The Object-Oriented Politics of Stadium Sustainability: A Case Study of SC Freiburg

Kyle S. Bunds, Christopher M. McLeod, Martin Barrett, Joshua I. Newman and Joerg Koenigstorfer
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Kyle S. Bunds: Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Christopher M. McLeod: Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
Martin Barrett: Department of Kinesiology and Recreation, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA
Joshua I. Newman: Department of Sport Management, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Joerg Koenigstorfer: Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Chair of Sport and Health Management, Technical University of Munich, 80992 Munich, Germany

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 23, 1-17

Abstract: Sport stadia are political objects that carry an environmental cost. The purpose of this research is to add to previous literature by theorizing the political process of stadium construction in a way that accounts for how environmental issues are introduced into the political process and, therefore, offers a more accurate lens through which to interpret how sustainable stadia are constructed. We conducted a case study of SC Freiburg’s carbon-neutral stadium construction process to theorize the object-oriented politics of sport facility construction. SC Freiburg is a German football club, playing in the Bundesliga. To examine the case, we employed a key informant interview and document analysis using Nexis Uni searches, local newspaper articles, official city documents, and social media websites. The case study of SC Freiburg’s carbon neutral stadium construction process showed that environmental concerns were included through a political process that incorporated the interests of a diverse public of human and nonhuman actors (while excluding some actors whose interests could not be reconciled) to produce a sustainable matter of fact. Additionally, we propose a pragmatic definition of stadium sustainability and suggest that environmental activists should make sure that both human and nonhuman actors with sustainability concerns are included in the stadium’s material public.

Keywords: material public; Freiburg; Bundesliga; football; stadium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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