedded case study approach, the similarities and differences
between the three naming rights agreements and arenas were examined. Although all three
arenas are located in three different U.S. states and were financed in different ways,18 there were
still some notable similarities. For instance, Ball Corporation and Footprint both have
headquarters in the respective states the venue is located in. This result is consistent with
previous literature on naming rights agreements, where DeSchriver and Jensen (2003) argued
that the locality of a company make it an attractive partnership for venues. This finding
underscores that the trend of naming rights deals between sport facilities and brands that were
based in the same region (Lefton, 2009) remains relevant in emerging ES category because of the
perceived benefits to naming rights holder and the community. Thus, there may be potential
benefits of pairing locality with ES to strengthen the brand of both the team/venue and the
company sponsoring the venue. Future research could investigate brand awareness in these
18 Ball Arena, when first built was privately financed by KSE, and continues to be owned and operated by KSE,
while Footprint Center has always been owned by the City of Phoenix yet operated by the Phoenix Suns.
Meanwhile, Climate Pledge Arena was privately financed by Oak View Group and the ownership group is made up
of individuals from Oak View Group and the Seattle Kraken.
73
communities to better understand the public’s attitudes of the local company and its commitment
to protecting the environment.
As previously shown, there were three arguments that were only made by the venue
operators, including, environmental sustainability is part of core values, accountability and
transparent environmental sustainability reporting, and valuing climate change science.
Moreover, the naming rights holder did not drive any unique arguments that the venue partners
did not state themselves. Footprint and Ball Corporation both produce and distribute anti-plastic
products (i.e., plant-based fiber solutions and aluminum), yet employ less ES arguments than the
venue to discuss these types of partnerships.
As it was revealed that these venues articulated additional arguments as to why they
sought such a partnership, which may indicate that arena executives are trying to leverage the
relationship more than the naming rights holder. The venues may see these naming rights
agreements as something they can take advantage of, whereas the naming rights holder does not
seem to be leveraging the agreement in the same way, at least not in a way that differentiates
them from other traditional naming rights agreements.
Given that there are only three venues that have these types of arrangements to date, it
gives way for further opportunity for a sports facility operator or team to attempt to promote their
organization and further link to the environment and environmental sustainability through similar
naming rights agreements. A future research opportunity could be to analyze minutes of
shareholder meetings or interview leaders to investigate the arguments that are made (or not
being made) by partners of ES naming rights agreements. Likewise, researchers could explore if
leaders pursue ES naming rights agreements to make up or overcome a characteristic that their
venue, team or region does not possess. Moreover, as Footprint and Sun’s executives both
74
pointed to the “trickle-down effect” on the city and residents from the naming rights agreement,
future research could explore how residents see the value in the ES naming rights agreement and
if they consider it to benefit the local economy.
There were also subtle differences between the three arenas and across various partners.
Climate Pledge Arena diverged from Ball Arena and Footprint Center by presenting extensive
(logos-based) logical reasoning to demonstrate the climate change mitigation strategies of the
venue. Additionally, naming rights holders – Ball Corporation and Footprint – actively
participated in constructing rhetorical appeals about the partnership, while Amazon, the naming
rights holder for Climate Pledge Arena, was largely absent. Amazon’s lack of visibility in the
press on Climate Pledge Arena is consistent with the decision to name the venue after The
Climate Pledge rather than Amazon. Amazon could have positioned itself in the discourse
around the new arena for positive press, yet, allowed for Oak View Group, the venue owner and
operator, to represent the ES naming rights agreement for all parties.
One explanation why Amazon named the facility after The Climate Pledge, is that
Amazon can share with their investors and shareholders that a meaningful investment has been
put in reducing Amazon’s ecological footprint. This strategy may help mitigate perceptions of
Amazon’s negative environmental outcomes, further promote interest in and growth of
signatories to The Climate Pledge, while also permitting Amazon to have greater control of how
ES is measured and reported globally. Amazon has created a path forward to not only be a
signatory of The Climate Pledge, but the governing body of said Pledge. A professional sports
team and venue may be viewed as precisely a conduit to promote their efforts.
Ultimately, a partnership like Climate Pledge Arena is uniquely different. The
circumstances and resources that came together in Seattle to build Climate Pledge Arena may be
75
difficult for other cities and venue owners to imitate. In other words, cities may have more
success replicating the arguments and arrangements made by Ball Arena and Footprint Center,
which sought out established local companies in the sustainability sector or are green economy
adjacent.
Including a fourth arena in this chapter with a naming rights agreement in a different
category underscored that environmental sustainability may be focused on more at the cusp of
ES naming rights agreements. This outcome highlights that the partners of ES agreements may
prioritize talking about and emphasizing the need for sustainability solutions in a way that
traditional or other non-traditional naming rights agreements (cryptocurrency) do not do. This
result indicates a naming rights holder that is ES based holds significant value to the team and
venue operator.
It was also interesting that the ES activities and initiatives promoted by the venues appear
remarkably similar across all four arenas. Meanwhile, not one venue out of the four provided a
third-party environmental assessment, which researchers criticized before (McCullough et al.,
2020b). As such, this chapter reveals that while partners of ES naming rights agreements like to
emphasize the importance of ES at the outset of the naming rights agreement deal being made,
arenas with naming rights agreements in a different category may have comparable commitments
to climate change and environmental sustainability as a “holistic business decision” (Broughton,
2021, para. 6).
This brings forward some other interesting avenues for research. Returning to Martin et
al. (2020), they showed that fans appear to separate the team from the naming rights sponsor, as
in the sponsor is more in control of the consumers’ attitudes toward the sponsor than the team is.
Future studies could survey the fans from venues with ES naming rights agreements to better
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understand how these types of sponsorships effect their attitudes and beliefs towards
environmental issues more broadly. Research on categories (Glaser et al., 2020) could be used as
a lens to study how emerging categories in naming rights agreements and sponsorship
agreements provide opportunities for organizations to stand out and be distinct from their
competitors.
As this chapter explored the phenomena and emerging category of environmental
sustainability in naming rights agreements, the aim was to better understand the arguments that
venues and naming rights holders employed to describe their relationships with one other.
Moreover, the objective of this chapter was to better understand how ES was articulated by
professional sports teams/venues and naming rights holders. It was found the venues (teams,
operator, and owner) employed additional argumentative appeals when discussing the
relationship with ES and the naming rights holder. This outcome supports the notion that while
naming rights agreements were more of a marketing choice a decade ago, today, an ES naming
rights agreement is more of a “holistic business decision” (Broughton, 2021, para. 6) that has
perceived benefits to the venue and region. As climate change is an increasing threat, it will be
interesting to see if environmental sustainability as a naming rights agreements category
increases as well. In the long term, it will bring new questions about how professional sports
teams and cities make these decisions and leverage their relationship with the environment.
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Chapter 4: Environmental Sustainability and Professional Sport Green Certified Arenas
78
With mounting public and institutional pressures to address global environmental
concerns, professional sport organizations in North America have increasingly pursued
sustainable practices and initiatives (Kellison & Hong, 2015; Mallen et al., 2013; Sartore-
Baldwin & McCullough, 2017). Sport organizations may seek out sustainability initiatives by
working with non-profit organizations, conservation groups, environmental management
programs, and corporate sponsors. Notably, arenas and teams will attain third party green
building certification, such as ISO 1400 or Green Globes, with Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED19) being the most recognized certifier in the world (Nalewaik &
Venters, 2009; Pliteq, 2020).
Becoming endorsed through third party green building certifiers remains a common
practice in professional sport (Broughton, 2022; Kellison & Kim, 2014), as it does across various
sectors. Green building certification has been shown to be associated with positive
environmental and economic outcomes. For example, Nyikos et al. (2012) discovered that LEED
certified buildings had 31% lower energy costs than their non-LEED counterparts. Moreover,
cities began to craft and implement legislation that requires new buildings, such as arenas, to
obtain green building certification (Baulding, 2015). Some scholars have also noted that
organizations pursue certifications to be perceived as legitimate in a given institutional field.20
For example, research demonstrated that gaining ISO 9000 Quality Management Standard21
19 LEED was created by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000 as a third-party verification system for green
building projects (U.S. Green Building Council, 2025a). LEED evaluates renovated and new construction projects
on a tiered rating system based on a building’s energy efficiency and ability to lower carbon emissions (U.S. Green
Building Council, 2025b).
