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Since the Pro Bowl moved to Hawaii 24 years ago, four teams have been added by the National Football League, seven NFL franchises have switched cities and 14 different teams have won the Super Bowl.
For almost 25 years, the Pro Bowl
Hula Bowl adds to weekend
has prompted fans to leave the cold
at home and their money in HawaiiBy Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.comAmid the changes, though, one thing has remained constant. Visitors continue to flock to the annual all-star game at Aloha Stadium and pump money into the state's economy.
"The Pro Bowl is huge economically to Hawaii, but even more than that, it's part of the community," said Rex Johnson, executive director of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the state's tourism marketing agency.
The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism estimates this year's Pro Bowl will generate $39.92 million for the Hawaii economy from the 16,000 visitors expected to come here exclusively for today's game. Of the sales, $24.95 million is expected to come from direct visitor expenditures and $14.97 million from indirect sales, such as the additional supplies needed by businesses to accommodate the event and additional visitors. Those economic impact figures are far lower, however, than in previous studies because it excludes both visitors connected to the game, and tourists who already were in Hawaii and decided to attend the Pro Bowl as one of their activities.
In recent years, the HTA had been working under the premise that roughly half of the sold-out Aloha Stadium crowd of 50,000 came to Hawaii for the game. But last year the HTA commissioned a survey to get a better idea how many people visited solely for the Pro Bowl. Market Trends Pacific surveyed 595 westbound visitors inside the stadium at last year's Pro Bowl and came up with the 16,000 figure, which has a margin of error of 4.02 percent. DBEDT crunched the numbers with other data to produce additional information.
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Among DBEDT's findings were that Pro Bowl visitors will stay an average of 10.1 days, spend $154 daily, generate $11.48 million in income for Hawaii households and produce $2.42 million in tax revenues.The reason for the survey, according to HTA sports consultant Tau Harrington, was to get a better idea of the Pro Bowl's drawing power by discounting those tourists already in Hawaii. The HTA has commissioned another survey for today's game that asks additional questions dealing with demographics.
"I think the Pro Bowl is an important event for Hawaii as a sports event destination," Harrington said. "It provides strong media exposure for the state and our relationship with the NFL provides some prestige within the sports marketplace."
Last year's survey was the first extensive one since a comprehensive economic impact study was conducted by DBEDT on the 1994 Pro Bowl. The 1994 study, figuring 26,480 out-of-state spectators and participants came to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl, determined that the game generated $88.9 million in sales for Hawaii's economy and had a $100.4 million impact when the promotional value of newspaper advertising and television shows are factored in to the equation. Included in that economic impact was $49.5 million in direct visitor expenditures.
The study focused on a much broader impact than the one conducted last year, and included spending, for example, by airlines, TV news crews covering the event and NFL officials and players.
An abbreviated 1996 DBEDT analysis, based partly on the 1994 survey and partly on numbers from the Aloha Stadium Authority, found that the game generated $93.73 million for the Hawaii economy. That total was based on 31,480 out-of-state spectators and participants and included $52.13 million in visitor expenditures.
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The state, which after today's game will have two more years left on its five-year contract with the NFL, plans to talk to the league as soon as possible about a new contract. The current contract gives the state the first right to negotiate an extension and permits such discussions following today's game. If the two sides don't come to an agreement during the six-month period following the conclusion of the 2004 game, then the NFL is free to look elsewhere.While there certainly are other cities that would welcome hosting the Pro Bowl, Jim Steeg, senior vice president of special events for the NFL, said the league won't play one city against another. Until coming to Honolulu in 1980, the Pro Bowl had made stops in Los Angeles, Dallas, Kansas City, Miami, New Orleans, Seattle and Tampa.
"We're not trying to play that game," he said. "We have a great relationship with the state and we're not trying to leverage them against somebody else. We're trying to deal with them like good businessmen do."
Likewise, Johnson wants the state to sign a new deal.
"I think Hawaii has a long-term love affair with the Pro Bowl and we would love to keep the Pro Bowl here in Hawaii," he said. "It's been here for 24 years and we'll celebrate the 25th anniversary next year. We'd love to have that go on for another 25 years."
