Footprint Center: A Next Generation Global Sustainability Showroom & Platform

In today’s age of awareness around environmental, social and governance (ESG), franchise owners are choosing to be environmentally responsible and provide a sustainable in-venue experience for fans. Coming alongside owners, teams and venues are some of the largest sponsoring brands seeking to connect with customers in an authentic and environmentally conscious way. ESG is emerging as one of the top growth sponsorship categories in the sports and entertainment industry.

The Suns’ arena, which is a finalist for Facility of the Year, naming rights deal with Footprint – a Phoenix-based sustainable packaging and manufacturing company – is the quintessential embodiment of this new dynamic, and there are lessons to be gleaned from the unique partnership.

A New Approach to Building Long-Term Sustainability Partnerships

In March 2021, the Phoenix Suns and Innovative Partnerships Group embarked on the project of securing a naming rights partner for the NBA franchise. Less than four months later, a historical partnership was announced to rebrand the team’s arena “Footprint Center.”

The deal transpired quickly because of Innovative Partnerships Group’s Partnership Intelligence™ system, a set of next generation business development software tools and methodologies that help sports properties think differently about their sponsorship and naming rights opportunities, centered around innovative programs and platforms beyond traditional media valuations. 

Transforming a Sports Arena into a Global Sustainability Showroom

With a mission of eliminating single-use and short-term plastics around the world, Footprint has created an innovation lab and showroom within Footprint Center. Fans at Suns and Mercury games are served food and beverages in Footprint’s biodegradable, compostable and recyclable packaging, and the building has effectively been transformed into an R&D center, where Footprint executives interact with customers.

“We have converted the arena from plastic to fiber in several areas which was a major win,” said Troy Swope, Co-Founder and CEO of Footprint. “We’ve seen inbound interest from many other concessionaires, distributors, arenas and stadiums as a result of our work at Footprint Center, and we are about to introduce a new stadium line of solutions to help others get out of plastic faster, which we collaborated on with the team at Footprint Center, including chefs in the clubs and suites, for feedback.”

As an example of activation beyond basketball games and concerts, the company’s annual Sustainability Summit was held at the arena this past January. This year’s theme, “Champions of Change,” brought together world-renowned business decisionmakers, scientists, policy experts and innovators.

“That was a great opportunity to talk about our vision for Footprint Center as a center for sustainability among hundreds of decisionmakers at large food manufacturers, CPG companies and retailers and resulted in several new contracts,” Swope added.

“(The arena partnership is) used as a sales channel, not just to shape their brand identity, but also to leverage the fact that they have high-quality product at a comparable price to plastic,” Matt Wiener, Managing Director of Innovative Partnerships Group, said of Footprint. “We wanted to bring that to life and showcase it in real time.”

Creating an ESG Ecosystem Platform for Sports Properties

A sports property does not have to have an ESG naming rights partner to build a robust and valuable sustainability platform. Innovative Partnerships Group has built a “think tank” vertical to guide other sports and entertainment properties in building their ESG platforms with new IP/assets and tangible rights and benefits. The mission is to help properties build out a comprehensive strategy of new assets, programs, platforms and subcategories within their venues. Pass-through rights can be offered to traditional category partners that want to showcase their products, services, solutions and ESG goals in a unique and ecofriendly manner.

Sports properties can place themselves at the epicenter of connecting ESG-centric brands to customers, retailers, colleges and universities, B2B service companies, food and beverage, etc., according to Jeff Marks, Founder and CEO of Innovative Partnerships Group.

“We now have a wheel to connect all of these disparate industries together with a common theme,” Marks said. “Almost every brand we talk to these days wants to have a real ESG platform and leverage other partners to amplify their messaging and sales channels. We have built an entire ecosystem of connected categories and brands to deliver tangible revenue-generating results.”

No Large Capital ESG Investment Needed

Footprint Center has demonstrated to the sports industry that a massive capital expenditure is not required to build a valuable ESG program. Footprint has made an environmentally positive impact at the Suns’ venue with a simple solutions-first approach: Remove plastic from the fan experience, rather than tearing down walls, installing solar panels or replacing filtration systems.

The strategy starts with a mindset of wanting to do good, and then creating end-to-end customer experiences and touch points, Marks said.

The entire world – the sports industry included – is responsible for pursuing a path of sustainability. While the Suns’ partnership with Footprint sets the template, there are droves of potential sustainability partners for sports franchises and facilities that can provide expertise, products and solutions toward ESG objectives.

“Whether we're talking about a brand, a property, a sponsor, an advertiser – ultimately sustainability helps solve for a better climate, a better planet and healthier people,” Wiener said. “I think everybody would support a sustainability partner. Then just figure out how and where you match to make the right strategic partners on the brand side and the right strategic partners on the property side.”