20 Institutional fields are defined as “kinds of social worlds that are discursively segregated from other similar kinds
of social words, and treated as relatively unique entities that are worthy of attention” (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019, p.
31). Furthermore, they are a “a community of organizations that interact together” (Zietsma, 2017, p. 7), “frequently
and fatefully” (Scott, 1995, p. 207-208).
21 ISO 9000 is a set of internationally accepted standards for quality management and assurance developed by the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 2025).
79
certification gave firms perceived credibility (Terlaak & King, 2006). Further, research on
certified B Corporations22 acknowledged that organizations, in their pursuit of legitimacy, are
exposed to isomorphic pressures, appearing more similar to their peers over time (Gehman &
Grimes, 2017). In other words, as organizations pursue the same certification, they may be
considered legitimate, but they cannot claim any uniqueness or distinction from their peers,
which is perceived as a problem for firms in competition with others looking to stand out. Cao et
al., (2017) recommended that to balance this need to be seen as legitimate yet distinct, firms
must consider how to strategically promote their certifications.
One approach to explore the ways in which professional sport teams and their venues
strategically communicate and promote their third-party green building certification and broader
sustainability initiatives is through the lens of cultural entrepreneurship (Lounsbury & Glynn,
2001, 2019; Gehman & Soublire, 2017). Cultural entrepreneurship highlights the
entrepreneurial narrative as a central antecedent of resource acquisition and the legitimation of
new (and existing) ventures (Lounsbury et al., 2019; Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001, 2019). More
explicitly, cultural entrepreneurship refers to the identity markers or symbolic elements such as
entrepreneurial narratives that hold cultural resonance (Kubal, 1998) – the symbolism that is
embedded in communication and entices the audience (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019). A core
element to cultural entrepreneurship is legitimacy - the assumption an entity is desirable and
appropriate within a field or socially constructed system (Suchman, 1995) and another essential
component being optimal distinctiveness – the strategic balance of the demands of conformity
and differentiation (Deephouse, 1999). This framework provides for a deeper understanding of
22 Certified B Corporations include businesses that meet the highest standards of verified environmental and social
performance, legal accountability, public transparency in the attempt to balance profit and purpose (B Lab Europe,
N.D.).
80
the ways in which arenas and teams share certain stories and shape narratives around their green
building certification and environmental sustainability initiatives.
Therefore, this chapter sought to answer the following research question: What are the
narratives that green certified professional sport organizations employ about their environmental
sustainability practices? To do so, this chapter used a narrative analysis, a type of qualitative
data analysis, to investigate how NBA and NHL arenas and teams23 holding green building
certification promote their environmental sustainability initiatives with the audiences they are
attempting to influence.
Several contributions emanate from this chapter. First, it is found that professional sport
organizations that do receive third-party green building certification are almost always going to
publicly communicate it as it may provide an opportunity to be perceived as optimally distinct.
As such, this chapter adds to the discussion on the balance between being the same and standing
out by highlighting that while some sport organizations do not pursue recertification, others
pursue recertification and additional certifications from various certifying bodies. Moreover, this
chapter reveals that most sport organizations rarely provide updates of their narratives over time,
raising questions about transparency – or the lack thereof - from arenas and teams that achieve
green building certification. These results are particularly relevant as we are more than ever
confronted with the negative impacts of climate change (IPCC, 2018). This chapter will begin
with a review of literature on sport facilities, certification and communication, followed by an
overview of cultural entrepreneurship. To follow, the methodology, results, and discussion
23 The arena and team are sometimes under the same ownership entity, while in other cases the arena and team are
owned and/or operated by separate groups, or rather the team and/or arena can collect any revenue generated. Thus,
the terms “arenas and teams”, “professional sport organization(s)”, or "organization(s)" are being applied in this
chapter interchangeably to represent the broader arena actors.
81
sections will be presented. To conclude, this chapter will explore the implications, limitations,
and future research opportunities.
Review of Literature
There is limited research specific to the third-party green building certification of
professional sport facilities. While investigating broader environmental sustainability in sport
facility management, Mallen et al. (2010) discovered through a Delphi study of 31 experts from
16 major North American sport facilities that many experts were initially hesitant to apply for
LEED due to cost concerns. However, since that chapter was conducted, green building
certification has substantially increased in professional sport. To date, the only sport
management study that has focused explicitly on green building certified facilities was conducted
by Kellison and Kim (2014), who explored the motives of professional sport executives using
marketing practices intended to highlight their teams’ LEED-certified facilities with objective of
increasing purchasing behaviour of fans and attracting new customers. It was confirmed that 15
professional sport facilities of the four major sports leagues in North America received LEED
certification at the time, and the results demonstrated that incentives such as increased media
attention and sponsorship motivated team owners to acquire LEED certification.
Empirical research also explored the communication strategies of sport organizations. For
instance, McCullough et al. (2020b) examined the sustainability performance signaling
(communication of environmental sustainability efforts) of North American professional sport
leagues, revealing 42 out of 147 websites of teams highlighted environmental initiatives while
only one featured a report. These results suggest that sport might be slower than other business
sectors in regards to communicating their sustainability performance, which supports previous
sentiments made by researchers Spector et al. (2012) who expressed that the historical
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commitment to environmental sustainability in the sport sector was slower than in other
industries. In addition, researchers investigated why sport organizations may not engage in pro-
environmental communications. Casper et al. (2014) found some sport practitioners are
apprehensive to publicize sustainability initiatives for fear of failing fans’ expectations.
Others such as Kellison and Mondello (2012) adopted organizational perception
management (OPM) to study the public subsidization of professional sport facilities. OPM is
described as the actions by spokespersons to influence an audience’s perception of the
organization (Elsbach, 2003). The authors proposed the promotion of corporate pro-
environmental behaviours through OPM, generates positive perceptions of trustworthiness and
legitimacy from community members. However, empirical research examining how sport
organizations strategically employ narratives remain limited. For example, Wolfe and Shepherd
(2015) investigated emotions and team failure throughout a college football season, finding that t
teams failure influences future narrative construction, which in turn affects future team
performance.
Theoretical Framework
Past cultural entrepreneurship scholarship (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001) highlighted the
entrepreneurial story as central to acquiring resources and legitimizing firms’ new ventures
(Lounsbury et al., 2019; Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001). More recently, Lounsbury and Glynn
(2019) suggested the research agenda must expand beyond the legitimation of new ventures,
since all behaviour is entrepreneurial. However, to date, few studies exist on the content of
professional sport and the cultural entrepreneurship framework.
At the core of the framework is the communicative effort of storytelling, which is an
attempt to construct an ideal organizational identity that distinguishes it from others in a given
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institutional field. Furthermore, at the core of all entrepreneurial actions is the practice of telling
stories that make meaning (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019). Entrepreneurial stories have been
explained as the narratives that entrepreneurs share about their ventures or projects (Martens et
al., 2007). While entrepreneurial narratives were described as crafted by focal actors in their
corporate histories or encoded on websites in their attempts to make sense of their organizational
identity (Brown, 2006).
The role that culture plays in storytelling is via cultural resonance – the symbolism that is
embedded in communication and entices the audience (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019). It is the
cultural resonance of identity narratives that makes symbolic communication interesting to the
audience, as it is the audience who assesses and legitimizes the undertakings of entrepreneurs
(Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019).
