With an eye toward bringing future NFL events here, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said it plans to continue its association with the league despite the loss of the Pro Bowl to Orlando, Fla.

“We want to maintain our relationship for the long term,” said Leslie Dance, HTA vice president of marketing and product development.

The HTA has an 18-year history with the NFL as the state’s lead tourism agency and was involved in 16 of the 35 Pro Bowls played here.

Dance said pursuing a preseason NFL game as well as a future Pro Bowl are possibilities. “We brought (preseason games) up with the NFL many times in our talks that we have had with them,” Dance said. “We have a lot of factors that we have to consider because the preseason (schedule) is during the peak travel season, but I think that is something that we would definitely want to entertain at some point.”

Aloha Stadium has not been the site of an NFL preseason game since 1976.

In addition, “We’ve had a long love affair with the Pro Bowl and we’d always welcome continuing that,” Dance said. “We’ll see how the game performs.”

In the NFL’s decision not to return to Aloha Stadium, Dance said, “they insist that money wasn’t a deciding factor; it was just that Orlando was a better fit for their vision of growth.”

The Florida Citrus Sports Association was aligned with Walt Disney World and ESPN in its three-year bid.

Dance said, “As they said to me multiple times, there are things that we, as a state, just can’t overcome that Orlando provided for them. It was just that Orlando was a better fit for their vision of growth,” particularly the youth market, she noted. “I mean that is a big strategy for them and, from what they told me, Orlando just ticked a bunch of business strategy boxes.”