We all know that the University of Hawaii’s Ching field is not a great place for Division I college football games.

But for a high school state championship?

As we saw last November, not bad. Not perfect, but not bad.

It’s as suitable a spot for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association’s Open Division state championship game as exists on this island, much better than the school-field alternatives. That’s the case for now, anyway, as UH fans aren’t the only ones anxiously awaiting the new Aloha Stadium.

UH and the HHSAA proved they could host the biggest prep game of the season last year, as Kahuku’s 21-19 victory over Mililani was played at Ching.

The main plus is the facility’s capacity. Although at 15,000 it is minuscule by Division I college football standards, it is more than acceptable for a typical high school state championship game. Yes, crowds that would not fit at Ching attended Prep Bowls and state finals at 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium, but that was another era, when live TV and streaming were not available or as popular as now.

The point is Ching’s capacity is about three times the limit of anywhere else on Oahu for football. Coaches had good reason to complain the previous two years when fans, especially family members and classmates of players, couldn’t get tickets because the championship games at Farrington and Mililani were sold out.

That was far from the case last November, as official attendance was 7,322 in the first Hawaii high school state championship football game at UH (although it appeared to be much more than that inside the stadium).

Mililani coach Rod York, who played defensive line at UH, said he was thrilled with the venue. He and Kahuku coach Sterling Carvalho both said their players loved it.

The decision-makers at UH and the HHSAA agree that Ching is the right place for this game. They want this season’s championship game there, too.

This is not a given though, because it cost the HHSAA around $130,000 to play last year’s game at Ching.

UH athletic director Craig Angelos and deputy athletic director Lois Manin said they are working with HHSAA executive director Chris Chun and others on ways to bring down costs.

“We need to help them out with that. We’ve got to see where we can pare some of that down,” Angelos said. “Some of it is fixed expenses, like having an ambulance on site. But we can make it more affordable.

“We (UH) don’t need to make money on this,” the AD said.

The HHSAA does, though. The Open Division championship football game is the biggest source of revenue that the HHSAA distributes to its member schools, statewide, Chun said.

“Every decision isn’t about money. I see the value in playing there, and it’s my intention to do it, but I have to be fiscally responsible and protect the amount that goes back to the schools,” Chun said. “I’m willing to work with UH.”

Holiday overtime was one of the biggest expenses. The game was played the day after Thanksgiving, meaning workers had to prepare the stadium on the holiday. Like last year, UH has its final home game this year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, making Black Friday the likeliest option for the preps.

Another large chunk of the expenses is parking, which the UH athletic department does not control. Manin said she is trying to facilitate a compromise.

“It’s a different arm of the university, but I can tell you that we’ve already started discussions with parking to be partners with the HHSAA,” Manin said. “Everyone’s coming from the same place of trying to help each other. Athletics wants to be good community partners, the university wants to be good community partners. With that said, we do have limitations with our facility. But we’re starting early, and doing everything we can to make this work.”

Manin is a former deputy manager of Aloha Stadium, where the HHSAA was charged much less to host state championship tripleheaders.

“It’s such a different situation. What we’re working with here is a temporary facility, without the infrastructure and unlimited parking of an actual events stadium,” she said. “We are working on partnership, and having conversations to see where we can reduce costs to the HHSAA.”

Hopefully, it works out. As we’ve seen, the high school stadiums are simply too small.