There is some empirical research relevant to the current chapter examining
entrepreneurial narratives in management contexts. For instance, Martens et al. (2007)
investigated how effective storytelling can enable resource acquisition by conducting a study on
initial public offering prospectuses in three technology industries between 1996-2000. The
analysis revealed storytelling is a key mechanism through which entrepreneurs can leverage
existing capital to secure additional investment. Some firms portrayed themselves as established
leaders and as pioneers in the industry, claiming this leadership would make them risk free for
potential investors. Others portrayed themselves as aspiring leaders, with narratives citing social
ties, strategic plans, or the firm’s track record. These results illustrated that effective
entrepreneurial narratives invoke familiar elements such as facts to contextually ground
unfamiliar elements. With this in mind and in the current context, sports organizations may
present themselves as aspiring leaders in sustainability, considering they are first and foremost in
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the field of professional sport and more specifically, sport and entertainment facilities.
Meanwhile, they may refer to the environmental groups they partner with as the established
leaders.
Legitimacy
What remains a central focus of cultural entrepreneurship is the notion of legitimacy,
which is the absence or presence of questioning (Meyer & Scott, 1983), and a strategic approach
to obtaining resources through competition (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978). Suchman (1995) defined
legitimacy as “a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable,
proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and
definitions” (p. 574).
More recently, Suddaby et al. (2017) argued that legitimacy could be theorized in three
ways: legitimacy-as-property, legitimacy-as-process, or legitimacy-as-perception. Legitimacy-
as-property is a thing or resource, legitimacy-as-process is a collaborative, ongoing and
negotiated process, while legitimacy-as-perception is the sociological construction of evaluation,
validation, or judgement. Suddaby and colleagues defined these three areas of theory in an effort
to “provide an analytic framework that synthesizes the burgeoning and often confusing literature
on legitimacy” (p. 468).
There are institutional and strategic approaches to research on legitimacy. Massey (2001)
proposed that an institutional approach focuses on the pressures applied by the institutional
environment on firms or organizations. Firms, in turn, pursue being similar to their peers to gain
legitimacy (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). This approach draws on institutional theory which
emphasizes the role of longstanding arrangements in shaping varying types of behaviours (Scott,
2014) of organizations within an institutional field. In strategy research, legitimacy is viewed
85
from a management lens, where firms gain competitive advantage by cultivating unique
competencies rooted in valuable, rare, and inimitable resources (Barney, 1991; Porter, 1996).
Entrepreneurial narratives may be a source of normative legitimacy (Taeuscher et al.,
2021), which Scott (1995) describes as an organization’s perceived similarity with the standard
expectations of its institutional environment. For instance, there is widespread scholarly work
suggesting that certifications may offer organizations important promotional benefits and
legitimacy. Certifications are implemented to provide stability to strategy and action efforts
(Kitazawa & Sarkis, 2000). Organizations may seek out certifications to meet normative
standards. For example, Terlaak and King (2006) investigated whether the certification – ISO
9000 Quality Management Standard certification – led to a competitive advantage for U.S.
manufacturing facilities, finding that these facilities grew faster once they had certification. As
such, organizations construct entrepreneurial stories about certifications achieved. In the current
chapter, sport organizations may deploy narratives that express gaining third party green building
certification provides them credibility and normative legitimacy in their environmental
sustainability efforts.
Temporality. The notion of temporality, and time, is central to maintaining legitimacy,
which is a paradox at the heart of crafting and presenting entrepreneurial narratives (Garud et al.,
2014). In order to gain legitimacy, entrepreneurs create high expectations about the future, but
these expectations are not likely to be met, thereby undermining legitimacy. Since cultural
entrepreneurship focuses on an ongoing and intertemporal process between the past, present, and
future, it renews attention to the importance of power and politics of entrepreneurial action
(Gehman & Soublire, 2017). For instance, cultural entrepreneurs are in a continuous process of
creating and revising narratives to uphold their identity and status (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001).
86
These narratives of future projection “serve as maps for action” and are “forged by recollection
of the past and anticipations of the future” (Garud & Giuliani, 2013, p. 1059). In this way,
narratives set expectations and establish intertextual links with other growth stories to expand the
market whereby all actors co-evolve and tell competing stories (Wry et al., 2011).
Crafting narratives is a continual process of temporal work (Kaplan & Orlikowski, 2013),
whereby entrepreneurs share and revise stories about the past and about the future to rationalize
their actions as well as to gain support from important stakeholders. Garud and Giuliani (2013)
contended that the temporal dimension is the defining aspect of entrepreneurial narrative, as it
focuses on both past and future activities, while being contextualized through constant
entrepreneurial actions and processes (Garud et al., 2014). Therefore, narratives can help
understand the decisions, outcomes, activities, and events of the past (Weick, 1995).
Manning and Bejarano (2017) examined the entrepreneurial stories of 54 Kickstarter
crowdfunding campaigns, and how project types were framed in narratives to appeal to
funders. The results of the chapter revealed that projects can be narrated in different styles such
as ongoing journeys, which narrate projects as longer-term endeavors with a bold vision for the
future, and results in progress, which narrate projects more intently as a progression of
achievements and focusing on the immediate value of projects for customers. These findings add
particularly nuance to understanding how the value of projects aligns with how narratives are
constructed over time (Garud et al., 2014). In the sport facility context, since these sport
organizations have successfully pursued green certification, they may continue to frame
narratives of their environmental sustainability initiatives as both ongoing journeys and results in
progress over time.
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Optimal Distinctiveness
One of the most accepted propositions in cultural entrepreneurship has advanced under
the concept of optimal distinctiveness (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2001, 2019; Martens et al., 2007).
An updated definition of cultural entrepreneurship recognized that in pursuit of this
distinctiveness, actors draw on cultural resources such as language, logics, discourse, and other
symbolic elements to advance their business goals (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019). Optimal
distinctiveness emphasizes actors’ drive to be both “the same and different at the same time”
(Brewer, 1991, p. 475) or as Zhao et al. (2017) described it, “optimally distinct—being different
enough from peer firms to be competitive, but similar enough to peers to be recognizable” (p.
93). Deephouse (1999) argued new ventures should be as distinct as is legitimately possible to
maximize performance.
More recently, Lounsbury and Glynn (2019) expressed that the concept is more complex
than simply a tension between similarity and differences, pointing to research on categorization
from Zuckerman (2017) that demonstrates an organization first needs to be perceived as a
member of a given institutional field, before being evaluated by the field. In other words,
“isomorphic pressures may not be so strong that organizations in a field are compelled to be
identical, [but] they must be perceived to be similar enough to other entities in the field in order
to be evaluated as a member of a given field” (Lounsbury & Glynn, 2019, p. 31).
One study conducted by Gehman and Grimes (2017) studied category distinctiveness,
wherein a category is defined as the way in which organizations are grouped based on shared
attributes (Navis & Glynn, 2010). The authors investigated 526 companies that received B Corp
Certification in the United States to better understand why firms abstain from promoting the
associations they have gone to great lengths to achieve, which is defined as “promotional
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forbearance, wherein, an organization voluntarily restrains from publicizing associations it is
legitimately entitled to make” (Gehman & Grimes, 2017, p. 2295). Gehman and Grimes (2017)
found the choice to obtain membership in a particular category (B Corp certification) and the
decision to promote that category are motivated by different factors. Their results indicated “that
members' subsequent promotion is driven by a different logic: a desire to promote distinction
rather than similarity” (p. 2313). Since green building certification such as LEED is similar in
some ways to B Corporation certification, sport organizations may also be enacting promotional
forbearance and not actively promoting their certifications.
Methods
This chapter employed a qualitative, single case method on professional sport venues in
North America, part of the greater institutional field of sport and entertainment venues. The unit
of analysis for this chapter were the text from the data collected.
Data Collection
Arenas in North America that are home to NBA and/or NHL teams were specifically
chosen for the focus of the case study because these arenas are large, multipurpose venues that
are utilised by the sport and entertainment sector. For this reason, there is potential for significant
environmental impacts due to their use for multiple events per year, yet they may also hold
additional opportunities to be repurposed from a no waste, circular economy perspective (Barry
et al. 2022).
