Pro Bowl exit is HTA opportunity

With the Pro Bowl ditching the Aloha State for Orlando, Fla., the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) has a prime opportunity to reinvest the $5 million the NFL leaves behind into shoring up its sports tourism efforts.

Instead, HTA is divvying up the windfall to support sports competitions; preserve Hawaiian culture and the environment; sponsor community festivals and events; and bolster tourism marketing in the U.S. mainland and Japan, as well as emerging markets such as China.

The $5 million was tied to the Pro Bowl — and in its absence, a hefty chunk of it should go toward the mining and support of sports-related initiatives.

While the HTA’s contingency plan aims to boost visitor numbers, losing the Pro Bowl gives the HTA a unique, financially backed window to pursue other high-profile sporting events that could draw visitors from both domestic and international markets.

Sports tourism is an important part of the HTA’s marketing mix, but “we also have to look at tourism as a whole,” said Leslie Dance, HTA vice president of marketing and product development.

It is encouraging to hear that HTA has committed $9 million to 19 sporting events in 2016, and is in talks to bring in new ones for 2017 and beyond, which would ease the sting of the Pro Bowl’s departure.

It’s also a smart move by HTA to seek out a sports marketing consultant, especially now that the Pro Bowl is leaving after 35 years.

A request for proposals is out for a consultant, which would not become an arm of the HTA but would work with the agency to develop a strategy moving forward.

HTA should move briskly to formalize that strategy, especially since Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui supports the creation of a separate sports tourism authority.

A bill that would have created such an authority died during the session that just ended, but the measure is likely to go before lawmakers again next year.

Mufi Hannemann, president of the Hawaii Lodging &Tourism Association, and a proponent of the sports authority, said it’s critical that the state elevate its sports-tourism profile in the aftermath of the Pro Bowl’s exit.

That makes sense.

The HTA said its sporting events in 2016 are projected to have an economic impact of $144 million, so it would be worthwhile to explore what another $5 million could generate in return on investment.

Given the unique opportunity, using the money for items such as sponsorships of community festivals and events seems almost mundane, not forward-thinking.

Clearly, any sports marketing efforts would have to dovetail with work to upgrade and maintain facilities such as Aloha Stadium and sports complexes such as the Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park, so that Hawaii can better compete for major sports tournaments — youth and otherwise.

Serious consideration also must be made to retrofit the Hawaii Convention Center to accommodate sports such as basketball, volleyball and ping pong.

The NFL was gracious in its exit: “Our decision to move the Pro Bowl to a different location was not related to funding, Aloha Stadium or Hawaii’s ability to host the game,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s senior vice president of events.

Still, when it comes to Hawaii’s capability on prestigious events, one can’t discount this year’s Pro Bowl traffic nightmare that left fans sitting in gridlock for hours, many of whom gave up trying to get into Aloha Stadium.

Or for that matter, the 11th-hour cancellation of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team’s match against Trinidad and Tobago; poor turf conditions at the stadium was one factor cited.

In bidding aloha to the Pro Bowl, the state also bids farewell to the projected revenue it would have generated for the state’s economy in 2017; this year’s game generated $26.2 million.

All the more reason the $5 million in Pro Bowl funds must be invested wisely, so that its future economic impacts will be as, or more, significant than the longstanding event leaving town.