GOAL Medals Program

■

[ ABOUT ]

What is the GOAL Medals Program?

The GOAL Medals Program is the live event industry’s only sustainability recognition system built specifically for venues. It was created to establish a clear, practical standard for what progress looks like in sustainable operations — grounded in real actions, not abstract commitments.

Each Medal represents a verified action taken to reduce environmental impact, strengthen operations, or support community well-being. Together, the Medals create a shared, measurable framework that captures the full range of impact efforts happening across sports and entertainment, including work that often goes unrecognized by traditional certifications.

Venues earn Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medals for good, better, and best practices, respectively, across ten key categories of sustainability performance. Earned Medals are tallied into an overall tier of leadership, giving Members a credible, actionable way to benchmark progress, validate their efforts, and communicate impact with confidence.

⤷ Want to gauge how your sustainability efforts earn GOAL Medals?

How It Works

A simple process designed for all venues

  1. Review the Medal objectives: Each of the 50 objectives across ten categories include Bronze (good), Silver (better), and Gold (best) practice in the respective topic.

  2. Upload proof in the GOAL Portal: Each year, venues submit documentation demonstrating the action taken.

  3. Expert review & verification: The GOAL team evaluates each submission for consistency and accuracy.

  4. Earn Medals and build your future roadmap: Medals highlight achievements, providing communication tools to amplify tactical improvements. Gaps in Medals chart a roadmap toward future focus areas.

GOAL Medal Tiers

Five goal achievement badges for Goal Sustainability 2025, labeled Starter, Contender, Leader, Champion, and Legend, each in different colors with decorative spirals.

The 50 GOAL Medals across 10 categories are tactical and specific, aimed to capture each individual impact-focused action. To better tell the story at a high level, GOAL awards 5 Tiers that each GOAL Medal compiles to earn.

The tiers are:

  • Starter: 3 points

  • Contender: 15 points

  • Leader: 55 points

  • Champion: 90 points

  • Legend: 125 points

Each Bronze Medal earns 1 point, each Silver earns 2 points, and each Gold earns 3 points. This approach reinforces that every venue’s sustainability journey is unique, with multiple pathways to achieve each tier.

A black and white goal sustainability award plaque labeled "Contender" with the year range 2024-2025 and the logo of the Minnesota Wild hockey team featuring a wilderness scene. There is a round black medal attached to a lanyard with the word "D GOAL" and the years 2024-2025, along with small green and white pins displaying ecological icons like water drops, trees, and recycling symbols, placed on the plaque. The objects are on rocks with some plants around.

When a venue earns GOAL Medals, recognition includes both physical and digital assets designed to help teams celebrate achievements and communicate progress clearly.

Physical Recognition

  • Annual GOAL Tier Plaque recognizing the venue’s tier and year(s) achieved, suitable for front- or back-of-house display

  • Physical GOAL Medal awarded to the individual who led or coordinated the Medal-earning efforts

  • Category Pins for each Medal category earned, intended to recognize the individuals and teams who contributed to those achievements

Digital Recognition & Communications Tools

  • Social media graphics and caption copy to share achievements publicly

  • Template press release to support external announcements

  • Customizable one-pager explaining earned GOAL Medals for use in private event bids, artist conversations, and partner communications

  • Dedicated member profile page on the GOAL website showcasing Medal achievements

Annual Celebration

  • Recognition at the GOAL Medals Ceremony, held as part of the GOAL Invitational, celebrating sustainability leadership across the network

What Earned GOAL Medals Include

Example Digital Assets

  • Award badge for Goal Sustainability Champion at UBS Arena, validated by Goal, featuring green and black colors with a stylized arena graphic and plant motifs.
  • Infographic titled "How We Earned It" with a dark green background and digital wave patterns. It states "Received 40 GOAL Medals across 10 categories." There are ten gold and brown circular icons with white outlines representing categories: Energy, Water, Waste, Wellness, Nutrition, Diversity, Strategy, Community, Engagement, and Partnerships. The infographic is validated by GOAL.
  • Two people sorting waste into blue recycling bags at UBS Arena Waste Management Facility.
  • Graphic announcing a goal leadership achievement at State Farm Arena, featuring a large blue and black banner with the words 'Goal Sustainability Leader' and the State Farm Arena logo, decorated with stylized blue fan icons and a goal validation symbol.
  • Infographic titled "How We Earned It" showing that 36 goal medals were received across 10 categories. The categories include energy, water, waste, wellness, nutrition, diversity, strategy, community, engagement, and partnerships, with a mix of gray and gold icons.
  • A promotional graphic for an event called Behind the Medals, with a photo of people on stage at an event with a screen displaying 'Overheated' in the background. The graphic includes text about engaging performers, athletes, and public figures at the event, held at State Farm Arena, and approved by Goal.
  • Black and gray banner with the words 'GOAL SUSTAINABILITY CONTENDER' at the top and the Fenway Park logo in the center. At the bottom, there are five star icons with the third one outlined, and the text 'Validated by GOAL' below.
  • An infographic titled 'How We Earned It' showing '--Received 27 GOAL Medals across 10 categories.' It features icons for Energy, Water, Waste, Wellness, Nutrition, Diversity, Strategy, Community, Engagement, and Partnerships, with respective labels. The infographic is validated by GOAL.
  • Poster with event details and photo of children in baseball uniforms at Fenway Park, supporting community initiatives.

GOAL Medals Recognize all Impact Efforts

The GOAL Medals aim to recognize many different impact-focused actions across a variety of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks and impact strategies. GOAL’s 50 optional objectives are split into 10 categories:

A dark-themed infographic presenting a sustainability framework divided into three categories: Environmental, Social, and Governance. The Environmental section includes goals like reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water efficiency, and waste reduction. The Social section focuses on health and wellness, food and nutrition, diversity and inclusion, and community resilience. The Governance section emphasizes ESG strategy, sustainability reporting, guest engagement, and sustainable partnerships.

There is no penalty or judgement for which categories are focused on - GOAL recognizes all impact efforts equally. 

Want to gauge how your sustainability efforts earn GOAL Medals?

Take the GOAL Medals Gap Analysis Survey