The $5,152,000 question now that the Pro Bowl won’t be here in January is: What will the Hawaii Tourism Authority do with the money it saves?
Had the NFL all-star game returned to our shores for the 35th time in 36 years instead of relocating to Glendale, Ariz., for Jan. 25, 2015, the HTA said it was prepared to pay the league $5 million, plus $152,000 in operational expenses.
That’s a $1 million raise from what it paid the NFL for 2014. So far, Arizona isn’t disclosing what it paid to land the game (which the NFL says was a separate deal from the Super Bowl also in Arizona), but you’ve got to admire any outfit that can walk away from a million-dollar raise these days.
Never mind, of course, that it was Aloha Stadium that took in the orphaned game in 1980, when the NFL not only couldn’t give its aging anachronism away to any member cities but faced hostility when it offered the suggestion. Hawaii then helped nurse the Pro Bowl back to the point where it is the most watched all-star event of any of the pro leagues, viewed by 11.4 million in 2014.
If the state feels like it got a bad deal, which it is unlikely to acknowledge publicly after the amount of fence-mending necessary following Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s 2011 rant — "I’m really not concerned about multibillionaire (owners)" — then it might want to privately commiserate with its institution of higher learning in Manoa Valley. UH athletics could spin a tale or two of its own.
Like, for example, how the school pays for the cleanup of Aloha Stadium but doesn’t receive any of the concession or merchandising money. Or, how Aloha Stadium was built as the home for UH, but it is the Pro Bowl that gets the sweetheart deal. And how it draws the vast majority of fans to Halawa but doesn’t share in any of the $1.1 million in signage revenue. Then, there is the issue of how UH athletics draws thousands to campus on nights and weekends, but gets none of the parking revenue.
UH could cite the hours of visibility its teams provide the state though the televising of its games. Moreover, its events draw fans who follow mainland teams here (as many as 7,000 USC fans for a game with the Trojans). Yet, the HTA, which provided UH $575,000 in 2012, no longer sends the school a check.
The HTA declined to say Wednesday if UH might again receive some funding. In response to a question, UH athletic director Ben Jay said he planned to again approach the HTA about some level of grant.
It would not be a handout as much as an overdue acknowledgement of some of what UH brings in but goes uncredited for. The kind of account rebalancing the governor should see fit to endorse.
Because the problem isn’t with the Aloha Stadium Authority or its management. Manager Scott Chan and the authority have tried to come to UH’s aid within their own tight budget constraints, but are responsible for their facility showing a profit. Likewise, the HTA has its limits.
Now, as the HTA goes about "plans to reprioritize the funds that would have supported the 2015 Pro Bowl," the hope is that the governor, or somebody in a position to do so, will use the opportunity to more equitably square accounts.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820
CORRECTION: Aloha Stadium gets $1.1 million in signage revenue. An earlier version of this story and a story in Thursday’s print edition said it gets $1.7 million in signage revenue.
