Talks aimed at bringing the Los Angeles Rams here in 2019 are said to be further along than any other effort on behalf of an NFL exhibition game on these shores in more than 20 years.
The opportunity to bring a UFC card featuring Max Holloway and other Hawaii fighters is still a possibility, but …
Well, with the continued shakeup of the Hawaii Tourism Authority you have to wonder if any of those events — or others that have been on the drawing board — will be realized.
Just when the HTA was showing signs of climbing off the mat, sports wise, after the departure of the long-running Pro Bowl following the 2016 game, many of those charting its course are — or soon will be — out the door.
The latest departure is that of the HTA’s president and CEO, George Szigeti. His exit, which was announced Thursday, becomes effective Oct. 31.
The status of the HTA’s non-paid chairman, Rick Fried, is still up in the air. The chief operating officer, Randy Baldemor and chief marketing officer, Leslie Dance, have already left the building as have a number of others.
The HTA still has Ascendent Sports Group, which lined up the Los Angeles Clippers games, as a contract sports marketer it took on in August 2016. But depending on who fills the vacancies at HTA, their strategies, or the entire partnership, could change.
The uncertainty of where things go from here points to what has been an issue of long standing, the lack of a comprehensive and collaborative effort to coordinate and maximize the state’s sports industry.
At various times, the HTA, the University of Hawaii, government and other stakeholders have either been out of concert with each other, if not at odds.
While there has been talk of setting up an overall sports commissioner — or commission — by a series of governors and would-be candidates, that’s pretty much all it has ended up being, just talk.
For decades we’ve lacked a grand plan for making the most of the state’s resources and limited finances. And there has been little urgency in seeing that one is drawn up and implemented.
Most states or major metropolitan areas have a dedicated sports body of some sort. Here any planning or coordination is left to the whim of whoever filling a particular office at the time.
The late Gov. John A. Burns, a man of vision on so many fronts, saw the value of sports to the state for residents and the visitor industry. And he put the force of his personality and considerable weight of the office behind seeing the vision through in the 1960s and ’70s until his death in 1975.
If not for him, sports might still be played at the site of Honolulu Stadium and UH could still be an independent competing against the likes of Whitworth and Westmont, if not reduced to club teams and intramurals.
The state has a lot going for it but sometimes we are left to wonder if much more than the surface has been scratched, particularly when it comes to golf, surfing, college sports and many other pursuits.
The wholesale change at the HTA should prompt more than a new set of nameplates on the doors; you would hope it also leads to some long overdue big-picture thinking.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
