If not for a picture on our website of the Carolina Panthers’ Thomas Davis playing dodgeball in Orlando, I would’ve forgotten all about the Pro Bowl and that it’s not being held here this Sunday.
I was going to use the word “contested” instead of “held,” but if this year’s game is like most of them, the dodgeball will be more competitive than the football.
Few folks other than the players themselves have expressed much regret that the NFL all-star game packed its bags after its long run at Aloha Stadium ended following last year’s finale. And that one will be remembered more for terrible traffic jams — on the streets and at the turnstiles — than anything that happened on the field, which, as usual, was missing many of the NFL’s brightest stars.
That’s why it was surprising to see there’s a bill in the state legislature trying to get it back. I’m among the many who believe the Pro Bowl had a good run here, but it’s done, at least for now.
I’m not for chasing it until we have a facility better suited to host it — assuming it’s still in existence at that time.
There is one important Pro Bowl-related question for now, though: Where’s that $5 million we paid the NFL annually to host it?
“Six months ago we invested it in our major market areas, Japan, U.S. and Canada,” said Leslie Dance, the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s vice president of marketing and product development. “We have to shore up our mature markets. That’s where the majority went. There’s also cultural events and community enrichment programs we do with the counties, festivals and events.”
So that idea of the University of Hawaii and other college athletic departments in the state getting a big chunk is a no-go.
The HTA is, however, still in the sports marketing business, and does assist UH in events that are mutually beneficial, such as the Rainbow Warriors’ football game in Australia last August.
But the above-mentioned Pro Bowl bill calls for a 13-member panel that would take over the sports marketing role. There was a similar bill last year for a sports commission that didn’t make it to law.
“We don’t understand how they would do it differently,” Dance said, in regards to sports marketing. “We can call the NFL, too.”
The idea of a sports commission is that it would be comprised of people more immersed in sports and sports-related businesses, presumably with more experience and contacts and able to move quicker, and with more focus than the HTA, which is responsible for all tourism-related promotion spending of state tax revenue.
The HTA says it’s still supporting sports, with 31 events a year.
“We still have some sports opportunity money,” Dance said. “It’s just not $5 million, it’s hundreds of thousands, it’s not a huge amount.”
It recently struck a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers to hold their preseason camp here this fall, including two games against, preferably, the Toronto Raptors. But there’s no signed contract with the venue yet, which would be the Stan Sheriff Center at the University of Hawaii.
Glenn Wakai, chairman of the state senate’s tourism committee, applauded and chastised the HTA after a meeting Thursday.
“I think the Clippers promotion was very well thought out and executed. But I cautioned them that they have no signed contract. They admitted they have nothing in writing. Didn’t they learn from the black eye they got from women’s soccer? They sold tickets and it disappeared,” Wakai said, citing the 2016 United States National Team pulling out of its match the night before it was supposed to play Trinidad and Tobago, claiming the Aloha Stadium playing surface unsuitable. “Especially considering the track record, you should not talk about the event being here when there’s nothing in writing.”
Dance said UH has reserved various dates for the games, and the holdup is because the NBA has to complete its preseason schedule.
The HTA won’t reveal how much the Clippers are getting from the state to bring their preseason camp here, for fear of losing negotiating power.
“I think the public has the right to know, once the contract is signed,” Wakai said.
Agreed. How else will we know if what amounts to trading the Pro Bowl for the Clippers was a good deal?
