UH’s stadium rent
break could come
in ’06

Hawaii athletic director Frazier
says the arrangement is "headed
in the right direction"

The financial arrangement between University of Hawaii football and Aloha Stadium is "headed in the right direction," UH athletic director Herman Frazier said.

But it isn't moving very fast.

Any forthcoming break in rent at the stadium will be for the 2006 season at the earliest, officials said at yesterday's Stadium Authority meeting.

The authority unanimously voted at last month's meeting to change the current arrangement. UH pays the greater of 7 1/2 percent of ticket receipts or $10,000 per game to rent the stadium. (This is in addition to expenses.)

Before any change in the rental plan, an extensive approval process has to take place. It includes review by the state Legislative Reference Bureau, the state comptroller and the governor. All this must happen before a notice of public hearing. Then, any public comment must be addressed before final approval by the comptroller and governor.

"Waiver of the Pro Bowl rent took five months, and that was fast-tracked," authority chairman Tony Guerrero said.

Right now, it isn't even known what will be reviewed. Ideally, UH would like a complete waiving of rent, and a share of concession, parking and advertising revenue.

Frazier said he will have a "formal proposal in the next 30 days or so."

Guerrero and Frazier both said UH and the stadium enjoy a good relationship. But several authority members and stadium manager Eddie Hayashi emphasized that UH is not the stadium's only client.

"The first thing is we have to maintain the integrity of the stadium," Guerrero said.

Said Hayashi: "Nobody's talking about (building) a new stadium. It's got to be a safe place, not where it isn't taken care of because of money."

In other stadium news:

» The authority voted to increase admission to swap meets from 50 cents to $1.

Once approved, it will amount to a $300,000 increase in revenue, which will be used for parking-lot improvements, Guerrero said.

» Hawaii Malls won renewal of its advertising contract with the stadium. It projects revenue to the stadium of $642,000 (2005-06), $849,000 (2006-07) and $1,010,000 (2007-08).

UH was one of two other suitors for the contract, submitting a bid of around $240,000 for the first year.

Guerrero said it's conceivable UH could get a piece of the advertising revenue.

"That can be part of the negotiations. It's all a two-way street," he said.

» The stadium expects to have between 2,800 and 3,000 seats replaced with new ones in the mauka orange section before football season. The NFL, as part of its new Pro Bowl contract, is contributing $250,000 of the $1.5 million to replace the seats.

All of the stadium's 50,000 seats will be replaced within the next few years.

» Next month's stadium authority meeting is the last for Guerrero, Robin Campaniano and Carole Kai-Onouye.

Their replacements are Kathleen Ahina, Marcia Klompus and Nelson Oyadomari.

» Several stadium staffers were awarded certificates and commendation medals from the Army National Guard for assisting in the sendoff of Hawaii troops last Oct. 2 before a UH home game against Tulsa.

Around 15,000 family and friends attended the ceremony for 2,500 troops who left for training on the mainland a few days later on their way to duty in Iraq. Some of the soldiers and their families remained for the game.