Gov. Josh Green, a lifelong, ardent Pittsburgh Steelers fan, may be attending his team’s game today in Nevada against the Las Vegas Raiders in connection with a sports tourism work trip.
This is the second straight year that Green, who became governor in December 2022, has gone to Nevada for industry meetings when the Steelers visited Las Vegas to play the Raiders.
The governor’s office on Thursday evening sent out a media advisory saying Green “will travel to Nevada on Thursday, October 10, to learn about sports tourism.” No other information about the trip was included.
Makana McClellan, director of communications for Green’s office, on Friday said the governor has a full work agenda in Las Vegas focused on sports tourism and economic development initiatives during the trip through Tuesday.
Trip events, she said, include a presentation on stadium financing with Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority officials, a tour of a hospitality, gaming and entertainment innovation center at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and a tour of a Tesla-based underground transportation tunnel system called the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop slated for major expansion under the city.
Green’s schedule also includes a tour of the UFC mixed martial arts organization headquarters, a tour of the Raiders headquarters and practice facility, and a meeting with Carpenters Union of America representatives on the challenges of home building, workforce development and infrastructure financing.
If Green goes to the Steelers game, it would be on his personal time, McClellan added.
James Kunane Tokioka, who accompanied Green during part of the 6-day trip, said on Friday from Las Vegas that he had just finished a meeting with Raiders officials who donated $50,000 for Hawaii high school flag football and explored the possibility of hosting a “home” game for the University of Hawaii football team at Allegiant Stadium.
“That’s in the very early stages,” Tokioka said of the prospect of a UH game in the 4-year-old stadium where the Raiders and UNLV Rebels play. He said cost could be an issue for such a game, but that interest from Hawaii residents would certainly be high. UH has been playing home games on an upgraded practice field on campus in Manoa after state officials shuttered Aloha Stadium in 2021. A private developer is supposed to build a replacement by 2028.
Tokioka was scheduled to return to Hawaii Saturday, and expects Green to attend the Steelers game. “Sunday’s his day off. I’m certain he’ll be at the game,” Tokioka said.
A little over a year ago, Green also traveled to Nevada to meet with various business and trade industry leaders from Sept. 21 to 25. On Sept. 24, 2023, the Steelers played the Raiders in Las Vegas. Green’s team won, 23-18.
Business and government leaders, especially those who regularly travel for work, intersperse leisure events during work trips on their personal time and expense.
In connection with another work trip last year, Green carved out time for a personal trip to his hometown of Pittsburgh. That trip was to Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24 for meetings and events with federal officials, including President Joseph Biden. Green’s office said the governor and first lady Jaime Kanani Green were stopping in Pittsburgh for a personal visit Oct. 27 before returning to Honolulu Oct. 30. On Oct. 29, the Steelers played the Jacksonville Jaguars in Pittsburgh. Green’s team lost that game, 10-20.
Green was raised in Pittsburgh, earned an undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and a medical degree at Penn State. In 2000, he moved to Hawaii island to practice medicine in rural Kau, and later became a state lawmaker and then lieutenant governor before becoming governor. For all his life, he has been a Steelers fan, and a proud one with Steelers- branded merchandise displayed in his office at the state Capitol.
“I’m a Steelers fan because genetically, it was programmed in me through my parents,” he told Hawaii News Now in a 2021 interview, during which he showed off his team’s “Terrible Towel” rally instrument. “And I was born Feb. 11, 1970, shortly after we drafted (defensive tackle) ‘Mean’ Joe Greene, and I’ve never looked back.”
In the interview, Green predicted his team would be in the Super Bowl in 2022. The Steelers have played in eight Super Bowls and won six. Their last Super Bowl was in 2011, a 25-31 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
