Tel Aviv Basketball Team is Going Vegan
On September 19th, the Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball is scheduled to open its 2022-2023 season. When it does kick start the season, it is expected to go vegan.
This means that the food stands at the stadium will not just boast the usual omnivorous offerings that are available for sale, but also have vegan pizza and vegan hotdogs.
New sponsor
This new look of the team comes because it has now gotten sponsorship from an Israeli organization called Vegan Friendly, which promotes animal rights and veganism.
The founder of Vegan Friendly, Omri Paz said that their goal was not to change the entire place to vegan, but to just incorporate vegan foods as well.
For instance, he said that hotdogs were not exactly the healthiest food items that exist. Paz added that it was a long season and they would see how things turn out.
Since Vegan Friendly has now become the sponsor of the Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball team after spending NIS 1 million on the deal, the team name has now been changed.
It will be called the Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv and it should be noted that this vegan alliance would not just be limited to the fast food counters that can be found at games.
Other elements
The uniforms of the team players will also boast the dark pink seal of Vegan Friendly and the same would be seen around the Shlomo Group Arena.
The organization and the team will also collaborate for hosting a few joint events and the players’ diets will also undergo some changes.
The chair of the Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv, Rami Cohen said that this was not a conventional deal, but the team was always about doing unconventional things.
He added that the Hapoel Tel Aviv team’s fan base comprised of a lot of vegans.
Tel Aviv’s status
Considering the fact that Tel Aviv is often referred to as the vegan capital in the world, it makes sense that a franchise of Tel Aviv would be the first one to accept vegan sponsorship.
Thus, it is a boon for the activist group. As for the NIS 1 million that Vegan Friendly had to pay for sponsoring Hapoel Tel Aviv, it did it through donations.
There were about 6,700 members of the Vegan Active activist group that came together for donating the million shekels required for this purpose.
According to Paz, it was very similar to crowdfunding, as every member is free to decide how much they wish to donate.
He stated that they come up with a new campaign after every couple of months and Hapoel Tel Aviv was their latest one.
Paz said that the team was the first one they had turned to when they came up with the idea of a sponsorship. Both Paz and Cohen stated that they had had an instant connection.
Cohen stated that they had other sponsors and while they are always searching for funding, they also want to have the right kind of connection.
