Soldier Field, the oldest stadium in the NFL, is also the greenest. Along with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Thursday that the home of the Bears is also the league's first LEED-certified green building.
The stadium, built in 1924 and rebuilt from the inside in 2003, became the home of the Bears in 1971. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, the LEED certification will:
provide independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
The Bears have criticized Soldier Field for its terrible, terrible sod in the past, but at least it's sustainably terrible sod.
Hopefully, the energy savings will be transferred directly to the Bears players. Devin Hester needs a shot of energy for a punt return in the fourth quarter? Brian Urlacher is exhausted after playing all game? Lovie Smith forgot to take his NyQuil and didn't a get a good night's sleep? Don't worry. Soldier Field is to the rescue.
