Excitement is building as the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game approaches, and the highly anticipated event is taking the NBA's sustainability efforts to new heights.
What's happening?
For over 15 years, the NBA and WNBA have made a concerted effort to raise awareness about many green initiatives and environmental causes — and the upcoming game is exceptionally ambitious on that front.
The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game is set for July 19 and will be hosted by the Indiana Fever at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Gainbridge Fieldhouse is individually committed to sustainability, and both the All-Star Game and the concurrent two-day WNBA Live festival will be powered by 100% renewable energy. This was also the case for the 2024 and 2025 NBA All-Star events as well as the NBA's games last year in Abu Dhabi and Paris — a stunning achievement across the board.
Massive events like these can easily generate proportionally high levels of concession-based waste, much of which is often single-use plastic — but not at this upcoming WNBA event. Thanks to the Ocean Conservancy's Protect Where We Play Tour, disposable cups will be replaced with reusable ones in-arena, which is a first-ever for WNBA All-Star Games. And a water refill station will further curb refuse.
Because the aim is for this to be a zero-waste event, the WNBA All-Star 2025 Host Committee has expanded recycling capacity in downtown Indianapolis to accommodate an influx of fans.
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Gainbridge Fieldhouse already composts "back-of-house" food waste — scraps from kitchens and prep stations — but for the All-Star Game, the venue is composting front-of-house food waste, too.
Recycling and donating opportunities for the league and event staff will be provided in partnership with LiquiDonate, reducing avoidable waste from the eventful weekend even further. Similarly, the NBA All-Star game earlier this year was able to divert over 16,000 pounds of waste from landfills.
That's coupled with the efforts of a 200-person green volunteer team, tasked with supporting fans to return reusable cups and identifying recyclables, compostable material, and anything suitable for donating back to the community.
The WNBA All-Star 2025 Host Committee is also teaming up with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful for a revitalization initiative to spruce up more than two dozen public basketball courts in the city.
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Giving me money back 💰 Why is the WNBA's commitment to sustainability so important?
At this point, the NBA's and WNBA's efforts to curb waste, reduce emissions, and offset the leagues' impact on the environment are well-established, but the WNBA All-Star Game's impact has the potential to extend far beyond a single weekend.
In addition to directly involving WNBA fans in recycling, composting, and avoiding single-use plastic, the organization has engaged venue staff, the league, and even the city of Indianapolis itself.
"We're always looking for ways to serve our community and make a lasting impact on our fans," said Maddie Plank, Sustainability Project Coordinator at Pacers Sports & Entertainment, the organization supporting the NBA Indiana Pacers and WNBA Fever. "All-Star Weekend gives us a unique opportunity to showcase both our visible fan-facing sustainability efforts and the behind-the-scenes work that often goes unnoticed. We hope to inspire fans to carry that momentum into their daily lives because small actions, when multiplied across the WNBA community and supported by strong commitments from the league and PS&E, can create a powerful ripple effect."
Engaging the public in so many ways at such a high-profile event is an incredibly valuable endeavor. Demonstrating sustainable practices firsthand encourages everyone who is involved to adopt those habits in their day-to-day lives.
"As fan interest continues to grow, we're deepening our commitment to sustainable operations," said the NBA's GM of Affiliate League and Marquee Events, Mary Jo Silsby. "By minimizing our impact, fans can take part in memorable event experiences in an eco-friendly way."
What is the WNBA's overall sustainability plan?
The NBA maintains partial ownership over the WNBA, and the intertwined leagues have been focused on sustainability since the launch of NBA Green over a decade ago.
NBA Green is a massive initiative with a focus on curbing venue waste, transitioning to renewable energy, promoting environmental justice, and achieving a goal of slashing the league's carbon footprint by 50% by 2030.
During Climate Week last September, the NBA's President of Social Responsibility & Player Programs, Kathy Behrens, emphasized the organization's desire to leverage its influence to protect the environment.
"We've really tried to find the ways that we can use the power of our brand, use that unifying aspect of sports to help people understand that there are things that we can all do," she said.
Bottom Line: In pulling out all the stops to model sustainability at the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis, the organization can influence and teach thousands of fans and locals to adopt the same practices at home.
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