Before a new Aloha Stadium can be constructed, there must be builders willing to take on the job.

That requirement has been met, according to state officials who said Thursday that multiple responses to its request for proposals were received by the Feb. 14 deadline.

“We are pleased with the number of responses,” said Aloha Stadium Deputy Manager Chris Sadayasu at the monthly meeting of the Aloha Stadium Authority board.

A spokesperson for the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District declined to specify “for competitive reasons” how many contractor teams responded with proposals.

The new stadium is expected to be ready in time for the 2028 football season, according to the state’s most recent projections.

The state is now evaluating the proposals and plans to announce finalists late this month or in early April, Sadayasu said. After the successful bidder is chosen in 2025, demolition of the existing stadium and construction of the new stadium and district will start.

Stadium planners have been down this road before, sort of.

NASED announced preferred contractors more than two years ago, but that was when the plan was much different. The public-private partnership in the works then called for a separate private team to work on the stadium itself, while another handled construction of the district surrounding the stadium.

The plan now is for one team of private partners to develop, build, operate and maintain the stadium and also develop the surrounding district. In this model the private partner will be responsible for any costs to build or maintain the new stadium beyond the $400 million in public resources allotted for it by the state Legislature.

Another significant milestone was reached Feb. 16 when Gov. Josh Green signed a project labor agreement. This ensures streamlined labor contracts for state projects of $1.5 million or more, a category the stadium falls under.

“Also, it requires out-of-state contractors to exhaust the supply of local workers before importing labor from the mainland,” Sadayasu said.

Unions that sign the agreement agree to not strike the project (although grievances can still be filed).

“This is terrific,” Stadium Authority board member Michael Yadao said. “It’s great for the project and for the state.”

The original 50,000- capacity Aloha Stadium, that opened in 1975, hosted its last game in 2021 because of safety concerns. The original structure remains standing on the site were the new facility is to be built. It is expected to seat at least 25,000 and be expandable.