Arena name: It’s all about pro sports virtue signaling

Re: “In deal with Amazon, Seattle’s NHL home named: Climate Pledge Arena,” (TNT, 6/27).

I just read the reports on Amazon’s name for the Key Arena remodel, and I must say I am disappointed.

Today’s society is much more about virtue signaling than about practicing virtue. I am 100% for people playing sports professionally and love to attend the spectacle with fellow fans.

So let’s not kid ourselves that we’re participating in a “carbon-neutral” activity when we go to a hockey game or concert at “Climate Pledge Arena.”

The vast majority of attendees will be using fossil-fuel burning cars to get there. The athletes and performers all either flew airplanes or rode tour buses that burned fossil fuels, too.

It’s all well and good to reduce our usage of material, but neither hockey, nor concerts, nor (hopefully) NBA basketball is essential to life, in the slightest.

If we really believed in climate change, we’d admit that sporting events are totally unnecessary and an incredible user of carbon-based energy that isn’t worth the cost.

However, I suspect the vast majority of attendees are more interested in saying the right things than actually practicing what’s best for the environment.

This story was originally published July 2, 2020 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Arena name: It’s all about pro sports virtue signaling."