Sep

27

NHL makes attempt to go green

Filed Under Sports PR 

I mentioned in an earlier post that the Orlando Magic were no longer offering hard copy media guides to their season ticketholders. Well, just a few weeks ago the NHL modified its media guide policy effective immediately. In the past, each team had to send X number of their guides to the league and each of the other teams. Now that will all be done electronically. Each team will still be able to determine whether they want to print media guides for their press boxes and/or selling them to fans. 

Greg over at Puck Daddy argues that NHL teams waste paper on things worse than media guides. One idea he mentioned is reducing the press box releases. I can say firsthand, it’s amazing how much paper teams go through every game day between printed press releases, statistics, game notes, etc.

From personal experience, I can say that it was nice for team staffers to have all of the NHL teams’ media guides when we needed to get information. That being said, we also had a closet full of team media guides, many of which went unused. There was great demand for our team’s guides and our opponents in the playoffs, but we had guides for teams that we didn’t even play so I agree with the NHL that there are reasonable ways to cut down on paper waste. However, I know that team media guides are quite popular among fans so I don’t really predict many NHL teams will stop producing print media guides for fans to purchase.

Comments

2 Responses to “NHL makes attempt to go green”

  1. Michigan, Ohio State eliminate print media guides : Sports PR Blog on June 9th, 2009 9:38 am

    [...] teams continued to print media guides for their staff and fans to purchase, the league eliminated the exchange of print guides among teams. Instead, the guides were shared electronically. Teams like the Orlando Magic gave [...]

  2. Jamie on April 8th, 2012 10:20 pm

    You bring up an important point that I feel all organizations need to consider. It is understandable to keep media guides for fans. Many use them as souvenirs and keep them for years to come. The ones that are not sold are going to waste. If they are not properly recycled they are going in the trash which makes more issues in the long run depending on how it is disposed. There will only be so many landfills and burning causes pollution. With technology where it is today using electronic media guides for the press is the best way to go. We really need to start thinking about our futures and how we can do the little things to keep a greener environment. Not just to be green but think of how much money is wasted on paper each day. The economy is not getting better that fast so cutting expenses where it counts will help everyone involved.

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