The University of Hawaii has chosen to control its destiny by expanding its athletic complex at a cost of $30 million, allowing the Rainbow Warriors football team to continue its quest for Division 1 glory on the UH-Manoa campus.
But uncertainty is unspooling as to whether UH football will eventually return to Halawa and a rebuilt Aloha Stadium — will Aloha Stadium actually be rebuilt? — and how, or if, Hawaii’s next governor and incoming Legislature will provide support.
Aloha Stadium was the home-game venue for UH football since it opened in 1975 — and UH deserved better than the unexpected shutout that occurred in December 2020, when Hawaii’s Stadium Authority declared the 50,000-seat deteriorated stadium no longer safe, closing it to large events. Next, the state dithered in establishing oversight for a redevelopment plan at the stadium property, and viewpoints have begun to diverge over how to proceed.
University leaders, rightly so, simply don’t feel confident in projecting whether or when a new Aloha Stadium might be available — and this was made clear at Thursday’s UH Board of Regents meeting approving the Manoa athletic complex expansion.
“Do we want to control our destiny, or do we want to leave this in the hands of the state and hope for the best?” UH President David Lassner asked. “It may well come out great soon, but the history isn’t positive for prompt decisions and prompt action.”
The decision to expand was appropriate, but it’s unfortunate that it needed to be made against the backdrop of this cavalier treatment by the Stadium Authority, and by the state Legislature, which rebuffed a UH request for funding for an on-campus expansion, forcing UH to go scrounging for the money.
“Ultimately, there was no funding for this project in the (state’s) budget,” Lassner said. “This is the best plan we could come up with.”
To add injury to insult, doubt is growing that Aloha Stadium will be replaced by 2026, as was originally announced. Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Aiona, for one, has suggested that building a new stadium in Halawa should be abandoned, keeping UH football in Manoa.
Ultimately, a one-time infusion of pandemic relief funding allowed UH to access other monies from tuition revenue and special funds for athletic complex expansion. UH now plans to spend $15 million to bring its Clarence T.C. Ching Complex up to a capacity of approximately 17,000 seats by August 2023, meeting NCAA requirements to maintain Division 1 football status, with construction scheduled to begin in January. Another $15 million is allocated to relocate the university’s track and build a soccer pitch, or field.
The new venue may well fill up, and a football game with stands full of cheering fans is a welcome prospect — as is the estimated $1 million in athletics revenue an expanded Manoa facility will bring.
That revenue, however, doesn’t approach the approximate $3.9 million annually that football at Aloha Stadium brought in, with attendance at home games averaging over 20,000. The quick-build expansion, with seats that can be removed and repurposed, isn’t likely to have a built-for-the-ages appeal. Game-day traffic will have to be addressed, as well.
What UH, Rainbow Warriors fans and state taxpayers all deserve is a commitment from the state to go one way or another: to prioritize, plan and build a quality stadium on a clear timetable; or to support an on-campus venue with funding, roadway and public transportation improvements and other assistance as needed. Decisions about the long-term future of a UH-Manoa football venue are too impactful to be made in silos, and the state has come up short in this process so far.
Much of this necessary planning and cooperation will fall in the laps of an incoming governor and reconfigured Legislature. Candidates should be prepared to stake out their positions now, so that voters can take those into account.
