A New Face of the Franchise: How Going Green Can Save the Los Angeles Dodgers

The city of Los Angeles has stopped thinking blue. They are blue because of the despair of the Dodger franchise. The hope that one day, Los Angeles can be a blue town again is sadly waning.

Frank McCourt has filed for bankruptcy and Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has failed to take an active role in saving the club, amongst the wreckage that is the 2011 season.

The Dodgers are a shell of what they once were, only two seasons ago when they electrified a city on the way to a 2009 NLCS appearance. 

Under .500, the Dodgers have disappointed yet again after putting together an expensive roster of players. Injuries have ravaged the team, but Dodger fans have been staying away from Chavez Ravine for more than just that.

All summer empty seats have been the norm, and scathing fans have cited reasons such as a way to boycott Frank McCourt’s ownership and not paying money to see an underachieving team. 

Let’s face it, the Dodgers have lost their allure. 

This is the absolute worst thing that could have happened to the Dodgers. Los Angeles is bypassing the Dodgers, and there is no positive news coming out of the front office. This is a true public relations and marketing nightmare.

MVP candidate Matt Kemp and Cy Young worthy pitcher Clayton Kershaw have been terrific all year, but with no supporting cast, there is little belief in a future. 

The hope is that the Dodgers will have a new owner by 2012, but without a speedy decision by a Delaware bankruptcy court, nothing is certain. With the speed of the American legal system, don’t expect anything soon. Many people are lining up to buy the Dodgers, but until they go on the market for sale, Los Angeles continues to suffer.  

There are some good young players, but most have been dreadfully unlucky already. Highly-touted pitcher Rubby De La Rosa brought some hope, but his arm fell apart and he had to undergo Tommy John surgery.

Fellow rookie Nathan Eovaldi has impressed, but new speedy shortstop Dee Gordon already managed to get himself injured too. This season could not have gone any worse overall.  

The offense can’t score, the relievers are out of whack, and rotate in and out faster than Frank McCourt’s lawyers and lawsuits.  

There is something the Dodgers can control, though.

Aside from whether or not they win enough games to have a respectable record in 2011, the Dodgers could make changes in their organization to become a zero-waste, truly sustainable company.

I know Josh Rawitch and his top staff have come up with some enticing promotions, and could spend some time looking at green initiatives that could transform the face of the franchise.  

Los Angeles needs to become a more sustainable, environmentally sound city if it wants to continue to flourish in difficult economic times.

The last time the Dodgers publicly announced they were implementing “Green initiatives” was 2008. The Dodgers have only been in the news for negatives this year, such as the tragic beating of Bryan Stow, and could use a revitalization of energy. Green, clean energy is one way to do that.  

The Dodgers could start to use only biodegradable products to serve their food in. They could start composting in a small area of the unused, pristine hillside they have. Make it a community event, bring out the old-time greats and inspire others to make better choices.

The young Dodgers could be the face of a green revolution in Los Angeles, something desperately needed by a city that has failed to kickstart previous attempts at inspiring its citizens.  

The Dodgers have taken steps before to limit car pollution and their carbon footprint, establishing a shuttle bus system that takes fans from Union Station into downtown Los Angeles for the game. It was only for some games and didn’t catch on like it should have, but the Dodgers need to promote it better and give incentives.  

Why not have “Go Green, Go Blue” days at Dodger Stadium, slashing ticket prices for people who use the public transportation system or bike to the stadium? Why not give a free Dodger Dog to every person that uses clean energy, whether it be a bus, a bike, a scooter or even an electric car? It’s not like the Dodgers are selling out games.

The Dodgers attendance is down over 20 percent, and Saturday’s matchup with the Rockies had less than 35,000 at the turnstiles, with probably only 25,000 showing up.  

The Dodgers should give preferential parking to those with electric cars, building plug-in stations including ethanol pumps at the 76 gas station located in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.

If all the people driving pickup trucks, gas-guzzling SUVs and eco-unfriendly luxury see these subtle hints around the stadium, they might take the hint and do some research at home. They might even be inspired to change the way they live in the world.  

The Dodgers serve some delicious food at their concession stands. From the famous Farmer John Dodger Dog to gourmet meals served in the Dugout Club behind home plate, there is a lot of cooking oil and grease that is left over after every game.

