Praise and outrage for Silicon Valley’s ‘Green’ stadium

World Today

The World Cup has the eyes of the world, including an increasing number of American fans. But in the United States, football’s popularity still can’t quite compete with American Football.

Fans in San Francisco, home to one of the league’s most high-profile teams – the 49ers-are doubly excited as they await the opening of a new stadium that is being billed as groundbreaking in many ways. But not everyone is cheering. CCTV’s Mark Niu reports.

 

Praise and outrage for Silicon Valley's 'Green' stadium

The World Cup has the eyes of the world, including an increasing number of American fans. But in the United States, football's popularity still can't quite compete with American Football. Fans in San Francisco, home to one of the league's most high-profile teams - the 49ers-are doubly excited as they await the opening of a new stadium that is being billed as groundbreaking in many ways. But not everyone is cheering. CCTV’s Mark Niu reports.

 

The ever-popular San Francisco 49ers will soon kick off the season in a brand new stadium located in the heart of Silicon Valley. The city of Santa Clara population 118,000 is now home to Levi’s Stadium – a $1.1  billion stadium that will hold nearly 70,000 screaming fans.

Jack Hill, Levi’s Stadium, Project Executive says, “We’ve incorporated a lot of different energy saving features in Levi’s stadium. One of the features we’re standing on is the green roof. And if you’ll look right above the green roof, you’ll see the PV panels that have been put in. We call this area the NRG solar terrace.”

The 49ers say they are going all out to make Levi’s Stadium eco-friendly. There are 1,180 solar panels installed here. The goal is to make this place a net energy user. That is completely energy self-sufficient during its 10 home games. The stadium has incorporated sustainable wood bamboo and aims to recycle more than 75 percent of construction waste. Recycled water will be used for the restrooms and to spray the field.

The 49ers have applied to the U.S. Green Building Council in hopes of getting the stadium certified for gold status- a first for a National Football League stadium. Bress is outraged the 49ers never built their own parking structure but instead are using spaces owned by other businesses and the city.

She says some plans have even called for tearing down youth soccer fields and parks to make way for VIP parking. Project executives are proud of a stadium that will have 40 times more bandwidth than any stadium in North America. 25,00 hi-definition monitors will insure fans don’t miss any action waiting in line; a stadium app will allow fans to replay any missed action on their phones and order food from their seats. The new experience will be put to the test when the 49ers start their preseason games in August, and play their first regular season home game in September.