Data were gathered on all 51 NBA and NHL arenas to confirm which facilities had green
building certification, from 2010 to 2023. The date range was based on the salience of
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sustainability in the communication around NBA and NHL arenas. Furthermore, the institutional
field24 for this chapter is the competition between arenas in North American professional sport.
This chapter incorporated secondary data from various sources, including arena and team
website news articles, webpages, media news articles, case study reports, and press releases that
mentioned and discussed sustainability initiatives of arenas in the NBA and NHL. 17 of the 51
arenas were found to have attained green building certification, including: Green Globes, Green
Project Management, ILFI Zero Carbon Certification, ISO 14001, Event Industry Council
Sustainable Event Standards, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design25, and TRUE. All
17 arenas gained some level of LEED certification between 2009 and 2023, and some arenas
accumulated different types of building certifications in addition to LEED. Table 6 classifies the
17 NBA and NHL arenas earned green building certification and further elaborates on the LEED
certification and level of each arena. For example, ten out of the 17 arenas were given LEED for
new construction while the other 7 were existing and renovated venues. There are four arenas
that have sought out and received LEED re-certification: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee (NBA),
Kaseya Arena in Miami (NBA), State Farm Arena in Atlanta (NBA) and Xcel Energy Center in
Minnesota (NHL). Finally, there were cities that require LEED on new buildings over a certain
square footage— Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Seattle, and Edmonton – that may have had played a
role in why the respective arenas – PPG Paints, Golden 1 Center, Climate Pledge Arena, Rogers
Place – received LEED.
24 An institutional field is a “cornerstone of institutional theory” and “a community of organizations that interact
together” (Zietsma, 2017, p. 7), “frequently and fatefully” (Scott, 1995, p. 207-208).
25 To gain LEED, different projects require different rating systems. For example, new buildings require the LEED
Building Design and Construction rating system, while existing buildings that focus on operations would select
LEED Operations and Maintenance. A project may earn points by following specified benchmarks that address
various areas in waste, energy, carbon, materials, water, transportation, materials, and indoor environmental quality.
Through a review process, projects are awarded a range of points: Certified (40-49), Silver (50-59), Gold (60-79),
and Platinum (80+ points) (U.S. Green Building Council, 2025b).
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Table 6: Data Collection
League
Name of Arena
Date Opened
Team
Third-Party
Green
Certification(s)
LEED Details
1
NBA
Amway Center
2010
Orlando Magic
LEED
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
v2 - LEED 2.2
Last certified on: February 23, 2011
Certification level: Gold
2
NBA
Barclays Center
2012
Brooklyn Nets
LEED
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
v4 - LEED v4
Last certified on: February 10, 2023
Certification level: Silver
3
NHL
Bell Centre
1996
Montreal
Canadiens
LEED, ISO
14001
Rating system: LEED O+M: Existing Buildingsv3
- LEED 2008
Last certified on: October 08, 2009
Certification level: Silver
4
NBA
Chase Center
2019
Golden State
Warriors
LEED
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
v3 - LEED 2009
Last certified on: July 23, 2020
Certification level: Gold
5
NHL
Climate Pledge
Arena
2021
Seattle Kraken
LEED, ILFI
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
v4 - LEED v4
Last certified on: September 08, 2023
Certification level: Silver
6
NBA
Fiserv Forum
2018
Milwaukee
Bucks
LEED
Rating system: LEED v4.1 O+M: Existing
Buildings recertification
Last certified on: May 07, 2025
Certification level: Platinum
91
7
NBA
Golden 1 Center
2016
Sacramento
Kings
LEED, Green
Project
Management
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
v3 - LEED 2009
Last certified on: August 29, 2016
Certification level: platinum
8
NBA,
NHL
Little Caesars
Arena
2017
Detroit Pistons,
Detroit Red
Wings
LEED
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
v3 - LEED 2009
Last certified on: April 26, 2019
Certification level: Silver
9
NBA
Kaseya Arena
1999
Miami Heat
LEED
Rating system: LEED O+M: Existing Buildingsv3
- LEED 2008
First certified on: April 03, 2009
Recertified on: 2014 and 2021
Certification level: Gold
10
NBA
Moda Center
1995
Portland Trail
Blazers
LEED
Rating system: LEED v4.1 Recertification and
LEED 2009 Existing Buildings Operations and
Maintenance
Last certified on: August 29, 2022
Certification level: Platinum
Last certified on: August 2, 2019
Certification level: Platinum
Last certified on: June 15, 2017
Certification level: Gold
11
NHL
PPG Paints
Arena
2019
Pittsburgh
Penguins
LEED
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
Last certified on: February 16, 2017
Certification level: Gold
12
NHL
Rogers Place
2016
Edmonton
Oilers
LEED
Rating system: LEED v1 LEED Canada for New
Construction and Major Renovations 2009
Last certified on: October 20, 2017
Certification level: Silver
13
NBA
State Farm
Arena
1999
Atlanta Hawks
LEED, True
Rating system: LEED ID+C: Commercial
Interiorsv3 - LEED 2009
92
Last certified on: May 31, 2019
Certification level: Gold
14
NHL
T-Mobile Arena
2016
Vegas Golden
Knights
LEED
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
v3 - LEED 2009
Last certified on: October 27, 2016
Certification level: Gold
15
NBA
Toyota Center
2003
Houston
Rockets
LEED Silver
Rating system: LEED O+M: Existing Buildings
v3 - LEED 2008
Last certified on: May 12, 2010
Certification level: Silver
16
NHL
Xcel Energy
Center
2000
Minnesota Wild
LEED, Green
Globe,
Sustainable
Events Standard
- EIC/SES Gold
Rating system: LEED 2009 Existing Buildings
Operations and Maintenance and LEED v4.1
Recertification
Last certified on: June 06, 2023
Certification level: Gold
Previous certified on: August 27, 2019
Certification level: Platinum
Previous certified on: September 19, 2014
Certification level: Certified
17
NHL
UBS Arena
2021
New York
Islanders
LEED Certified
Rating system: LEED BD+C: New Construction
v4 - LEED v4
Last certified on: January 13, 2023
Certification level: certified
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Once these 17 arenas were confirmed, data were collected from the 17 NBA and NHL
arena and team public-facing modes of communication. The reason for this source of data
collection was because this chapter considered the audience as any group outside the
organization that the organization attempts to influence. Data were gathered through arena and
team website news articles, team and arena website webpages, media news articles, case studies,
press releases, reports, blogs, online magazines, policies, fact sheets, and (transcribed) podcasts.
Data collected focused on sustainability initiatives specific to the arenas, such as working with
conservation groups and local non-profit organizations, pursuing environmental management
programs, and gaining third-party green building certification. Meanwhile, ProQuest database
was utilized to search for news articles from the dates June 2023-August 2023. Primary key
words such as “environmental sustainability and arenas”, “sustainable professional sports
arenas”, “green [league name] arenas” as well as “[arena name] and environmental
sustainability” were inputted to collect newspaper articles. Internet search tools using similar
search words were used to collect text from mediums such as blogs, interviews, and podcasts,
while remaining data collection occurred by accessing the team or venue websites and their
website pages, news articles or press releases directly.
Data Analysis
Narrative analysis was selected as the inductive analysis method for this part of the
chapter. Parcell and Baker (2017) defined narrative analysis as “a genre of analytic frames
whereby researchers interpret stories that are told within the context of research and/or are shared
in everyday life” (p. 1070). Clandinin and Connelly (2000) described narrative inquiry as
“stories lived and told” (p. 20). The central tenet drawing researchers to narratives is how stories
and storytelling make meaning (Mayan, 2009). While story is a more informal and exploratory,
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narrative is the consciously formed and premediated account of an experience (Edwards &
Skinner, 2009). Furthermore, narrative analysis refers to a family of qualitative research
methods. Each technique allows a researcher to interpret text that have in common a storied and
narrative form (Riessman, 2008). For instance, narratives are often collected through interviews
but other qualitative forms of data collection – such as observations and documents – may be
used. The most common approach is narrative thematic analysis (Riessman, 2008) in which
content within the text is the primary focus. Structural analysis is also used often, which focuses
on the way a story is told or put together (Riessman, 2008).
