Sustainability

For Sandra Douglass Morgan, president of the Las Vegas Raiders, sustainability is factored into every aspect of the football organization’s operations, from the ground up.

Morgan said it’s important that the Raiders – which relocated to Las Vegas from Oakland in 2020 – be a “good community partner,” a mission stressed by team owner Mark Davis.

“When I first met Mark, and have obviously grown to know him, he really wanted to focus on being a good community partner to Las Vegas and making sure that the community understood that we were going to be great partners and that the Raiders were going to be woven into the fabric of Southern Nevada,” she said in an interview.

This is particularly important for an area like Las Vegas, whose residents are acutely aware of the impact of the changing climate, from severe droughts, fires and water shortages, to the wettest monsoon season in a decade.

For the Raiders organization, this means finding a way to reuse everything from the tons of food scraps accumulated each season to the cigarette butts deposited outside the stadium. And playing in a modern stadium – Allegiant, which opened in 2020 – means that energy optimization and sustainability were incorporated from the very beginning.

The Raiders’ sustainability mission goes far beyond making sure the stadium is equipped with energy-saving lighting and automatic water faucets – although those are certainly present.

Some of the organization’s other sustainability efforts include diverting thousands of pounds of food scraps to livestock feed after major events; donating unused food to local nonprofits; and even converting cigarette waste into energy.

Now Morgan, who was named Raiders president in July, is looking ahead.

“What I really want to focus on in 2023 is reducing our carbon footprint and looking and thinking about more creative ways to do that – whether it be educating our customers, educating our fans that are coming to the stadium, and then leading by example,” she told us.

Morgan said the pandemic-era restrictions from the last few years meant that many organizations weren’t able to meet their sustainability goals, particularly when it came to things like water usage. But she said the lifting of those restrictions heading into next year will be a “reset.”

“This is the first time there’s no restrictions, so we really have an opportunity in 2023 to include environmental best practices,” Morgan said. “That’s going to be my goal for not only our Raider games, but for our private events, to let people know that we’re trying to establish best practices and hopefully implement them in 2023.”

Morgan joined the Raiders organization six months ago but said she already feels the impact of being the first Black female team president in the NFL. One such example was when a season ticket holder approached her and said his daughter sees herself reflected in Morgan and wants to be a team president one day.

“That’s when I realized this is something that’s broader than me. It’s something that the Raiders have done and, again, breathed and lived and supported since 1960 when the team was actually founded,” Morgan said.

“If I can inspire and encourage other people, whether it be to blaze new trails or just try something different …that’s personally great for me, it’s great for the Raiders and the team, and I think it’s just great for our community and our culture as a whole,” she added.

Morgan’s current role is just the latest in a groundbreaking career. Morgan was the first Black city attorney in the state of Nevada and the first Black chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

As the state’s top regulator of the billion-dollar casino industry, Morgan shepherded through a slew of reforms, including policies prohibiting discrimination against gaming company employees. She also oversaw the reopening of the casinos during the pandemic.

“To think about myself as a trailblazer is incredibly humbling,” Morgan said when asked about her historic career.

“As we, whether it be as women or people of color, go into new areas in management or in executive roles, it’s very rare to see someone who looks like you in that room,” she added.

“But you take that and you want to pave the way so that others can go behind you. And I really wanted to focus on really rolling up my sleeves and doing a great job for the Raiders. That is what I’m hired to do.”