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Aloha Stadium is reportedly close to signing a new field naming rights agreement, people involved in the process said.
Talks have been ongoing for a multi-year deal with at least one local company.
Stadium manager Scott Chan, who briefed the Stadium Authority in closed-door executive session last week, declined comment except to confirm that there have been negotiations.
The stadium first sold naming rights to the field to Hawaiian Airlines in 2011 for a five-year period for $2.5 million. But the agreement that made it “Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium” expired in December and Hawaiian declined to pick up the renewal option.
The Stadium Authority presented the University of Hawaii with a $150,000 check from the proceeds and used the bulk of the rest to finance the new artificial surface that was installed this summer.
The current naming rights negotiations are separate from the stadium’s contract with New York-based Outfront Media, its advertising agent, Chan said. The stadium receives 40 percent of the gross revenue from that agreement. In 2015 the stadium’s share was approximately $290,000, Chan said.
But the Stadium Authority was told that one of the biggest clients, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, is not renewing a six-figure deal. Charter Communications acquired Oceanic in May.