When Gov. Neil Abercrombie showed up unexpectedly at a Pro Bowl news conference Tuesday, he struck the right tone, finally, that many in Hawaii had been rooting for: for Honolulu to remain as host city for the all-star football event.
Sunday’s Pro Bowl game will complete the NFL’s current contract with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, and the two sides have been engaged in negotiations this week for future games.
There are many mutual benefits to make the case for future Pro Bowls here. For Hawaii, in return for the $4 million contract, there’s the boost in sports tourism and TV coverage of Hawaii’s balmy weather. The tourism authority points out that more than 21,000 Hawaii visitors were among the 49,331 fans in last year’s game at Aloha Stadium. These tourists spent $28.15 million during their Hawaii visit, generating
$3.07 million in state taxes, most of them flying to the islands for the purpose of attending the game.
What does the NFL get? Great morale among its star players (and their families); a welcoming venue loaded with appreciative fans; and reliable, tropical weather that is the envy of many swaddling against mainland’s winter cold.
Hawaii also provides the NFL heart-warming opportunities for players to reveal their humanitarian side to fans with visits to, and fundraisers benefiting, hospitals and other charities. With its many military installations, Oahu also offers the NFL a unique Pro Bowl venue that allows players to reach — literally — many fans serving and sacrificing in the U.S. armed forces.
The Pro Bowl arrived at Aloha Stadium in 1980 and continued through 30 consecutive seasons until the NFL departed from its long-standing Hawaii agreement by going in 2010 to Miami, site of that year’s Super Bowl, a week before the championship game. The game returned to Honolulu last year, but next year’s game may be in New Orleans, where the Super Bowl is scheduled the following week.
A year ago, then-new Gov. Abercrombie added to uncertainty over the Pro Bowl’s future in Hawaii when he mocked the contract, in which the state pays the NFL
$4 million to host the game. Now, he says, “We would like to continue to have (the game) and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that comes about in a fashion that will make everybody very, very happy.”
It’s certainly a welcome message at this crucial stage of talks.
The Pro Bowl — which drew 13.4 million TV viewers last year — is the lone major all-star game to be played at the end of the regular season instead of halfway through, and the only one that has drawn lower ratings than regular-season games. That can be attributed partly to the Pro Bowl being tailored into a safety-net version of football, tantamount to a NASCAR race with speed limits. For example, formations are limited for protection, blitzes are not allowed and blocking punts, field goals or points-after is forbidden.
Despite all that, the Pro Bowl has generated popular fan events in Honolulu, at hospital appearances, autograph signings; night entertainment spots featuring football stars and military appearances.
Players practiced Thursday at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, and the NFL plans to give away tickets to the military.
Appreciative players have been candid about their preference for the game being played in Hawaii.
“It’s always a privilege,” said Miami Dolphins receiver Brandon Marshall. “It’s always an honor to be selected to a Pro Bowl. But this is what the Pro Bowl is about — paradise. So it would (stink), definitely, if we no longer come here.”
Some players have said they won’t participate in the Pro Bowl if it is moved away from Hawaii.
That’s a solid sentiment NFL officials should heed, as they mull the Pro Bowl’s future while basking in sunny Hawaii.
Meanwhile, state tourism officials, with Abercrombie’s continued support, need to push determinedly toward the multiyear goal: first, the 2014 Pro Bowl here instead of near chilly New York, that year’s Super Bowl venue; then pursue next year’s bid over New Orleans, and 2015 over the rumored Glendale, Ariz.
