Hawaii AD: "Very real" possibility the football program shuts down.

The university has been pitching the need for a new football stadium. A few million per year just to balance the athletics budget is a drop in the bucket compared to what the administration is seeking.

 

If this is being done as a scare tactic to make boosters and alumni scramble to get a new stadium to save the football team, I would expect this to fail on a very high level.

 

That would be a helluva' tumble for them, considering seven years ago they made the Sugar Bowl.

 

Norm Chow, program killer.

 

I don't have a ton of sympathy for Hawai'i on this. Seven years ago, they just had to keep June Jones happy. He was in a disagreement with the AD at the time and Jones bolted for SMU and, really, irrelevance.

Jones could have run for governor of Hawai'i and probably won in that he "gets" the islands. Then their hires after Jones weren't good -- one guy cracking homophobic jokes and followed by Norm Chow, noted coordinator but a terrible game coach.

How does Hawai'i not have the money to support the athletic department? The state draws millions of tourists every year, including plenty of Asian tourists who are taking their non-dollar currency and bringing that into the U.S.

When you travel to Hawai'i, you expect to be gauged like crazy on hotels, parking, bottled water, meals, car rentals, etc. Just throw a tiny tax on meals, hotels and car rentals, earmarked for UH...done.

The tourists won't even see it.

 

Right now Hawaii is one of the worst economic slumps in the country.
It's an expensive place to live. And maintain.
You really expect the government to tax tourists to support college athletics; Not fix or maintain roads and transportation?
This ain't Alabama.

 

They are still playing in a stadium that is almost 40 years old. And this isn't a grand old place. This is one of the 1970s structures. I'll bet it is absolutely outdated.

 

Hawaii is a great road game if it's your first game of the season, or as the last game of the season for a team not headed to a bowl game.

But, Ohio State and/or Michigan are not going to Hawaii in the middle of their Big 10 schedule for recruiting purposes. It would be as disruptive, and unwelcome to the coaching staff, as an NFL team trip to Europe is.

 

They're still using Aloha Stadium, where they play the Pro Bowl, near Pearl Harbor and miles from campus and the core of Honolulu. Also served as home for the old Hawaii Islanders of the PCL, with the stands rotating around depending on the sport.

With land at such a premium, though, where could they build?

 

Why would they build anyway?

I could actually see an NFL team working pretty well there. If you can work London into the schedule, you can work Honolulu in.

 

Need more than a 120-yard patch of land and chalk lines nowadays. Look at how high the 49ers set the bar with all the bells and whistles at their place.

 

An NFL team in Hawaii is an awful idea.