Stadium’s new turf begs biggest question

Amid much fanfare, they publicly unveiled Aloha Stadium’s shimmering new $1.76 million synthetic turf Thursday.

In the process, we were told that 360,485 pounds of recycled rubber tires went into the infill and that there are 1.6 billion blades of synthetic grass in the UBU Sports Speed S5-M turf.

In addition, the process required 8,889 miles of fiber to complete, the distance from Honolulu to Auckland, New Zealand, and back.

What nobody would venture a number on, however, was how much beyond the eight-year warranty of the turf the stadium will still be in use.

For all the enhancements, including the green roof that now encircles the place, the question that hangs over Hawaii’s biggest entertainment facility is: How much longer?

That is, depending upon which way the decision goes, the $150 million-$700 million — and growing — question as Aloha Stadium enters its 36th year of operation.

It is one Halawa issue that has been kicked around and then kicked around some more since the rust first made its appearance in the 1970s. It has been punted as much as anything the University of Hawaii Warriors will put a foot into this fall with nothing definitive in sight.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie thought it an issue of sufficient significance to include in his State of the State speech in January, pledging to “convene a group of experts and university officials to consider the future of sports and the future development on Oahu to make a definitive decision on Aloha Stadium and any future stadium we might build.”

That committee has yet to be formed.

At some point — and you hope it is soon — somebody will make the tough call on whether the state plows enough money into the facility to keep it going for another 25-30 years or antes up on the immense fortune required to break ground on a replacement.

Neither option will be cheap, and delaying it will only add to the eventual bill.

One school of thought, pushed by the previous administration, was that for a $100 million outlay and year-round maintenance the stadium could continue service into its 60s, allowing for the necessary planning and fundraising for a replacement facility down the road.

But with state money tight, a $59 million upgrade has been put on hold by the current administration in favor of immediate health and safety issues only while the restudy waits on deck.

Just getting money to replace the well-worn previous turf, something the NFL and other tenants complained about, became a major chore. So much so that stadium manager Scott Chan and the stadium authority came up with the idea of selling the naming rights to the field as a way to underwrite future turf renewal. And, part of the proceeds from Hawaiian Airlines’ $2.5 million fee to paint “Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium” between the 20 and 30 yard lines on the north and south ends, we are told, will be earmarked for the eventual replacement of the just-installed synthetic turf.

Unless it, too, gets swept in the next round of the state’s search for dollars.

In his address Thursday, stadium authority chair Kevin Chong Kee cited the upgrades made to the facility and proclaimed, “the stadium still has some life to it.”

Just how much beyond the new turf remains anybody’s guess right now.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com.