Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui and business leaders are pushing for the creation of a sports authority to oversee sports and entertainment tourism in the wake of an embarrassing, 11th-hour cancellation of Sunday’s U.S. women’s soccer team exhibition match.
“What happened on Sunday is kind of a black eye for us. We don’t want to have an image of not being a great place for these types of events to be played,” said Tsutsui, who convened a select 16-member panel earlier this year to advise him on the creation of a sports authority to bolster sports tourism.
“Hawaii has so much to offer. We just need to make sure the proper folks are doing due diligence. Yes, this event highlighted that we can do better.”
The panel will present a bill to state lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session, Tsutsui said. While the bill’s language is in flux, Tsutsui envisions creating an $8 million to $10 million sports authority that encompasses the current Hawaii Stadium Authority and is similar in structure to the $82 million Hawaii Tourism Authority, which is responsible for Hawaii’s strategic tourism planning.
Mark Rolfing, chairman of Tsutsui’s advisory committee and an NBC TV golf analyst, said the soccer debacle illustrates the need for Hawaii to take sports tourism out of the hands of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, whose cutbacks have made it impossible for the organization to focus on such events.
“It’s obvious that we need to step up our efforts. We’ve got a pressing stadium issue right at the top of our list,” Rolfing said. “Meanwhile, HTA is down a sports marketing guy and its vice president of marketing.”
George D. Szigeti, HTA president and CEO, said a major sports tourism coup was realized during the summer when the U.S. Soccer Federation chose Honolulu as one of 10 cities to host an exhibition tour celebrating the American victory in the Women’s World Cup. The abrupt cancellation of Honolulu’s event has disappointed fans, cut short Hawaii’s hopes to achieve a national marketing bonanza and has left the state facing not only chagrin, but potential legal woes.
“I chose to look at it as the glass is half full,” Szigeti said. “This is an opportunity to work together to improve sports tourism to diversify our economy. We have tremendous potential.”
Szigeti said that generally the HTA is not opposed to the creation of a sports authority as long as its own budget remains intact.
“It’s unfortunate what happened, but we’re bringing in some good money and we can’t afford to lose that kind of money from our budget.”
HTA’s director of tourism research, Daniel Nahoopii, said HTA-sponsored sporting events pumped more than $132 million into the economy in 2014. But critics worry that some of that success could be undone by the U.S. Soccer Federation, which cast Hawaii in a negative light Tuesday when it accused Aloha Stadium of failing to provide a first-class field for the U.S. women’s soccer team to square off against Trinidad and Tobago.
“It doesn’t happen that way if you have a focused, coordinated, dedicated effort, and the Hawaii Tourism Authority and the Stadium Authority don’t have it,” said Mufi Hannemann, president and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging &Tourism Association. “There should have been something in the agreement that compensated or benefited the state for the inconvenience of a cancellation.”
Hannemann also criticized the HTA for failing to get U.S. Soccer to sign a sponsorship agreement prior to the event. The HTA had agreed to pay the entity $200,000 to offset marketing costs for the event. But Szigeti said that in this case the unsigned agreement releases the HTA from that obligation, as the contract is rendered void.
“In all my dealings with the NFL on the Pro Bowl, we’ve always had a signed contract,” Hannemann said. “Doing business this way tarnishes our reputation.”
David Carey, president and CEO of Outrigger Enterprises Group, said he supports establishing a sports commission or authority because Hawaii needs to make marketing and infrastructure investments if it hopes to attract future sporting events.
“Right now you can forget about trying to have another soccer match here,” Carey said. “I would have trouble stepping up as a sponsor unless you replace the turf with grass. I would say let’s do it, but the city and state don’t maintain their investments.”
Case in point, Carey said, is that the football and soccer practice fields at the University of Hawaii’s lower campus have not been properly maintained. On Friday, Carey said, the U.S. team’s midfielder Megan Rapinoe tore a ligament in her right knee during practice on the football training field.
“They were supposed to train on the soccer field, but it was miserable so they played on the football field. Megan likely got hurt because of the irregularities. Neither field is in good shape, but they both used to be beautiful,” Carey said. “Likewise, the Waipio Soccer Complex was lovely when it was installed, but last year one of the NCAA’s soccer teams didn’t want to play. They ultimately played after much begging and help from the city. That should have been a warning.”
