It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. Two new stadiums, one in San Francisco and one in Minnesota, have taken radically different approaches to sustainability

It’s a tale of two stadiums.

The first is an environmentalist’s dream. Rooftop gardens, pedestrian bridges with solar panels, easy access to public transit, the use of reclaimed wood and water, and other features that allow complete power generation via solar energy. This is San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium, which is the first NFL stadium to achieve the elite LEED Gold status for new construction.

The second is a bird-lover’s nightmare. Despite state regulations and immense pressure from the Audubon Society and local officials, the new Minnesota Vikings stadium, built by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, plans to utilize non-bird-safe glass, which is also less energy efficient.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Here’s how each building got to where it is.

Minnesota Vikings Stadium in Minneapolis

Funding was approved in May 2012 for a $1bn facility to replace Minneapolis’s aging Metrodome. Large parts of now-demolished Metrodome are in the process of being recycled, including 25 tons of precious metals and 80% of the facility’s steel and concrete.

The new stadium will be LEED-certified, with one of the most efficient roof structures in the nation, efficient LED lighting and daylighting controls that will reduce energy use from lighting by nearly 30%, and water efficient irrigation systems that will cut landscape irrigation in half, according to an email from Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority.

But the main issue being argued here is bird safety. In May 2013, the Audubon Society entered talks with the Minnesota Vikings and the MSFA after noticing the newly revealed stadium designs for the new stadium, set to open in 2016, didn’t use bird-safe glass.



When flying, birds can’t see glass and mistake reflections in the glass for an actual destination. The result is a nasty collision that can be fatal for the bird. Bird-safe glass, such as Arnold Glas’s Ornilux, adds a patterned, UV-reflective coating. This allows the glass to remain clear to the human eye, but birds can see the pattern and avoid the building. The special glass would also help keep the building cool and save on air-conditioning energy.

The Audubon Society worked the MSFA until April. On 17 July, the group was told that the glass would not be changed. Frustrated, the Audubon Society issued a scathing news release in late July condemning the MSFA for its actions, urging it and the Vikings to keep the stadium from becoming a “death trap.” The Minneapolis City Council threw its weight behind the nonprofit as well, spearheading a petition that has collected more than 76,000 signatures.

MSFA deemed the glass too expensive. “And yet, the Vikings recently found a way to spend more than $1m on an upscale ‘preview center’ and $1.3m for ‘design features’ related to TVs and escalators,” Audubon Minnesota executive director Matthew Anderson said in a news release.

The MSFA maintains that it does not have the $1.1m needed to install bird-safe glass, and that Minnesota guidelines regarding bird-safe glass were issued prior to the stadium’s plans being finalized.

Stadium officials said they have incorporated all of the society’s other recommended measures to keep birds safe into its design, including the “Lights Out” program that keeps the lights off in the middle of the night during bird-migration periods.

“The Audubon Society approached us [about the fritted glass] after our design was complete,” Kelm-Helgen wrote. “We had worked for over a year with local stakeholders to ensure our stadium was open, transparent and connected to the neighborhoods surrounding it. The transparent glass on the west side of the stadium is key to that design.”

Agatha Szczepaniak with the National Audubon Society said that there hasn’t been any progress regarding bird-safe glass at the Vikings stadium since the Minneapolis City Council passed its resolution.

49ers’ Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, California

Right from the drawing board, the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium was designed to be sustainable as well as high-tech. The crowning feature is a solar panel-ladened “green roof” atop the suite tower. That roof, along with power generated from solar panels on three pedestrian walkways, will offset the power the team uses during home games. The owners’ suite is crafted from reclaimed wood from a nearby airfield. The stadium recycles 85% of its water.

This netted LEED Gold status for the stadium (which opened in July), the announcement coming just days after the Audubon Society learned that the Minnesota Vikings wouldn’t utilize bird-safe glass in its new stadium.

The 49ers join a rare group of professional sports teams committing to sustainable activities. The Baltimore Ravens have the only other NFL stadium granted LEED Gold status. It became the first last year, when the team remodeled M&T Bank Stadium.



The National Hockey League isn’t far behind. The NHL issued a sustainability report in late July, outlining what the league has done to help the environment and pledging to work with teams to craft sustainability goals. The New York Islanders are expected to move to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in 2015, which has LEED Silver status. An arena under construction in Edmonton, Canada, also is expected to receive LEED Silver.





This article was updated 5 September to include more information about the new Minnesota Vikings stadium and a quote from Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority.



Megan Lavey-Heaton is a freelance tech writer and comic book author. She is also web and mobile producer for PennLive.com.

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