Full Court Press
Bowls gone, other
events could followPRESS BOX
The Christmas Day doubleheader splits town. The Rainbow Classic receives reprieve. Rub of the green means missing money for Pro Tour Hawaii. These are but a few of the headlines recently shaping the local sports scene and all scream trouble for the 50th State.
UPDATE In 2006, Pro Tour Hawaii's former chief financial officer Gregg V. Wood was convicted of defrauding the business and its owners Sandy and Tina Mohr. Wood was sentenced to federal prison but his conviction was overturned on appeal in 2007.
—Honolulu Star-Advertiser
For subsequent coverage of this case, see:
» March '05:
Scammed golfers have shot at par» June '06:
Golf tour backer convicted of fraud» Oct. '06:
Man gets 21 months for collapse of golf tour» Jan. '08:
Hawaii fraud victims won't be repaid $62,675
Not so long ago, Gov. Ben Cayetano was an active participant in landing major sports accounts. He successfully defended the Pro Bowl from Disney's overtures and convinced the PGA Tour that the island chain in January is the place to be. These are major victories.
But the casualties of war in this big bucks battle are beginning to show with the University of Hawaii standing to lose the most. One of the four reasons Aloha Sports Inc. executive director Fritz Rohlfing listed for bagging the bowls and moving them to the mainland was lack of State support.
In the past, the State kicked in $50,000 for each Christmas Day game, basically covering the rental fee for Aloha Stadium, and allowing the bowl promoters to distance themselves from the ever-present bottom line.
The payoff for the Hawaii Tourism Authority's modest investment was a captive Christmas Day audience of 25 million people. They were bombarded by all the beautiful coastal and mountain shots provided by the cameras of ABC-TV. But no more.
Short of a powerful lobbying effort by the university and its equally beleaguered Western Athletic Conference partner, the Maui Invitational and the Rainbow Classic basketball tournaments won't be far behind.
Don't take any stock in the NCAA tabling the motion to limit teams to only 29 regular-season games a year, Hawaii exemption be damned. The only reason the NCAA took a step back from its vote to effectively kill most of the preseason holiday basketball tournaments was to get all its colors of the Rainbow in a row and then whitewash any attempts to challenge its ruling the next time around.
Hawaii's football team already has suffered a crippling blow by the bowls leaving town. The athletic department can only do so much. There are NCAA rules in place that keep a school from effectively buying a bowl game.
The basketball team will take a similar shot to the chin if the NCAA rules the Hawaii exemption --put in place to help teams defray the costs of coming here and ease the school's scheduling problems -- is past its prime.
And what's to keep the NCAA from doing a similar number on the Hawaii exemption in football? If teams aren't allowed to add an extra home game to compensate for coming here, it's only a matter of time before the cost of doing Division I business obliterates UH's own bottom line.
IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY. Which leads us back to the ill-fated Pro Tour Hawaii. The FBI has joined the 70 professional golfers in their search for their missing cash. Fingers are being pointed in all directions, but in the end, it's Hawaii that receives the black eye.
Landing the Pro Bowl and the PGA Tour are great accomplishments. There's no arguing that point. But unless someone stands up and takes notice soon, they may be the only major sporting events left on the scene.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.
Email Paul: parnett@starbulletin.com.