For this chapter, both narrative thematic as well as structural analyses were employed.
First cycle inductive coding such as manual, narrative coding was applied initially. Narrative
coding “applies the conventions of (primarily) literary elements and analysis to qualitative texts
most often in the form of stories” (Saldaña, 2013, p. 131). Therefore, “[t]he unit of analysis is
often big gulps of text – entire stories” (Daiute & Lightfoot, 2004, p. 2). Once inductive coding
was completed, a general analytic strategy where data were examined, categorized, tabulated,
summarized, condensed, and recombined (Yin, 2009) was employed. Next, second cycle coding
methods were employed to develop major themes from the data, and search for explanations
based on theoretical constructs (Saldaña, 2013). Once themes were identified through a narrative
analysis, they were revisited using specifically notions of optimal distinctiveness and legitimacy.
Results
Analysis revealed four distinct themes, as described in Table 7: 1) circular practices, 2)
sustainability journeys, 3) the green advantage, and 4) environmental leadership.
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Table 7: Themes
Themes
Description
Exemplars
Environmental
Leadership
Organizations identified
themselves as leaders in
sustainability.
“Moda Center has been a leader in
sustainability within our league and across the
sports and entertainment industry” (Rip City
Management, 2025, para. 3).
Organizations claimed
being “first” amongst
peers for sustainability
efforts.
“The first International Living Future
Institute certified zero carbon arena in the
world” (Climate Pledge Arena, 2025, para. 5).
Organizations shared
varying motivations for
being leaders in
sustainability.
“We know that climate change is a global
concern that needs to be addressed immediately
and realize the impact that we and the global
sports community can have on combating it”
(Golden State Warriors, 2019, para. 3).
The Green
Advantage
Collaboration with others
anchors sustainability
efforts to end waste.
“[Moda Center’s] waste reduction efforts come
from deep partnerships with various
stakeholders in our community and practices
dedicated to responsibly managing our supply
chain and waste stream” (Trail Blazers, 2025).
Green building
certification brings
uniqueness, validation,
transparency, and
prestige.
“Certification is proof that buildings are going
above and beyond to ensure the space is
constructed and operated to the highest level of
sustainability” (UBS, 2025).
Environmental
certification stacking:
Collecting, managing,
updating, and promoting
one or more green
building certifications.
“Perhaps the most significant accomplishment
of the program is having three independent,
third-party organizations certify that the
complex has a high-performing and sustainable
operation” (Xcel Energy Center, N.D.).
Sustainability
Journeys
Organizations recognized
that sustainability efforts
would be ongoing and
unending.
“They [Moda Center] understand that
sustainability is a journey and are a leading
example in the sports industry by effectively
focusing on best operational and management
practices” (Rip City Management, 2025).
This journey includes the
notion of practicing
sustainability.
“We [State Farm Arena] know that sports can
make an impact far beyond the game itself, and
it is paramount that we remain true to our
community by practicing sustainability”
(Gwinnett Daily News, 2021).
Sustainability is
strategically weaved in
the organizational culture
“The core charter developed to guide our
[Portland Trail Blazers] sustainability
initiatives, including the development of goals
and strategies for each segment of our carbon
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Circular Practices and Sustainability Journeys Themes
As discussed above, the literature review suggested that since these sport organizations
have successfully pursued green building certification, they would frame narratives of their
environmental sustainability initiatives as both ongoing journeys and results in progress
(Manning & Bejarano, 2017). However, it was found that sport organizations described their
efforts as ongoing journeys rarely promoting their results in progress. This finding is described in
more detail in the circular practices and sustainability journeys themes.
The circular practices narrative that emerged underscored how professional sport
organizations tied their sustainability actions and goals specifically to circular descriptions, such
as zero waste, ending waste, and the circular economy. While the actions were communicated in
present time, the goals were offered in future tense, which illustrates some overlap with the
sustainability journey narrative. For instance, Rogers Place contended that they reduced waste,
explaining “the construction team diverted 94.8% of waste from the landfill while building the
and core values, leading
to success.
footprint, was compiled by our sustainability
team” (National Resource Defense Council,
2012b).
Organizations pursued
and aspired for future
imaginaries and
possibilities.
“It’s our [Rogers Place] plan to have the same
responsibility as we go into operation as well,”
McFaul said, adding that Rogers Place strives
to maintain high-performance operations even
after the building opens” (Gustafson, 2016).
Circular
Practices
Organizations shared zero
waste strategies that
include closing the loop
and the circular economy.
“We are committed to increasing
environmentally preferable purchasing in
priority categories, accelerating materials
recycling, and further exploring the use of
circular economy principles” (T Mobile Arena,
2025).
Organizations set self-
imposed targets and
shared measurable and
intended outcomes.
“[UBS Arena] [is] exploring on-site solar
generation for renewable energy, and one
objective by year's end is a zero-waste venue
diverting at least 90 percent of its waste from
landfills” (Lane, 2025).
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arena (Penny, 2018, para. 3). While Rogers Place provided statistical evidence of their efforts,
they have not updated the public on their waste diversion since 2018. Meanwhile, State Farm
Arena gained TRUE Platinum certification, which employs a circular economy lens to their
evaluation such as redesign, reduce, reuse, zero waste reporting, zero waste purchasing, and a
closed loop system (State Farm Arena, 2022). Others such as Climate Pledge Arena (2025),
expressed a desire to achieve zero waste, stating they “would target a 95%+ diversion rate, which
is considered ‘zero waste’ in the industry” (para. 13). A future goal for UBS Arena is “exploring
on-site solar generation for renewable energy, and one objective by year's end is a zero-waste
venue diverting at least 90 percent of its waste from landfills” (Lane, 2025, para. 21).
While arenas and teams expressed circularity in their narratives such as “closing the
loop” and “circular economy”, few described these terms in detail or provided any resources to
educate the public further. For instance, as Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson, and
a partner of Fiserv Forum, shared “…we are proud to work with the Milwaukee Bucks and the
Fiserv Forum to implement a closed-loop recycling process starting this season” (Greenwood,
2022, para. 10). Meanwhile, T Mobile Arena (2025) shared how the purchasing of materials and
the products reduced environmental impact, diverted from landfills, and met circular economy
objectives. There were also examples found that did not explicitly mention circularity or the
circular economy, but shared circular concepts that illustrate a closed loop, zero-waste economy
compared to the linear economy that leads to an end-of-life cycle such as the Bell Centre (Penny,
2018) and Climate Pledge Arena (Belson & Wasson, 2021).
The sustainability journeys narrative described how organizations recognized that their
sustainability efforts would be ongoing and lifelong. Moda Center expressed that “sustainability
[is] a journey” (Rip City Management, 2025, para. 5) and would continue to focus on best
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management and operational practices. Meanwhile, Steve Koonin, Chief Executive Officer of the
Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena expressed “[s]sustainability is never a message of 'we did
it…environmental and social sustainability is a lifelong commitment, and we're just getting
started’” (Gwinnett Daily Post, 2022, para. 7). Organizations such as State Farm Arena and the
Atlanta Hawks described the process of practicing sustainability, which this chapter defines as
the planning and actions groups make to seek out sustainability in their everyday practices. This
included detailing how sustainability is strategically woven into the organization’s culture,
business plans, and core values, leading to success with their initiatives (Trail Blazers, 2025).
Professional sport organizations often presented narratives of future possibilities and
aspirations. Rogers Place stated that “LEED has been around for quite some time now and…it’s
certainly a bar that should be met and is aspirational in some ways” (Tilley, 2018, para. 4).
