NFL’s Waikiki party still on, league says

A big public event in the works in Waikiki for the two days preceding this year’s Pro Bowl will go on, even if a contentious plan to serve alcohol to some attendees is rejected, a league official told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

“We would move forward with the event even if we do not receive permission to serve alcohol,” Brendan Lee, manager of football information for the NFL, said Saturday in an email. “The alcohol service in the VIP area is a small piece of a broader fan event that we’re very excited to bring to Queen’s Beach.”

A proposed rule change under consideration by the city would allow alcohol to be served at Queen’s Beach in Waikiki, and possibly other city parks or beaches, up to four times a year.

The matter is drawing the ire of Waikiki residents, the Kapiolani Park Preservation Society and others who object to carving out a section of a beach for an exclusive group to drink alcohol when there is a decades-old alcohol ban at city parks and beaches.

Parks Director Michele Nekota is expected to make a decision on the proposal sometime after Friday, the deadline for the public to submit written testimony.

Following a public hearing on the rules held Friday, NFL events planners said it would be up to league officials to decide whether it would still hold the larger event, which is expected to draw 10,000 people on Jan. 29 and 30 — before the Jan. 31 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium.

Alcohol would be served to NFL sponsors in the VIP area, planners said. Lee was firm Saturday that the party would go on with or without alcohol service.

The NFL separately must obtain a facility use permit from the Parks and Recreation Department to hold its larger event, which would be held in the same area where “Hawaii Five-0” premieres, sand volleyball tournaments and Sunset on the Beach events have taken place in recent years.

City officials said Friday they had not yet received a request from either the NFL or its vendors for the use of the larger venue.

On Saturday Lee said, “We have been working with the appropriate entities on this process for several months and plan to continue to do so.”

The two-day beach event is supposed to replace a block party that accompanied the Pro Bowl when the game was held in 2014 and other years.

The 2016 Pro Bowl website does not mention the beach party, but lists activities that are part of paid game packages, including an official Saturday night party at the Royal Hawaiian and a pregame tailgate party at Richardson Field, part of the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam complex. Both parties are part of Pro Bowl game packages offered by the league and will include beer and wine.