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Portland this week is hosting the first Green Sports Alliance Summit, a conference featuring studies, lectures, panels, breakout groups and site visits to introduce sports executives to a range of best practices for sustainability.

Technological innovations and collaborative research have propelled the movement for more sustainability in sports, but strategies are still in early stages. Venue operators, green building experts and sports marketing directors are working to share more information through the Green Sports Alliance, a nonprofit founded in March by six professional sports teams. However, some people in the sports industry remain skeptical about investing in green practices at all.

鈥淭here are definitely two very disparate opinions about green building in the sports industry,鈥� said Michael Wooley, a partner at Venue Solutions Group LLC, a Nashville, Tenn.-based consulting firm that specializes in facility management. 鈥淢ost teams do some level of sustainable operations and recycling, but some look at the cost and just don鈥檛 think it makes sense economically.鈥�

Most new facilities are being built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards according to Wooley, who worked for the past two years on an arena for the NBA鈥檚 Orlando Magic that was certified LEED gold. He added that the sports industry as a whole is trailing in sustainable practices, though the Pacific Northwest is ahead of the rest of the nation.

鈥淪eattle and Portland do far more than most other people do in terms of incorporating all sustainable features and from an operations standpoint,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檝e taken a lot of time to see what the health care and commercial industries have done with their technology and operations, and sports facilities are far behind them in using green technology to help drive down costs.鈥�

Owners of older venues, in particular, don鈥檛 seem to be eager to pay for improvements until the economy regains momentum, Wooley said.

鈥淲ith existing buildings it鈥檚 definitely more challenging,鈥� said Ted Spear, a senior consultant at Green Building Services in Portland. 鈥淏ut even so, you can do a plumbing upgrade that reduces water usage, and especially in parts of the country where water is scarce, they鈥檙e being even more aggressive with how they consume water.鈥�

On Monday, Spear and colleague Elaine Aye co-led a building performance workshop at the summit. Part of their focus was on the rating system LEED established for existing buildings.

鈥淩ecycling is a big category for this group because the events are usually big consumers 鈥� tens of thousands of people consuming lots of food and beverages,鈥� Spear said. 鈥淲hat I see in the industry is that people are trying to integrate the sustainability with the whole aspect of their operations 鈥� they don鈥檛 want people to have to think about recycling because they want it to be a natural process. It just happens subconsciously or without much effort.鈥�

The Rose Garden arena in Portland achieved LEED gold certification last year. Its operations team has found ways to improve its recycling rate, according to Spear. For instance, items such as cups, forks and hot dog wrappers were swapped out for compostable ones, and custom-made bins were installed so that fans could improve efforts to recycle and compost.

鈥淎t the end of the day, what鈥檚 important to me is running our facilities and assets in the most energy-efficient way possible,鈥� said Chris Oxley, general manager of the Rose Garden. 鈥淎n energy-efficient building is less expensive for me to run.鈥�

The rapid growth of the Green Sports Alliance and the collaborative efforts at the summit may indicate an increasing commitment to sustainability in the sports industry.

鈥淭he opportunity for the green building community is significant,鈥� said Martin Tull, executive director of the Green Sports Alliance. 鈥淎s sports facilities鈥� (operations officials) consider how they can save money, reduce energy and improve the performance of their buildings, Northwest-based and national green building companies stand to do the work.鈥�

Others are not as optimistic, and expect sports-related construction work to increase only after the national economy stabilizes.

鈥淚nvesting money in something that might take a couple of years for payback is not a popular idea during a recession when you鈥檙e laying off employees, so I understand why some owners are not spending money on that,鈥� Wooley said. 鈥淗opefully our politicians will get their act together in Washington this week 鈥� when the economy rebounds, I think we鈥檒l see more a lot more work.鈥