However, it became evident that some organizations, such as Rogers Place, did not provide
updated statements on whether aspirational targets were met from previous press releases or
website articles. Chase Center (2019) portended that once they completed the construction of the
arena, they would embrace sustainable operational practices around modes of transportation for
visitors, in order to reduce auto emissions and pollution. However, Chase Center has not updated
this stance since 2019, and it is not clear if they have carried out these initiatives yet. Others such
as the Golden State Warriors (2019) stated that “by signing the UN Sports for Climate Action
Initiative, the Warriors and Chase Center are committing to the program’s five principles” (para.
4). At the time of this writing, however, updates on meeting these five principles have not been
communicated publicly.
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The Green Advantage
As discussed in the theoretical overview, it was suggested that sport organizations might
deploy narratives expressing that gaining third party green building certification provides them
credibility and provides a source of normative legitimacy in their environmental sustainability
efforts. The results demonstrated that sport organizations described the benefits of being LEED
certified as meeting they standard expectation within the organizations’ given institutional field
(Scott, 1995).
Additionally, it was anticipated that since green building certification such as LEED is
similar in some ways to B Corporation certification, sport organizations may also enact
promotional forbearance (Gehman & Grimes, 2017). However, sport organizations did not
exhibit promotional forbearance and promoted their certification prominently. For example, 16
of the 17 LEED certified arenas promoted their certification on their website. These results are
explored in the green advantage narrative below.
The green advantage narrative emerged as organizations focused on the emphasis sport
organizations placed on having LEED certification and the benefits and outcomes of aligning
with various environmental organizations. For example, Moda Center argued that collaborating
with others anchored sustainability efforts to end waste (Trail Blazers, 2025). T Mobile Arena
(2025) shared how they were continuing to develop partnerships to help advance their shared
environmental principles. While the Pittsburgh Penguins (PPG Paints Arena) expressed that they
work with environmentally focused organizations to expand their sustainability initiatives
(Pittsburgh Penguins, 2021, para. 3).
Nearly all the 17 arenas found to have attained green building certification promoted their
LEED certification, amongst other types of certifications if they had any. Organizations
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expressed that achieving green building certification, such as LEED, provided validation and
prestige. For example, Kaseya Center (2025) suggested “Kaseya LEED Certification makes
smart environmental and business sense. It affirms the Kaseya Center’s commitment to
sustainable building” (Tilley, 2018, para. 3). Further, Toyota Center shared that LEED acts as
validation to their energy management approach and waste reduction programs (National
Resource Defense Council, 2012a). Overall, LEED was prominent in the results. Additionally,
those individuals leading Amway Center affirmed that becoming LEED certified “underscores
our commitment to sustainability” (PureCycle Technologies, 2022, para. 3).
This narrative showed evidence that some arenas continuously added and/or collected
more certifications. Clear examples of this concept include Bell Centre and Xcel Energy Centre,
since they explicitly identified the several certifications they achieved. Some organizations also
communicated they were seeking out recertification through green building certification. For
example, LEED now provides buildings an opportunity to recertify every five years, although it
is not a requirement. Some organizations confirmed they had already gone through the process of
recertification; for example, the Kaseya Center is 2x LEED Gold recertified (Miami Heat, 2025)
and the Milwaukee Bucks (Fiserv Forum) sought out LEED v4.1 recertification in 2021
(Greenwood, 2022). Other arenas were aspirational in their certification. For example, Xcel
Energy Center (2022) articulated they are working toward recertification, while Barclays
Center, shared that they are going for LEED Gold from LEED Silver (Blaustein, 2019).
However, these two arenas have yet to confirm their recertification.
Environmental Leadership
Finally, it was predicted that sports organizations would present themselves as aspiring
leaders and refer to environmental groups they partner with as established leaders (Martens et al.,
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2007). However, this chapter found that sport organizations pointedly described themselves as
established leaders in environmental sustainability across the sports and entertainment industry,
the league, and/or the arenas within the league. This result is described in the environmental
leadership theme below.
The most prominent narrative that emerged highlighted how green building certified
arenas described themselves as leaders in environmental sustainability. The environmental
leadership narrative was prevalent in their own communications. For example, the Portland Trail
Blazers (NBA) expressed: “Moda Center has been a leader in sustainability within our league
and across the sports and entertainment industry” (Rip City Management, 2025, para. 3). Other
organizations used words such as ‘trailblazers’ (Spohn, 2016, para. 1) ‘groundbreakers’
(Shegerian, 2015, para. 48), or ‘agents of change’, to articulate their sustainability initiatives. For
example, as the leaders of Golden 1 Center, home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings (2017),
shared “[w]e believe businesses have a responsibility to serve as agents of change and we are
proud that Golden 1 Center has been recognized as a model of sustainability" (para. 2).
Furthermore, many organizations claimed that they were “first” with various
environmental practices. For example, the UBS Arena (2025), home to the New York Islanders
of the NHL, shared that they were “the first arena on the eastern United States seaboard” to be
awarded LEED Green Building Certification in January 2023 (para. 8). Meanwhile, Fiserv
Forum and anchor tenant, the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA, stated that they had “the first sports
and entertainment venue in Wisconsin to be awarded a LEED Silver Certification” (Milwaukee
Bucks, 2021, para. 9). Others such as Toyota Center (2025), home to the Houston Rockets of the
NBA, expressed that they were the first professional sports facility in Texas to gain LEED Silver
(para. 1). Some organizations such as Xcel Energy Center, home to the NHL’s Minnesota Wild
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(Xcel Energy Center, N.D.) explained they were the only facility globally to be certified by
EIC/SES, Green Globes, and LEED, an accomplishment of having three independent, third-party
organizations to certify their sustainable building operations (para. 11). Finally, the Golden State
Warriors (2019) noted their role as the first NBA team to sign “the UN Sports for Climate Action
Initiative to show their commitment to combating global climate change” (para. 1). These results
will be explored in the discussion and implications sections.
Discussion
This chapter explored the narratives that sport organizations employ about their
environmental sustainability practices to the audience(s) that they are attempting to influence.
Using a cultural entrepreneurship lens, and the concepts and literature of legitimacy and optimal
distinctiveness, some contradiction emerged as sport organizations sought to be perceived as
legitimate and optimally distinctive, while also risking their perceived legitimacy.
The Paradox of Legitimacy
Sport organizations constructed both the circular practices and sustainability journeys
narratives with recognizable sustainability language and discourse, indicating the support of the
tenets of environmental sustainability movement, and thus presenting as legitimate in their given
field. Yet, organizations failed to revise or update the circular practices and sustainability
journeys narratives. This result might suggest these organizations strategically deploy vagueness
or provide any updates in their entrepreneurial storytelling to avoid full transparency.
Returning to Manning and Bejarano’s (2017) examination of entrepreneurial stories of
Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns, these authors expressed projects can be narrated in
different styles to project the future, such as “ongoing journeys”, which are longer-term
endeavors with a bold vision, and “results in progress”, which narrate projects more intently as a
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progression of achievements. This notion of “ongoing journeys” manifested in both these
narratives, as organizations described their interest in sustainability as ongoing, while also
providing details on their future goals and aspirations and presenting measurable goals they
intended to meet. However, what was absent was the notion of “results in progress”, as it became
evident that many organizations did not provide updated statements or press releases to confirm
whether these results were eventually met.
The outcome from these findings could be what Garud et al. (2014) deemed as the
“paradox of legitimacy”, in that organizations risk their perceived legitimacy with unmet future
expectations once shared in their entrepreneurial narratives. In order to gain legitimacy,
entrepreneurs create high expectations about the future, but these expectations are not likely to
be met, thereby undermining legitimacy. While sport organizations presented and sustained an
initial narrative, they rarely revised the narratives as the story unfolded. In other words, there
does not appear to be a concerted effort to change these narratives over time. As such, sport
organizations used vagueness, rather than fidelity, to avoid “revising stories to maintain or regain
legitimacy if threatened or lost” (Garud et al., 2014, p. 1483). As Lounsbury and Glynn (2001)
expressed, storytelling is a mechanism by which actors establish their legitimacy whereby
narratives demonstrate narrative fidelity (trustworthiness). Not providing updates regularly is a
critical oversight on the part of the sport organizations as consistently revising stories may foster
trustworthiness between the organization and the various stakeholders that are closely observing
their environmental sustainability efforts.
