Less than two weeks out from Super Bowl 50, its host committee is asking fans to “Play Your Part,” an initiative designed to serve up a Net Positive celebration that activates fans to help the environment. Launched in collaboration with in/PACT and Citizen Group, the campaign will focus on reducing impact on climate change by delivering a low emissions event while responsibly using materials and resources, inspiring fans to embrace sustainability personally; and leaving a lasting legacy by rewarding fans’ behavior and entering fans for daily prizes during Super Bowl week.
Cynopsis Sports asked Neill Duffy, Sustainability Director for the Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee and President, in/PACT Sports & Entertainment, about the cause and how he is looking toward sports to change the world.
Duffy on the Super Bowl stage: Play Your Part has its roots right back when the decision was taken to submit a bid to the NFL to host Super Bowl 50 here in the Bay Area. The group of us that were pulled together to prepare this bid decided that if we were going to host a Super Bowl, particularly Super Bowl 50, we wanted to do it in a transformative way that would, while respecting and honoring the past 50 years, look forward to the next 50 years and set a new benchmark for how Super Bowls were hosted. We decided then that we would set out to host the most shared, most participatory and most giving Super Bowl ever delivered in a Net Positive way.
On activation: We’re asking fans to do three things…Take Action, Choose Your Cause, Win Prizes. Fans Take Action by either: a) taking a pledge online at www.playyourpart.org to do something sustainable, e.g. host a sustainable SB party, or b) actually do something sustainable when visiting Super Bowl City, e.g. leave the car at home, bring their own reusable water bottle or recycle responsibly. Fans choose their cause using the in/PACT purpose activation platform whereby they get the opportunity to direct 50 GoodCoins to one of four Bay Area environmental organizations. GoodCoins are social good incentives that anon profits can convert into money. We’ll be allowing fans to direct $200,000 of funds made available by the 50 Fund, the philanthropic arm of the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee.
On leveraging sports for social good: The sports industry is in my view lagging the rest of the corporate world in the extent to which it has embraced purpose and sustainability as key strategic business drivers, it is catching up but still lagging. To date, the sports sector has approached sustainability from very much an operational perspective, not a strategic perspective. It now needs to elevate the importance placed upon sustainability and recognize it is a focus that can add new revenue streams, engage with new customers, better manage risks, provide brand partners with new areas to activate around and importantly redefine the role of sports beyond just entertainment. Sport has a meaningful role to play in contributing towards a sustainable future for us all by meaningfully delivering social, environmental and economic benefits to the broader community and the planet.
On in/PACT X: in/PACT X was set up specifically to help brands, sports properties and entertainment properties activate their purpose and engage fans in the process… We are confident that our solutions help our partners to not only become better contributors to the community and the environment but also generate a better ROI for their businesses.
