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DENNIS ODA / DEC. 11
Maintenance workers restripe the artificial turf of the stadium field at Aloha Stadium.
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As Aloha Stadium seeks to put a new sponsor’s name on its field, it will use the money from the old contract to help replace the artificial turf.
The five-year naming rights agreement for “Hawaiian Airlines Field” at the stadium expired Dec. 31, 2015, and the search is underway for a new sponsor, officials said.
“We’re open to entertaining offers,” a spokesman said. Aloha Sports Properties is the stadium’s exclusive advertising agent.
The stadium received $1.5 million for the previous sponsorship, most of which went into a fund that will be used to replace the 41⁄2-year-old turf in time for the 2016 football season. The Stadium Authority last season gave the University of Hawaii a $150,000 check to help pay for travel costs.
The turf replacement situation has been given greater urgency, officials said, by efforts to retain the 2017 Pro Bowl. The NFL is scheduled to announce the site of the 2017 game this month.
“It has always been in the plan to replace the field turf,” Charles Toguchi, chairman of the Aloha Stadium Authority, said in a statement. “With significant competition to host the 2017 NFL Pro Bowl, we have determined that by providing an option to install a new field approximately six months earlier, we are making every effort to place ourselves in the best possible and most attractive position to be considered as the host site for the 2017 NFL Pro Bowl game.”
The condition of the turf was a matter of controversy in December when the U.S. Soccer Federation canceled a scheduled match between the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago citing poor field conditions, including an uneven surface and open seams.
The Hawaii Bowl and Pro Bowl were subsequently played without complaint.