Fitting In and Standing Out
Many sport organizations subtly differentiated themselves from others, as explored in the
green advantage and environmental leadership narratives. Some arenas and teams chose to
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recertify their venue, while others did not pursue recertification as it is not a LEED requirement.
Meanwhile, some arenas held only LEED certification, while other arenas continued to gain and
promote other types of green building certifications. In addition to that, many organizations
promoted their established leadership with slight distinctions, such as ‘first LEED venue in the
region’, ‘first with LEED Gold certification’, or ‘first venue in the NHL with LEED’. Arenas and
teams employed particular narratives to demonstrate their distinction and uniqueness from
competition in their given field, which suggests a desire to balancing being both legitimate and
optimally distinct (Deephouse, 1999).
Moreover, as previously mentioned, nearly all the 17 arenas found to have attained green
building certification promoted the LEED certification obtained. These findings indicate that
arenas and teams do in fact promote their certifications, which differs from Gehman and Grimes’
(2017) study on Certified B Corporations and the notion of promotional forbearance that
explains why organizations may abstain from publicizing the memberships they are legitimately
permitted to make. One reason for the results to differ from certified B Corporations is that
LEED remains a viable option to stand out from most arenas and teams, while B Corporation
certification no longer did.
Presently, LEED is still considered the most common green building certification in the
NBA and NHL. However, only 17 of the 51 NBA and NHL arenas are LEED certified. So, while
LEED more broadly is perceived to provide legitimacy across various sectors, in the field of
professional sports arenas, LEED may still help an organization perceive themselves as unique
compared to their peers. Sport organizations that are pursuing recertification, gaining additional
certification, strategically partnering with environmental groups, and/or actively promoting and
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updating their sustainability activities to their stakeholders, may see the other LEED certified
sport venues as their competition, rather than the other teams/arenas in the league.
Implications
This chapter has several contributions. While McCullough and colleagues (2020b) found
that of the 147 websites of professional sport teams they analyzed, only 42 highlighted their
environmental initiatives, this current chapter showed that when specifically examining green
building certified arenas in the NBA and NHL, sport organizations prominently featured and
promoted their LEED certification in the context of their environmental initiatives. However,
both studies revealed sport organizations are not following up on their environmental
sustainability activities with reports. With nearly 5 years between our research studies, the lack
of reporting remained similar.
That being said, using a cultural entrepreneurship framework, and a narrative analysis,
contributed a deeper understanding as to how they did or did not present both “results in
progress” and an “ongoing journey”. This chapter highlights a major paradox. Considering this
chapter provided evidence that sport organizations view LEED certification as a way to be
optimally distinct from their competition, NBA and NHL arenas and teams risked their perceived
legitimacy by not fully committing to telling a continuous, ongoing story.
These results have particular implications, as we are confronted with the consequences of
climate change (IPCC, 2018). This chapter highlights that some sport organizations are only
partially committing to broader environmental goals and primarily obtaining LEED for other
reasons – such as the city mandates that new buildings be LEED certified – or they see it as a
way to be slightly unique without having to take a major risk. The question remains then, is the
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sport sector a reliable communicator of the negative and detrimental consequences of climate
change?
Practitioners and sport managers that have obtained LEED and want to strategically
balance legitimacy with distinctiveness, should consider revising their narratives continuously to
demonstrate their commitment and values as an organization. These actions, in turn, may
mitigate the paradox of legitimacy and limit accusations of greenwashing.
One way to capitalize on the LEED phenomena in the NBA and NHL further is for
LEED executives and league leaders to develop a stronger alliance with one another so that both
entities may benefit from a long-term agreement. How could LEED strategically position itself to
be the premier building certification of these leagues and beyond, and how does this strategic
alliance lead to a more committed and transparent sport sector? These questions could be
explored in further research, among other research opportunities listed below.
Future Research and Limitations
This chapter provides the groundwork for future research to continue to investigate how
narratives change, evolve, and adapt over time in a sporting context, which is particularly
relevant as sport organizations continue to use webpages dedicated to sustainability on their main
organization’s website. Another opportunity for future research would be to interview leaders of
arenas and teams to find out the motives for recertifying or gaining additional types of
certifications, revealing the type of institutional pressures that may be influencing their decision
to recertify and the forms of legitimacy teams and arenas are seeking. Furthermore, this could
reveal if environmental sustainability is a driving factor in the decision to re-certify, which can
be costly. In addition, researchers could interview leaders of sport organizations that do not
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pursue recertification or provide any further updates on their initiatives to explore this notion of
optimal distinctiveness.
Despite the theoretical and practical contributions there are also some limitations to this
research chapter that should be addressed. The first issue to address is the role a researcher’s
personal bias plays in the analysis. Therefore, this chapter used a process of reflexivity to engage
in self-reflection about how our subjectivities guide the research process (Wilkinson, 1988). It
should also be acknowledged that case study research has its limitations in its generality of
findings. This chapter involved North American professional sport organizations home to closed
roof, multipurpose arenas, and teams, and therefore the findings may not reflect the behaviour of
similar venues in other parts of the world.
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Chapter 5: Conclusion
109
The broader purpose of this dissertation was to explore and understand how organizations
communicate their environmental sustainability (ES) initiatives. Sport ecology researchers have
found that sport managers may pursue pro-environmental initiatives to save costs (Kellison &
Hong, 2015), while others have argued there is a lack of transparency and public reporting of
environmental initiatives among professional sport organizations (McCullough et al., 2020a).
This dissertation was interested in exploring the narratives, discourse, language, and rhetorical
arguments that sport leaders and organizations employ publicly to describe their initiatives to
environmental sustainability practices and initiatives.
McCullough and colleagues’ (2020a) study highlighted and determined sport organizations
are not reporting transparently on their environmental outcomes. Since that time, more sport
organizations have gained green building certification, partnered with environmental
organizations or companies, or joined climate change pledges. While these results are somewhat
hopeful, I am not fully convinced that the sport sector is an effective communicator and/or
advocate for climate change and environmental sustainability. Therefore, it is vital to continue to
study and research the evolution of how the sport sector relates to climate change awareness and
education.
The way sport organizations promote and communicate these initiatives provides a rich
empirical setting to explore as it can highlight the consistencies in the messaging and potential
commitment organizations are making to reducing climate change. This becomes more urgent as
the catastrophic outcomes of climate change are not only in the future but now in present day.
Summary of Research Findings
In the second chapter, it emerged that winning candidature cities used a particular type of
rhetoric – ethos - and linguistical elements – temporality – to demonstrate their capacity to host
110
an ES Games. Nineteen different types of ethos-based arguments or six categories
(collaboration; legislation; certification; infrastructure; environmental harm reduction; and
bid/event leveraging), used by the winning bid committees emerged. Candidature cities
employed ethos-based arguments based on their city or regional features and these arguments
were framed by using mostly past and sometimes present tense language to describe actions that
had already been achieved in the city.
The third chapter found several ethos-, pathos-, and logos-based arguments employed by
both facility naming rights holders and venue operators and owners. However, there were some
distinctions in who made which argument (venue and/or naming rights holder). For example,
Climate Change Arena was unique in employing rhetoric to indicate a desire to create a healthier
planet for future generations, but also fear was also employed to illicit emotional responses from
particular audiences. For Ball Arena, the partnership between Ball Corporation and KSE,
emerged as a foundational element of perceived credibility. Arena actors such as the Suns’, used
the notion of reducing plastic waste as a logical reason for why this partnership was fashioned.
Meanwhile, Footprint and Footprint Center both acknowledged the partnership would help the
broader region, while Footprint accentuated how this partnership would help grow their brand
awareness to sell more products. In addition, there are three persuasive appeals that only the
venues shared, including, 1) how environmental sustainability is part of their core values, 2) the
importance of accountability and transparent environmental sustainability reporting, and 3)
climate change science informed environmental sustainability efforts. Interestingly, the naming
rights holder did not drive any unique arguments that differed from venue partners. Meanwhile,
partners of a fourth arena, Crypto.com Arena, that was not in the ES category, demonstrated very
limited focus on ES at the cusp of the naming rights agreement.
