Baseball Adopts Five-Point Plan To Reduce Energy Use By 20-25%

Major league baseball announced Thursday a five-point program aimed at cutting its energy consumption 20 to 25%. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn disclosed the plan at a meeting in Washington of federal energy officials and 30 representatives of various sports and recreational groups. In California, meanwhile, the State Public Utilities Commission, as part of a broader order on energy cutbacks, directed a 15% cutback in use of power for illumination in sports stadia. The reduction, it said, could be by cutting down on lighting or on the number of events.

Kuhn told the Washington meeting that baseball's program would cause no drastic switch from night to day games or in the conduct of the Ail-Star game or the World Series. Kuhn said the 24 major league teams plan to reduce charter flights by 10% or more by using regular commercial flights and to lower by 20% the power consumption of lights before games begin. "We expect this usage can be eliminated or substantially curtailed in most parks," he said, add-ng that he sees no curtailment in pre-game batting or fielding practice. Kuhn said baseball will try to start night games at times which will conserve energy most and will consider increasing the use of car pools, mass transportation and other gasoline-saving methods to get fans to the parks.

John C. Sawhill, deputy administrator of the Federal Energy Office, said other sports spokesmen indicated willingness to follow baseball's lead. He said power-boating officials are prepared to shorten their events, rodeo promoters are willing to conduct fewer contests and ski associations are trying to launch a program to reduce energy demands by 20%. "We don't want to reduce sports in this country," Sawhill said, "but we do want to reduce the consumption of energy in sports." Kuhn was asked if there was any chance of realigning the American and National League divisions, to cut down on travel time. He said that for the time being such a prospect was "unrealistic."

Sawhill was asked why not reduce sports activity during the energy crisis and he replied: "We feel we can significantly achieve upwards of a 25 percent energy savings without hurting sport which is an important part of our economy." Kuhn said there has been no consideration given to cutting down the number of games for the season.