Monday report
From this morning’s practice:
> Linebacker David Manoa has been diagnosed with a dislocated left kneecap. He will miss the rest of spring training. The estimated rehabilitation is six weeks.
> It’s still too early to pick a No. 1 quarterback, according to head coach Norm Chow, but Ikaika Woolsey took all the reps with the first. But yet …
> … Chow praised Jeremy Higgins for having a strong practice. “He just makes plays,” Chow said of Higgins.
> For the fourth consecutive practice, the No. 1 offensive line was: left tackle Elijah Tupai, left guard Kody Afusia, center Ben Clarke, right guard Dave Lefotu and right tackle John Wa‘a.
> Backup center Brenden Urban traveled to Colorado for a family funeral.
> Keelan Ewaliko practiced as the No. 1 nickelback.
> Benny Fonua received a lot of reps at inside linebacker.
> Slotback Quinton Pedroza was the No. 2 holder.
> Mililani coach Rod York watched practice.
* * * * *
Of course, UH deserves to have an on-campus stadium, maybe 30,000 seats or so, to which students can walk from the dorms to root-root-root for the home team. The athletic department could run it and keep all the receipts — ticket sales, parking stubs, food and merchandise.
I thought a lot about it while sitting in a car that was sitting on the H-1 on Saturday (when three events collectively drew more than 8,000 fans). It was during the vehicular crawl that it became clear that maybe an on-campus stadium just wouldn’t work. Nice dream, good revenue potential, but no, it just can’t overcome the traffic problem.
Unlike Aloha Stadium, you can drive (ewa bound) from the freeway directly into the lower campus. But the looping exit merges with the (up to) three lanes from Dole Street. And then three lanes become two en route to the parking structure. And there just aren’t enough parking stalls in the structure.
For an on-campus stadium to be a possibility, the parking structure would have to expand. (To pay for the expansion probably means taking out another bond, which would have to be paid off with parking fees, negating the additional parking revenue the on-campus stadium was suppose to provide.) It also would mean re-designing the freeways on game day. (The decades-old question: Why, oh, why, are there on-ramps before off-ramps?)
Old-timers often look back at the old “Termite Palace” with fondness; perhaps the most nostalgic are the old sportswriters. They marvel at the intimacy of a stadium where you could hear a coach yell to officials or Howard the Vendor scream: “Hot Dogs!” Then again, the old sportswriters had access to the 12 or so parking stalls.
* * * * *
The Rainbow Warriors’ fourth spring practice is this morning.
We’ll have a report afterward.
Daddy is here
Good morning everybody!
#2.
#3
wow, an early morning post. good morning tsaikos, daddy, and papajoe2.
you too wafan, good morning
Aloha kakahiaka.
Top of the morning to all.
Imua Rainbow Warriors!!!
I’ve said it before a on Campus Football Stadium is a waste time and money. Aloha Stadium location to all the major freeways and the airport still makes it the best option.
GOOD MORNING HAWAII!
Looking forward to your (practice) report.
Ditto here! Go Warriors.
ten
Our stadium is a relic, and Hawaii football gets no money from them, they pay rent to play there. Still plenty area out UH-West Oahu to go 35,000 seats
…and where ‘s neil that long haired gnome who so emphatically stated that he’d give the stadium to the university hawaii to run and profer from all the gate, parking, and concession revenue…?
Instead of driving to the on campus stadium, build big drones that would come to you
and pick you up and drop you off at the tail gate area…
Aloha All! As I had previously posted, a stadium of this size coupled with the necessary infrastrure (parking, adjusting street and traffic flow) considerations is in rough guesstimate, a 350-400 million endeavor.
Now, to be clear my baseline is the recently discussed Oakland Raiders Stadium. According to the Tribune, David Stone, a consultant working with Alameda County and Oakland officials regarding the prospect of a new stadium, said the Raiders’ study found a 50,000-seat complex would cost about $800 million. Per the Tribune, the Raiders have proposed paying for $300 million of the project.
