Dive brief:
- Since Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California achieved LEED Gold status in 2014, 31 stadiums across North America have been certified by the US Green Building Council under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.
- MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, home of the New York Jets and New York Giants professional football teams, is the most recent stadium be recognized, receiving Gold LEED certification in May. The stadium uses on-site solar generation, LED lighting, motion sensor lighting and hybrid electric vehicles as part of its energy conservation strategy.
- USGBC in June published a interactive map detailing the features that help facilities operate efficiently, despite their size and complex operations. These “year-round civic milestones… prove it what good management looks like at scale,” said Rhiannon Jacobsen, managing director of US market development and transformation at USGBC, when the map was released.
Diving knowledge:
Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, has a capacity of over 68,000. The 12-year-old facility has 1,162 solar panels, low-flow plumbing fixtures and grows more than 40 crops on a 7,500-square-foot rooftop garden, called Faithful Farms. It’s the largest stadium farm in North America, USGBC says. Their crops include broccoli, squash, eggplants, peppers, artichokes, strawberries, garlic and herbs.
The product is presented in hors d’oeuvres distributed in suites, salads served in premium clubs and menus available at concession stands. Surplus produce is donated to local food banks.
“It’s not just for show,” Jon Severson, the regional executive chef for Levy, the hospitality team at Levi’s Stadium, said in a Food & Wine article in Februaryshortly before the stadium hosted the 2026 Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.
In Canada, Vancouver’s 54,500-capacity BC Place soccer stadium has the world’s largest retractable roof at over 80,000 square feet. The roof is central to the stadium’s Gold certification for the natural ventilation it allows.
Banorte Stadium in Mexico City is the largest stadium in Latin America with a capacity of almost 88,000 people. The 60-year-old home of Mexico’s national soccer team underwent a $159 million renovation in anticipation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The work included replacing its mechanical infrastructure with high-performance systems to help the stadium achieve LEED Platinum status. The air conditioning and other reforms allowed it to achieve a higher than average energy use intensity of 135.66 kilowatt hours/m2. To complement this, the stadium offsets about 6,000 tons of greenhouse gases by purchasing carbon credits, according to a Banorte stadium stadium report.
Efficiency measures in LEED-certified sports facilities are summarized in the USGBC Stadium Interactive Map.
