UH and Stadium Authority
coming together

The panel that oversees the facility
moves to allow changes to the
school’s rent for football

The Aloha Stadium Authority took a significant first step yesterday toward changing the University of Hawaii's rental agreement for use of the 30-year-old facility .

The authority passed an amendment that would give the body the ability to negotiate its arrangement with the school, which is currently set by state law. The measure must be approved by several state agencies, including the governor's office, before going into effect.

"Once this is completed, then the Stadium Authority has the power to waive rent, increase rent, or leave it the same. That's how it should be," said authority chairman Tony Guerrero.

"The bottom line is that we have a state team and this is a state facility, somehow they should get together."

Stadium spokesman Patrick Leonard said a meeting with members of the departments involved in the agreement would be set up to discuss the current arrangement. A date for that meeting has yet to be determined.

"It's a start right now, that we can set up a committee and everybody can discuss what's going on, which has never been done," authority member Kevin Chong Kee said. "I think the board is more than willing to help the university out."

Under the current provisions, UH pays the stadium 7 1/2 percent of the total receipts from its home football games plus operating expenses. That amounts to about $800,000 per year, with close to $300,000 going to rent and the other $500,000 covering expenses.

Although the amendment would allow the Stadium Authority to negotiate the rental portion of the equation, the expenses would still need to be paid by UH.

"Regardless who they go to, whether they own the stadium or somebody pays somebody else, the operating expense is something that has to be paid," Chong Kee said. "As far as the rent side, we can sit down and discuss it and see what can be worked out."

High school leagues hold their games at the stadium rent-free, but still cover their own expenses, which are significantly lower than for a UH game. Other entities using the stadium pay 10 percent of revenues in rent.

UH athletic director Herman Frazier told the university's Board of Regents last week that the stadium rent is among the major issues facing the department as it makes strides toward profitability. The department reported a deficit of about $544,900 for the 2004 fiscal year, down from close to $2.5 million the previous year.

With the UH athletic department looking to continue cutting expenses, associate athletic director Tom Sadler said yesterday's meeting was a productive first step.

"It's been a subject that has been bantered about, but not in a formal setting," Sadler said. "Now we're scheduled to have those formal discussions and if we're going to get resolution to this it has to go that route ... so I think it's positive.

"Obviously the best case for us would be to have this resolved by this upcoming football season, but at the same time we can't hurry the process. We've got a lot of issues to discuss and I emphasize we want it to be a win-win for both the stadium and the athletic department."

During the meeting, Chong Kee raised the question of whether the stadium can afford to waive the rent for UH.

According to Leonard, revenues from events held at the stadium go into the state's general fund. Funds are then reallocated to the stadium as needed. Guerrero estimated the stadium's operating expenses at about $2.3 million per year.

"The fact is the stadium management has to know the score, how their books are, how they can work it out," Chong Kee said. "Without their information it's tough for us as a board to say that we can give the rent concessions to the university."

Leonard said the stadium is waiting for UH to pay $270,000 in rent that was due in January. He said the delay resulted in 49 part-time workers being laid off. He said other work at the stadium has been put on hold to avoid further layoffs.

Sadler said the payment would be made in about a week and the delay resulted from a change in UH's ticketing system.