University of Hawaii mulls adding 6,000 seats to practice football field

The University of Hawaii is considering adding about 6,000 seats to its practice football field in Manoa to play games over the next three years if Aloha Stadium remains closed.

Such an expansion is part of a proposed retrofit for the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Complex that is estimated to cost $6 million and also include moving scoreboards from the Halawa stadium.

UH officials are examining how to host Rainbow Warrior football games after a state agency that manages Aloha Stadium announced in December that a moratorium on new events was in place with a few exceptions that didn’t include UH games.

The agency, the Aloha Stadium Authority, is pursuing replacement of the 50,000-seat Halawa stadium with a new 35,000-seat stadium by 2023 in partnership with a private developer, and cited upkeep costs as a reason for the moratorium.

Aloha Stadium has been the home field for UH football since the facility opened in 1975.

To make use of Ching Field, UH is contemplating expanding seating capacity from 3,585 to about 10,000 at an estimated cost of $1.8 million.

Other envisioned changes and estimated costs are:

> $2 million to upgrade electrical, telecommunications, press box and other facilities.

> $1.1 million to relocate scoreboards and game clocks from Aloha Stadium.

> $712,000 to add concession space.

> $200,000 for benches.

> $150,000 to relocate a pole vault and high-jump area.

UH plans to present the preliminary concepts and cost estimates to the university’s Board of Regents at a meeting Thursday.