Louisville, KY (March 21, 2013) – For the 5th consecutive year, 58 AEG-affiliated venues in 40 cities, seven countries and four continents across the globe will contribute to the largest international environmental effort by turning out all non-essential lights during the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Earth Hour. On March 23rd from 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m., dozens of AEG clubs, theaters, arenas, and stadiums will participate by turning off marquees and all non-essential external lighting to go “dark” joining over one billion people committed to turning off the lights of their homes and business and national landmarks for one hour as a symbolic call to action. During Earth Hour, external and internal lighting will be turned off at the KFC Yum! Center.

“AEG encourages sustainable thinking from each of its venues, and we take great pride in bringing awareness to our local communities,” said Sandra Kendall, KFC Yum! Center Marketing Manager. “We hope by celebrating Earth Hour at the KFC Yum! Center, we can help increase local engagement in environmental action.”

The goal of Earth Hour is to show the power each one of us has to make a difference that taking even the seemingly smallest measures to conserve energy is a big step in the right direction for communities, business and governments across the globe. Earth Hour started in just one city in 2007 and spread across to over 7000 cities covering all seven continents. The annual event takes place from 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. across all time zones and from Rome’s Coliseum, the Great Pyramids of Egypt and the Forbidden City of China to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, London’s The O2 and L.A.’s STAPLES Center and thousands of landmarks and iconic locations in between.

“Earth Hour is one of many events that AEG venues host a year to inspire our fans to engage in environmental action,” said Jennifer Regan, AEG’s Global Sustainability Director. ”Fans come to sports and music venues for entertainment and we hope they walk away with the excitement knowing that together we can make energy efficiency and reduced climate change possible.”

In 2013, the second AEG 1EARTH sustainability report outlined AEG’s progress towards reducing the energy and carbon footprint of the venues in our portfolio. AEG’s ongoing commitment to improving venue operations and the effort to identify environmental best practices are important steps to achieving these reductions.