Steeg, who said the two sides have had some informal discussions during the past three months, said the NFL and the state probably will sit down to talk in greater detail in about a month. One of the key issues for both sides is creating additional marketing opportunities. Among the ideas being bandied about, according to several individuals close to the situation, are expanding merchandise sales by creating a complete line of Pro Bowl-related items, finding a way to increase game-day revenues without raising ticket prices, increasing the number of corporate events during the week, offering tickets to other NFL games as an entertainment option to companies booking rooms in Hawaii, becoming part of the incentive market so that companies can offer a trip to the Pro Bowl to employees who meet their sales targets or incentive goals, and developing a year-round partnership that will extend the NFL-Hawaii relationship over the rest of the year.
"The whole idea is not to look at a single event but to look at it as an integrated marketing program to be part of a longer season of sports activities centered in Hawaii in order to keep Hawaii on television and on top of the minds of people during the winter months when it's cold on the mainland," said Frank Haas, HTA's director of tourism marketing.
Another issue brought up by the HTA is the possibility of bringing in one or more corporate sponsors to help defray costs for the Pro Bowl. Steeg said, however, that corporate sponsorships are prohibited under the league's television contract with Fox, ABC, CBS and ESPN. That TV contract runs through the 2005 season and ends after the 2006 Pro Bowl.
One previous sticking point, the installation of the player-friendly Fieldturf at Aloha Stadium, was finalized Thursday when the two sides signed off on the $1.3 million project, which is due to be completed by the end of the May.
Mark Rolfing, who is negotiating the Pro Bowl contract on behalf of the HTA, said the state is paying the NFL $4.75 million for the right to host today's game, $5.125 million for the 2004 game and $5.5 million for the 2005 game. Additionally, there are other state-incurred expenses such as stadium game-day operations, parking, shuttle service and signs. Those types of expenses increase the state's financial liability to $5.076 million this year, $5.45 million next year and $5.83 million in 2005, according to Haas.
The NFL's own annual expenses, which go toward such things as players' and officials' travel costs, range from $8 million to $10 million annually, Steeg said.
Rolfing said the length of a new contract and what the state pays the NFL have not been discussed in recent talks.
"What's really being discussed is long-term philosophy from both entities and what everyone can do to take advantage between two of the strongest brands in the world -- the No. 1 brand in tourism, Hawaii, and the No. 1 brand in sports, the NFL," Rolfing said.
Rolfing said corporate sponsorships would be important in a new contract because the cost of putting on the game keeps rising.
"There eventually will come a time where it becomes awfully expensive," Rolfing said. "That's why we're trying to identify some additional revenue sources."
Steeg is understanding of the state's situation but said his hands are tied under the NFL's TV contract.
"There are a lot of issues out there that need to be discussed," he said. "I think one of the things I found out over the course of three years (under the current contract) is that a lot of things change. We want to make sure there's flexibility in the contract so we can adjust to those changes."
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The Hula Bowl, which was played yesterday at War Memorial Stadium on Maui, was moved to the same weekend as the Pro Bowl this year for the first time. The coupling of the two events was supposed to have occurred last year, but the Pro Bowl was pushed back a week due to the events of 9/11. Hula Bowl adds
to sports weekendBy Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.com"We wanted to create an all-star weekend to promote Oahu and Maui," said Dick Schaller, president and owner of the Hula Bowl. "The (Hula Bowl) players will stay over an extra night (in Hawaii) and be part of the Pro Bowl and be introduced in the game. We're trying to work out more things down the line."
The Hula Bowl, which moved to Maui from Aloha Stadium in 1998 after 51 years in Honolulu, has given a boost to Maui's economy. The game, which is in the first year of a five-year deal, has sold out each year it's been held there. The stadium seats just under 24,000. The Pro Bowl sells out every year.
Marsha Wienert, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, said 9,262 tickets were sold last year to out-of-state residents, including visitors and people associated with the game.
That resulted in visitor expenditures of $10.1 million, based on Maui's visitors staying an average of six days and spending $182 per person per day, according to figures supplied by Wienert and the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
"Maui has always tried to position itself as the upper end of the best situation," Wienert said. "And having the all-star collegiate football players participating in the event on island, in addition to the Mercedes Championships (golf event) and the Maui Invitational basketball tournament, adds to the persona that the best of the best are playing here."
