$150K check from Stadium recognizes UH’s importance

Largely overlooked amid all that surrounded the University of Hawaii’s game Saturday night at Aloha Stadium was a brief halftime check passing.

Smiling faces and surfboard-sized check ceremonies at the 50-yard line while fans make a beeline for the concession stands and bathrooms are nothing new, of course.

But this one was historic as perhaps the first direct payment to UH from Aloha Stadium in its 41-year stay as an anchor tenant.

The $150,000 represented a share of the stadium’s proceeds from the sale of field naming rights to Hawaiian Air. More than that, it symbolized acknowledgement of UH’s importance and revenue-driving role for the facility, something overlooked for decades.

When the late Gov. John A. Burns envisioned what became Aloha Stadium, he saw a home for UH, a place that would help showcase and support the athletic program.

Over the years that ideal has too often been given short shrift by the State, with UH viewed as just another off-the-street tenant while the Pro Bowl gets the red carpet.

But recent Aloha Stadium Authority boards have sought to address that within their means and the check is a significant step. Hopefully the first of many for a needy athletic department.

Especially in light of the revenue it drives for the school and State. A 2015 economic impact study by the Shidler College of Business credits UH athletics with generating $66 million in direct Hawaii spending on labor, goods and services and $7 million in taxes.

In 2007, after considerable cutting of red tape, the Authority removed the requirement that UH pay rent, though the ’Bows, as are the high schools, are charged for operating expenses (security, ushers, clean-up, electricity, etc.).

In 2011, when the Authority signed the five-year, $1.5 million naming rights deal for Hawaiian Airlines Field, it gave future boards the discretion to share 10 percent with UH. The remainder is for maintenance of the artificial surface and the purchase of the next one (in 2017).

The current Authority concurred. “We want to help the University where we can,” said Stadium Manager Scott Chan, who has worked with the board to provide UH with parking and other revenue opportunities.

Understand it was no small step by the Authority, which is charged by the State foremost with minding its own budget. The stadium is required to generate the funds to balance its operating and payroll budgets and receives no general funds except for capital improvements.

“It is money that we didn’t budget for and didn’t anticipate and it is great collaboration between Scott, the Stadium Authority and UH,” said athletic director David Matlin.

Sadly, with the Hawaiian Air deal ending in December and the airline not picking up the option, it will be a one-time payment unless a replacement sponsor is found.

Meanwhile, what the Stadium Authority has done should be a starting point for other areas of the State — the Hawaii Tourism Authority among them — to look at ways where UH can finally share in what it helps to bring in.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.