The Dodgers probably have enough to single-handedly turn themselves into a biofuel or biodiesel producer, but they could just give it to a Los Angeles-based plant that creates fuel for cars from cooking oil.

That would probably cost them about two or three persons full-time salaries to collect the oil during the game and transport it to the treatment plant. The ecological benefits would be extraordinary, and could fill up dozens of cars after every home game.  

Recycling is another aspect that is desperately missing at Dodger Stadium. There are no biodegradable products used for the food, and there are no special bins for recycling plastics or glass.

Many other stadiums have designated receptacles for recyclables, and have partnered with the local city or county’s waste management service. The waste management service gets a little publicity, the Dodgers pay a couple hundred dollars a month for the city to maintain the service, and everyone goes home a winner.

It will inspire many other Los Angelenos to follow suit, doing more recycling and being more conscious consumers as time goes on. 

Currently on Stubhub, Dodger tickets can be bought for as low as $0.50, and $50 tickets are being resold for $5.95. I went to a game this summer that probably had about 15,000 people actually there, and got 4 tickets that would normally be about $180 total for under $25.

Can you imagine the type of crowds the Dodgers are going to get during the last month of the season, where they are truly playing for nothing?

Instead of packing it in, make a splash by bringing families in with eco-friendly events and giveaways. The Dodgers could bring teenagers and young people in with free tickets that have proof of community service hours.

The Dodgers could even run recycling projects, giving free tickets or free food vouchers for those who should up at events throughout Los Angeles, promoting sustainable living and recycling.  

With all the beautiful sunshine that Chavez Ravine gets, the Dodgers should be installing solar panels wherever they can, whether it be on the roofs and overhangs of the stadium or on the top of the monstrous Dodger Vision.

The Dodgers could, and should even pair up with the Los Angeles Police Academy, literally right across the street from them, to install panels and renewable sources of energy.  

So far, the Dodgers have taken small steps to conserving water and energy, implementing high-tech zero-energy hand dryers and zero-water plumbing systems on the most expensive level. The Dodgers need to take this green technology to all the levels, making a statement about how they are committed to conserving resources.  

The talks of the Dodgers moving to a downtown stadium are absurd. In these economic times, building a new stadium makes absolutely no sense considering how glorious and beautiful Dodger Stadium is. There is still no better place to watch a baseball game than Chavez Ravine.

Why not give Dodger Stadium a green update?

Revamp the parking system, build better parking lots while replacing the old, broken asphalt by planting more greenery and solar panels. Everyone knows how hot the parking lot is during the summer. The Dodgers could power the entire community with an investment in going solar.  

And talk about an economic boost to a depleted franchise. If the Dodgers could be self-sustainable, they could save tens of thousands of dollars every summer in powering Dodger Stadium and keeping Chavez Ravine cool.

These ideas are not for the “poverty-stricken” Frank McCourt, but rather for a new owner that can flush new money into the future. Over time, the investment would pay itself off, especially as energy prices are expected to soar over the next years.

Economically, Dodger Stadium solar panels could produce enough to sign another big time free agent, or just merely prevent ticket prices from going any higher.  

As a fan, if I knew the Dodgers were going to spend my money to invest in the health and sustainability of beautiful Dodger Stadium and the surrounding areas, I would be more than happy to support the cause. I can spare $20 to help get this fund off the ground, with the knowledge it will spread to other ball-clubs across the country.

From the very politically and socially conscious San Francisco Giants on the West Coast to the Wind Farms being built outside of Boston in the Cape Cod area, every team can support an issue that is local.  

So I challenge the Dodgers to this task.

Pave the way for the other 29 teams to follow. Let the Dodgers lead Major League Baseball, a league that plays 162 games a year on green ball fields, onto a brighter future for the next generation of players.

MLB has already done so much that has crossed the white foul lines into fans’ lives, with their tremendous work with “Stand Up 2 Cancer” just a shining example. Baseball is a way of life, and living green is a transition all of our lives must take.

It’s time to transform the Los Angeles Dodgers into a greener team. Let all of Los Angeles, a vast city of poor air quality, waning water supplies and hundreds of other ecological problems, rally around this team and build a sustainable foundation for the future.

A future that when I take my children to Chavez Ravine in 20 years, I can be proud of. A future that is green with Dodger Blue.