As I watched some of the Pro Bowl Games “skills” contests Friday on ESPN, my first thought was that Hawaii could do a much better job hosting that.

Then, reality set in pretty quickly.

Oh yeah, there’s also a game Sunday and Hawaii does not have a stadium.

When there is one again, the earliest being in 2028, the seating capacity is expected to be around 25,000.

When the Pro Bowl was played here every year but two from 1980 to 2016, it filled the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium — even in the last couple of years when the game had devolved to glorified two-hand touch.

So, that brings us to this question: How many people have attended the flag football finales of the Pro Bowl Games, which debuted two years ago?

There were 58,331 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in 2023. Last year, 55,709 showed up at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla., which also hosts today’s game.

So it’s clearly a no-go for Hawaii — even if for some reason the NFL made the state a great offer and did not charge the $5 million hosting rights fee of Pro Bowls past.

Mufi Hannemann told me he had similar thoughts, also quickly nixed by the lack of a large enough venue for the game.

But, some things don’t need a stadium.

“The other idea I’m mulling is making a bid for the NFL Draft to be held in Hawaii,” said Hannemann, the president of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism president and former Honolulu mayor. “When I say mulling, obviously I’m talking to other people locally and nationally who also have connections and share the vision for what’s best for Hawaii. (Hosting the draft is) a tough challenge, but not outside the realm of possibility.”

Hannemann is among the 30-member U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board that works with the Secretary of Commerce.

“The overarching emphasis we’ve been told at the national level is sports tourism, which of course is music to my ears,” Hannemann said.

The draft has been televised live since 1980. It was in New York until 2015, when it was in Chicago for two years and then rotated to various locations with NFL teams; it’s in Green Bay, Wis., this April and Pittsburgh next year.

When the Pro Bowl was played here every year, NFL leaders repeatedly said they considered Honolulu an NFL city. I don’t know if that’s still true now. But six years ago, Hannemann and other local leaders including the Hawaii Tourism Authority still had enough juice to convince the Rams and Cowboys to play a preseason game at Aloha Stadium. That drew more than 49,000.

A game with that big a crowd here is a thing of the past unless capacity for the new stadium is re-explored. But Hawaii is still positioned to benefit from other forms of sports tourism in the coming years, Hannemann said. That’s one reason why he, the HTA and other visitor industry leaders continue to expand sports-related ties with Los Angeles.

In addition to the 2027 Super Bowl, the 2028 Olympics and eight matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be in Southern California.

“I’m trying to position Hawaii as a place where athletes from Asia could stop over on their way to L.A. and rest and train here,” Hannemann said. “All of this takes funding, which is why we’re advocating for a larger tourism budget at the Legislature. Sports tourism is a proven revenue generator.”