No more stadium
box freebiesGov. Lingle requested that
Aloha Stadium's invitation-only
section be used for marketing
Once one of the little-known perks of the job, the Governor's Box at Aloha Stadium has failed to interest Gov. Linda Lingle.
The special section, high in the south end zone, doubles as the press box when the stadium is in baseball configuration, but since 1975 it has been the invitation-only territory of the governor and stadium officials for University of Hawaii football games.
In previous years the governor would invite politicians and political heavyweights to host visitors in the section.
Drinks and a buffet would be provided, although the accommodations are sparse compared with luxury boxes in mainland stadiums. The seats are straight-back chairs against a white Formica desktop.
Stadium officials say Lingle's office recommended the section be used for marketing the stadium. The governor will still control one of three seven-seat sections within the box.
But Lenny Klompus, Lingle's senior adviser for communications, said the governor wants anyone who uses the box to pay for tickets to the game.
"The Governor's Box will be available to directors and senior staff with the understanding that they have to buy a ticket to the game," Klompus said. "The governor's policy is real simple: We don't take anything."
Lingle has not used the seats. "She will eventually get to a game, (but) for a variety of reasons she has been unable to go to one," Klompus said.
Stadium manager Edwin Hayashi said past governors controlled the box, although two sections of seven seats had been allocated for the stadium authority and stadium staff.
Hayashi has given 12 seats to Herman Frazier, University of Hawaii athletic director, for his guests.
The remaining seats in the 57-seat section can be used by the stadium's major sponsors, such as Pepsi and First Hawaiian Bank. If the Navy's top brass from neighboring Pearl Harbor want to use portions of the section, they also are allowed, Hayashi explained.
The Navy helps by allowing cars to park on nearby Ford Island during big football games, he said.
Although the Governor's Box carries a certain status quality, both Hayashi and Klompus acknowledge that for most sports fans the seats are too high.
"You get food and drinks, but if I were to sit in the stadium, I'd sit in the orange section, lower down," Hayashi said.
