OVG big-picture sustainability program

Article posted by Coliseum, April 20^th, 2026

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Kristen Fulmer lead sustainability for the Oak View Group (OVG) and also run a program called ‘GOAL’.

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Kristen Fulmer is a sustainability expert focused on maximizing performance and promoting health and wellbeing within the built environment. Kristen joined the Oak View Group (OVG) to lead the company’s corporate sustainability agenda as well as the Sustainability Program – ‘GOAL’.

In an exclusive chat with ‘Coliseum’, Kristen Fulmer, Head of Sustainability, Oak View Group, US, shares with James A. Renne, Managing Director – AECOM Sports, how intersection of sustainability is and how it can help in different components of all of the Oak View Group (OVG) work – “The Oak View Group also work on the entertainment and sports facilities so when I say sustainability I am talking about our commitments to the new buildings that we own and operate, the facilities that we manage on behalf of the other owners, the event facilities where we are just providing food and beverage (F&B) service on behalf of our clients, and our co-program (developed in partnership with the National Basketball Association [NBA] team Atlanta Hawks and the Fenway Sports Group) is really a way to make sustainability easy for any venue operator, developer or owner – whether it’s in a Oak View Group building or any other facility.” She further stated that sustainability is “pretty politicized and there are also organizations that may not be as excited on talking the environmental impacts. So, we should try to find ways to speak the language of the intended audience and get the venue operators and the design team engaged and find the positive impact areas that relate to sustainability.”

Oak View Group

The Oak View Group, LLC (OVG) is an American professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Denver. It manages several sports venues including the 18,300-capacity Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle which was constructed under the company’s supervision. The OVG was formed in 2015 by Tim Leiweke and his business partner Irving Azoff.

James A. Renne started the conversation by stating that the Oak View Group (OVG) operates numerous venues and wanted to know about Kristen Fulmer and her team’s work on sustainability. Fulmer informed that she has six internal corporate team of people that are specialized in different components of sustainability so they do analytics, measurement and storytelling and communication to building strategies “and then we have an amazing network of either people in sustainability in their title across the facilities or people without sustainability in their title and they just happen to be passionate”.

Renne stated that sustainability is really a broader topic and incorporates zero waste, net zero and climate resiliency. Fulmer added, “Waste is such a visible, physical thing and so many people can relate to it which gets them passionate and help build our sustainability program. Sustainability can be other environmental impact area too with energy and water being two major ones.”

Renne also talked about climate initiative being a goal and 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. He wanted to know about the challenges which the existing facilities are facing as regards sustainability. Fulmer informed that there are two different components in sustainability “broadly in our industry. There is the physical impact of our very large facilities which definitely exists and so it is things like the associated waste of the event. Then there is also the opportunity for influence so really when we think about it I love for every venue to be zero waste, zero emissions and all of it but even if they aren’t they have the opportunity to show people how to go home and live their lives to be more sustainable. And the general collective action to protect our environment that exists outside the physical operations as well. And that can be done through design, through operations, through programs, and specifically on something like carbon emission reduction. We like to encourage people to focus on the efforts that we know to help them reduce emissions. A lot of them can be pivoted especially in our industry as a revenue driver through corporate partnerships and through strategic relationships with the utility grids in the cities.”

Renne wanted to know about the OVG-operated Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle which is the “first-of-its-kind in many ways from a sustainability perspective”.

Fulmer shared that the Climate Pledge Arena was lying defunct for a while and the Oak View Group purchased it with private money, renovated it and kept the heritage element of the building intact – “The facility boasts great acoustics, amazing lighting and razor-sharp technology and that’s what makes the building great. And the building is only powered by renewable electricity, there is no natural gas in the building and it is zero carbon certified by the International Future Living Institute which is incredibly robust. It rains in Seattle and they capture the rain water and the National Hockey League (NHL) (home of Seattle Kraken) ice is made from the rain water. So, it is the only system in the NHL and they are continuing to build up their sustainability program and will soon be doing some more reuse in the building.”

Renne mentioned about clean energy and Fulmer stated, “Most of the arenas that we work with in NBA and the NHL they are spending around two million dollars a year on energy – natural gas and electricity and no matter where they are in the world while hosting our level of events they have to meet certain humidity and temperature levels. The energy bill of the sports arenas will continue to go up and the energy utility companies are responding to that by increasing their rates. So, it is going to get exponentially more expensive to run our same buildings.”

Conclusion

James A. Renne mentioned about the heat and stated, “the reality is that our climate is changing so trying to predict what’s going to be happening in the future. The question isn’t whether to be sustainable but just how. Sport has that power to influence and we need to be thinking hard about everything that we do – operating the building and designing.”

Kristen Fulmer concluded by stating, “We talked a lot about utility cost production and definitely that’s a business driver, revenue, engaging the brands, and the corporate partners around the topic of sustainability, amplifying their sustainability work through the platform of our building and this has been a way to bring us business and validate us having a platform for sustainability and the brands that have never spent on sports marketing before are willing to amplify their sustainability work. Increasingly, the artistes have regulations or desires around the topic of sustainability and ask the venues to commit to meet those because they are also getting shamed for unsustainable tours and they are trying to do their part as well. Sustainability is going to matter more and the artistes will then be able to amplify that, tell their friends and again it is not just waste production, energy reduction but also taking care of their (artistes) health because they rely on their voices so things like the air quality, access to the already available healthy offerings in the venues is also important to them. I would also say generally we are talking about buildings so we talk a lot about energy use, water consumption and waste in the building but the procurement, the travel of the big picture infrastructure that’s where most of the carbon emissions is coming from. In the next five years hopefully we will figure out who is solving it.”

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