The agreement that will bring NFL preseason football back to Aloha Stadium for the first time in 43 years is being touted as a vast improvement over terms granted the Pro Bowl.

“We believe it is a much better deal for a variety of reasons,” Chairman Rick Fried said after the Hawaii Tourism Authority board unanimously voted Thursday to approve the deal to host a Los Angeles Rams game.

Under the agreement in principle, the HTA said it will pay the Rams “in the range of $2 million” for an August appearance against an opponent yet to be named.

In addition, the Rams are pledged to spend at least $750,000 in the state, according to Sean Dee, who heads the HTA board’s marketing committee.

In the final seasons of its 35-year run as the site of the Pro Bowl that ended with the 2016 game, the state paid the NFL what became a controversial $5.2 million per year for the all-star game, did not charge rent for the use of Aloha Stadium and ceded food, beverage and novelty revenue as well as a portion of the parking to the league.

Stadium manager Scott Chan, who met with Rams officials after the HTA vote, said some details of the stadium portion of the agreement remain to be finalized “but are on a very positive track” and would be an “improvement” over Pro Bowl terms.

“The Rams assume all the risk if the event does not sell (well). There is no risk to the taxpayers,” Dee said.

The Rams said they have focused on a likely opponent for the game but declined to identify the team pending a contract. The last preseason game in Hawaii, in 1976, was between the San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers.

The HTA is budgeted to spend approximately $6.1 million of its overall $84.7 million budget for fiscal 2019 on sports. Earlier this year it rejected an Ultimate Fighting Championship demand for $6 million to sponsor a card featuring Max Holloway at Aloha Stadium.

The Rams, who had a significant following in Hawaii before moving from Los Angeles to St. Louis in 1995, returned to California in 2016 and aim to make the state “Rams Country,” with community outreach programs in several areas of the state, a spokesman told the HTA.

The Rams, who will play this season in the Memorial Coliseum, are scheduled to move into their new 70,000-seat, $4.9 billion Rams Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., in the summer of 2020. But Jason Griffiths, Rams vice president for partnerships, said that does not preclude a return to Hawaii in some form.

“As of right now it is a one-year agreement, so we can kind of see how it goes, and if it works for the Rams and HTA, we could figure out a way to make it long term,” said Griffiths.

Among the possibilities being floated are the team holding an abbreviated four- to five-day training camp here either in connection with a preseason game or standing alone. This year, for example, the Rams shared two joint practices at training camp hosted by the Ravens before their Aug. 9 exhibition game.

While some HTA board members said they initially had pause about undertaking a “one-off” agreement with the Rams, they said they were encouraged by the possibilities of extending the relationship in some form.

In addition to the preseason game, the Rams will make HTA an official sponsor with promotional opportunities, signage and digital and social media content along the lines of the HTA’s current deal with the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA. The Rams’ Thursday night game with Minnesota on Sept. 27 will be designated ‘“Hawaii Night,” with the HTA providing entertainment and promotions.

Southern California is the HTA’s largest market, and it was its deal with the Clippers last year that originally attracted the attention of Rams Executive Vice President Kevin Demoff. Demoff, a frequent Hawaii visitor, assigned staff members to contact the HTA, said Jose Tafoya, a Rams corporate partnership executive.