Stephen Tsai: Suggestions to improve both stadium venues

Sep. 27—Two decades ago, the University of Hawaii football team's defense received a pass-rushing boost with the additions of Ikaika Alama-Francis, who eventually became a second-round draft pick for the Detroit Lions, and Nkeruwem "Tony " Akpan.

It's Random Tuesday. Here are three thoughts on football :—Two decades ago, the University of Hawaii football team's defense received a pass-rushing boost with the additions of Ikaika Alama-Francis, who eventually became a second-round draft pick for the Detroit Lions, and Nkeruwem "Tony " Akpan. Because both started their careers as UH basketball players and because the football Warriors also were eyeing volleyball middle blocker Delano Thomas as a jump-ball receiver, athletic department officials strongly suggested it would be inappropriate for one UH team to recruit players from another.

But UH should consider an exception to the staying-in-the-lane policy when it comes to the future of the Ching Complex.

Last year, UH scrambled to retrofit the Ching Complex into a 9, 300-seat facility for the Rainbow Warriors' home football games. With space and budget restrictions, UH did what it could to make the venue suitable for the 2021 season. But now that there is $30 million to expand seating and relocate the track, UH needs trusted guidance for the facility's next phase. UH needs Lois Manin.

Manin, UH's associate athletic director, spent a decade as Aloha Stadium's deputy manager, meaning she knows how to deal with unions, temps, state officials, legislators, swap-meet vendors, media, the NFL, entertainers, and persnickety tenants and visiting coaches. She knows how to order food for 40, 000, purchase materials, make a few parking spaces seem like a lot, and address the little details, like making sure there's WiFi available for a televised event. (Years after she left, that was one detail that was left unfulfilled for an all-star game.)

As the UH athletic department's media relations director prior to joining Aloha Stadium, she was influential in maximizing coverage for the sports teams. For the 2007 Heisman Trophy ceremony, an appreciative Colt Brennan invited Manin, who had left UH months earlier, as one of his 10 guests. Not even the athletic director at the time received an invite from Brennan.

When she returned to UH in 2016 as the football team's chief of staff, she worked with the booster club and athletic department officials, as well as coordinated travel. She did it with patience and tact. For the Warriors' trip to Australia, she calmly explained to a player that his father's charge card was not the same as a visa.

Expanding and maintaining the Ching Complex is a big job. UH needs to put Manin in charge.—Whether or not there will be an entertainment district attached to the new Halawa stadium project, the idea still is worthy, if not misplaced. A consideration should be to turn University Avenue and adjoining streets into an entertainment district.

In the days leading to UH's road game against Michigan, school officials on the trip discovered the energized atmosphere of the State Street District near the Ann Arbor campus.

There are bars, restaurants, shops, art galleries, a two-story Wolverines merchandise store, churches, and more food and beverage establishments. And lots of people—young, old, local and tourist-ish. If you can't have an enjoyable time on State Street, you're spending way too much with comic books.

The best marketing is proximity. UH needs to bring the entertainment and fun to its neighborhood.—The Pro Bowl's demise was inevitable after it left Hawaii.

With real NFL games played across the continent, many fans could not tolerate an all-star game with reluctant all-stars who were not willing to hit hard.

But that is why the game was doomed when it departed this state.

Hawaii got it. Hawaii understood the game was not about being a real game. That's why we laughed when Moe "poked " Curly's eye, cheered pro wrestling's off-the-rope jumps, and didn't care that Eminem sounded exactly like his recordings during live shows. Presentation is all that matters.

The Pro Bowl in Hawaii was about celebrity ; being a place the NFL cared about, like a stop on the King Tut tour ; and seeing really good football players perform in person. It was about community relations, not a winning conference's home-field advantage in the next Super Bowl. Hawaii paid a lot for the Pro Bowl, and the NFL paid back a lot, too.

Like the Hula Bowl, Aloha Classic and Super Ferry, the Pro Bowl is another once-upon-a-time memory.