A case study to examine environmental sustainability practices in sports facilities

Today, environmental problems are increasing day by day and the search for solutions is occupying the world agenda. Therefore, environmental sustainability (ES) studies deserve academic attention. This research was conducted with the aim of examining ES practices in sports facilities. A descriptive case study, one of the qualitative research method designs, was used in the study. Five sports facilities in Türkiye with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification were included in the study. The research data were obtained by semi-structured interview technique from the managers-employees (15 participants) and users (5 participants) of the sports facilities that included in the research. As a result of the thematic analysis, it is seen that the reasons that lead sports organizations to environmental sustainability practices are corporate decisions and leadership, environmental awareness, marketing and public relations, economic and commercial issues, international obligations and previous experiences. A variety of environmental sustainability practices are undertaken, particularly waste management and energy conservation. Problems such as lack of resources, employee apathy, communication, athlete-related difficulties, difficulties related to changing habits and user reactions have been identified. Sports facilities plan to continue raising environmental awareness, developing sustainability strategies, organizing environmental events, resource and waste management, human resources and cooperation activities in the future.