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In the fourth chapter, four distinct narratives emerged through analysis: 1) circular
practices, 2) sustainability journeys, 3) the green advantage, and 4) environmental leadership.
Each of these narratives revealed at least one key aspect of the cultural entrepreneurship
framework, namely, legitimacy and optimal distinctiveness. For example, it was found that sport
organizations only described their efforts as ongoing journeys but rarely promoted their results in
progress. This finding was highlighted in more detail in the circular practices and sustainability
journeys themes. The chapter also showed that sport organizations described the benefits of
being LEED certified as it pertained to gaining credibility and legitimacy in the sector.
Moreover, sport organizations did not exhibit promotional forbearance (Gehman & Grimes,
2017) and prominently promoted their certification. Further, sport organizations pointedly
described themselves as established leaders in the context of environmental sustainability.
Implications
As the second chapter illustrated, winning candidature cities used a particular type of
rhetoric – ethos – and linguistical elements – temporality – to demonstrate their capacity to host
an ES Games. Furthermore, candidature cities employed ethos-based arguments based on their
city or regional features, which in turn established this notion of embedded agency. By doing so,
the results reveal that bidding committees may be able to voluntarily showcase their expertise
notwithstanding the rigidity of the Questionnaire process. Candidature cities can act as agents by
using rhetoric strategically within a highly institutional field. This implication is noteworthy
because it shows how candidature cities strategically employ rhetoric to demonstrate the unique
characteristics of their city and/or region, while also presenting honest and transparent messages
around their environmental sustainability actions, which aligns with the results of earlier research
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(see Murthy & Gosal, 2016; Vergara et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2018) stating that rhetoric can be a
tool to promote trustworthiness.
Acknowledging existing literature that suggests bid committees tend to overpromise on
their plans (Pentifallo & VanWynsberghe, 2012), it is recommended that bid committees engage
in arguments that can be proven because they are more likely to be considered trustworthy.
Therefore, employing ethos-based rhetoric is one tool city leaders can use to reveal the
characteristics of their city that make them unique and capable of hosting an event that limits
environmental destruction.
In chapter three, it was discovered that some venues articulated additional arguments
from the naming rights holder as to why a naming rights partnership was sought, which may
imply more interest in leveraging the relationship. These venues may see naming rights
agreements as something to take advantage of, whereas the naming rights holder may not view
leveraging it in the same way, at least not in a way that differs from other traditional ES-based
businesses. There were also subtle differences between the three arenas and across various
partners. The most obvious difference was that Climate Pledge Arena diverged from Ball Arena
and Footprint Center by presenting extensive logical reasoning to demonstrate climate change
mitigation strategies of the venue. Additionally, naming rights holders – Ball Corporation and
Footprint – actively participated in constructing the rhetorical appeals about the partnership,
while Amazon, the naming rights holder for Climate Pledge Arena, was largely absent.
Ultimately, a partnership like Climate Pledge Arena is uniquely different than Ball Arena
and Footprint Center. The circumstances that came together in Seattle to build Climate Pledge
Arena may be impossible for other cities and venue owners to reproduce or emulate. As such,
cities may have more success imitating the arguments and arrangements made by Ball Arena and
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Footprint Center, where establishing relationships with local companies in the sustainability
sector or producing green economy benefits were motives to pursue these types of partnerships.
Given that there are only three venues that have these types of agreements to date in North
America, this could be an opportunity for other sports facility operators and owners to promote
their organization linked to the environment.
In examining a fourth arena to compare the other arenas with, it was found that that the
way the partners employ rhetoric at the cusp of the naming rights agreements may differ from
naming rights industry, in that rhetoric on the topic of environmental sustainability is limited
when the naming rights agreement was between a venue and a non-ES firm. This highlights that
the partners of ES agreements may prioritize the need for sustainability solutions in a way that
traditional or other non-traditional naming rights agreements do not do.
Finally, chapter four makes several contributions. Returning to McCullough et al.
(2020a), the researchers found that less than 30% of professional sport teams promoted their
environmental initiatives on their website. However, in this dissertation demonstrated green
building certified arenas in the NBA and NHL prominently featured and promoted their LEED
certification in the context of their environmental initiatives. While these studies were uniquely
different from each other, this chapters shows that organizations that seek out environmental
certifications will likely promote said activities. While it does not mean that the organization has
full intentions to be an environmentally sound organization in their operations, it does explain
that the venue meets many environmental standards based on LEED criteria.
By using a cultural entrepreneurship framework, and a narrative analysis, the chapter
points to a major paradox. Sport organizations may view LEED certification as a way to be
optimally distinct from their competition, yet the teams and arenas continue to risk perceived
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legitimacy by not fully committing to telling a continuous, ongoing story about their
environmental sustainability journey. These results have particular implications, given the
consequences of climate change. Results illustrate that only some sport organizations with LEED
certification are committed to broader environmental goals.
One way to capitalize on the popularity of LEED in the NBA and NHL further is for
LEED executives and league leaders to advance a stronger alliance with each other so that both
entities may benefit from a long-term relationship. In addition, what role could municipalities
play in new policy and legislation which requires any new buildings to be LEED certified? These
questions could be explored in further research, among other research opportunities listed below.
Future Research Opportunities
There are several directions for future research that emanate from this dissertation.
Returning to Chapter 2, Green and Li (2011), recommended to neither favour agency nor
structure by focusing on the transition and movement of action into motion, and motion into
action. The authors explain that as practices become motion into action due to an exogenous
shocks or unexpected events, this transformation from habit back into conscious action suggests
a decline in taken-for-grantedness, a decline in structural constraints, and a rise in agency. Future
research could investigate the type of exogenous shocks that occurred for candidature cities to
move towards a more environmentally sustainable city. Were these local or global climate
change factors? Or did the corporate community drive this change as they look to moving
towards alternative sources of energy?
Furthermore, with the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020 that allows the IOC to begin
targeted dialogue with potential candidature cities, there will be less unsuccessful bids each
bidding year. As such, future research could focus on the rhetorical arguments that are related to
115
the special ES capabilities of targeted candidature cities. Results from such research could clarify
if targeted dialogue impacts rhetoric used to describe leveraging strategies of bid committees and
by what means they change from previous bidding years.
Coming back to Martin et al. (2020) who showed that fans appear to separate the team
from the naming rights sponsor, future studies could survey event attendees from venues with ES
naming rights agreements to better understand how these types of sponsorships affect their
attitudes and beliefs toward environmental issues. The results of such research may contribute to
the research area of sport ecology that investigates consumer behaviour and attitudes.
In addition, future research could apply research on categories (Glaser et al., 2020) as a
lens to better understand how emerging categories in naming rights agreements or more broadly,
sponsorship agreements, provide opportunities for organizations to stand out and be distinct from
their competitors.
In the context of LEED certified venues, future researchers may consider interviewing
leaders of arenas and teams to find out the motives for recertifying or gaining additional types of
certifications. Researchers could interview leaders of sport organizations that did not pursue
recertification or provide any further updates on their initiatives to study the notion of optimal
distinctness. In addition to that, future research could continue to examine how narratives
change, evolve, and adapt over time in similar or exceptional sporting contexts, which is
especially pertinent as sport organizations continue to have a dedicated sustainability webpage.
In sum, this dissertation demonstrates that the sport sector is not yet sophisticated or not
motivated enough to be consistent and committed in the ways they promote not only their ES
activities but more broadly support and promote climate change and environmental sustainability
awareness. When assessing how reliable the sport sector is as a communicator of climate change
116
awareness, the sector has more work to do. The results of the dissertation contribute further to
the sub-discipline of sport ecology by exploring the cultural resonance of narratives and the types
of rhetorical arguments made by sport leaders and sport organizations.
117
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