While their stadium would have an additional 20,00 seats, it would be safe to say that labor and labor costs are going to be higher on our end. Thus, 400 million is a rather conservative figure. My biggest concern, is not the where, but the how. More specifically, the ability to float a bond, which would certainly have to implicit approval, but moreover the ability of the state to underwrite such an endeavor. Now, it might be helpful for us to to do a little municipal bond 101 class, so we have a bit of a background, but moreover a practical narrative so we can consider all the various issues.
Municipal bonds typically are brought to market through an underwriting process. As part of this process, one or more municipal securities dealers – also known as underwriters – purchase newly issued securities from the issuer and sell the securities to investors. The underwriter has an “arm’s-length relationship” with the issuer. In some cases, one municipal securities dealer acts as the sole underwriter for a new issue. In other cases, a group of municipal securities dealers work together in an underwriting syndicate. Syndicates are led by a municipal securities dealer known as the managing, or lead, underwriter, which typically works with the issuer on behalf of the syndicate.
The two most common ways of issuing debt through bonds by state and local governments are by competitive bidding or by negotiated sales. In both kinds of sales, the underwriters work closely with traders and sales persons to determine the price of a new issue.
New issues of municipal bonds are sometimes sold through private placements. In private placements, issuers may sell the bonds directly to investors or through a placement agent.
State and local statutes may have restrictions on the type of sale allowed by localities. For example, general obligation bonds are often required by law to be sold competitively.
Both types of sales can also be done by a syndicate, that is, a group of underwriters comprising a lead manager and co-managers. Syndicates include underwriters from competing firms who agree to bid together for an issue. The syndicate determines the pricing and distribution of the issue. The lead manager is responsible for coordinating the deal.
Private placements are direct transactions between the issuer and investors, i.e., the bonds are sold directly by the issuer to investors without an underwriter. In this process, instead of underwriters, placement agents act as intermediaries between the issuer and investors. However, they do not assume any underwriting risks. In recent years, some issuers have bypassed placement agents and have done private placements directly with ultimate investors. This kind of private placement is called a direct purchase.
The Relative Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Type of Sale
Even if there are no requirements relating to state or local statutes governing the sale of bonds, one type of sale may be preferred over others depending on the kind of transaction. Issuers usually choose one method over the others based on which will yield the lowest all-in borrowing cost.
Competitive sales, however, often work to the advantage of better-known established underwriters with higher credit ratings. Competitive bids are also favored for deals with simple bond structures or when the security is strong and predictable, as in the case of general obligation bonds.
On the other hand, proponents of negotiated sales argue that this type of transaction works better and results in lower borrowing costs because it allows for more flexibility in timing sales, provides more information to investors, gives the opportunity for pre-marketing, and is able to better customize structures and maturities for targeted investors. Negotiated sales tend to work better when the bond issue is more complex and the underwriters are not as well established.
An issuer may prefer a private placement if it does not have an established credit history, or if the bonds issued is of lower grade. Private placements are often preferred by issuers because financial and other information about the issuer is disclosed to direct investors only and not disseminated to the public or competitors.
Aside from issues of cost, there are political considerations. Negotiated sales create a possibility for underwriters to use campaign contributions and connections to obtain deals on terms that may not be in the best interest of the public.
Concerns about influence-peddling were at the center of investigations of the bond market conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the early 1990s. The investigations involved a range of issues, including:
Pay-to-play (through which underwriting firms make political contributions to get underwriting deals)
Conflicts of interest (whether persons associated with municipal issuers have relations with underwriting firms)
Inadequate disclosure
Lack of price transparency and excessive markups in bond prices
Questionable sales practices
Bottom line, is the state in the financial position to do an underwriting? What is the political climate that would compel the legislature to support this endeavor? How does the public, in general support it? What is the intermediate forecasts on revenue for the state? And finally, what is the business model, or projections from the athletic department that would make a project not only feasible, but sustainably solvent?
There are definitely logistical issues that come with the idea of an on-campus stadium. Whatever they may be, I still think its a huge problem to have the football stadium so far from campus. There are countless college football programs who would not be who they are today if it weren’t for the close proximity of a football stadium. Generations of fans/alumni lost. I completely understand where Stephen’s coming from, I just think its a lose-lose situation no matter how you cut it, but I prefer the losing situation that enables UH to build a better alumni-base. JMO.
Just like the UH parking structure an on campus will require the State to float bonds to cover construction. Like the parking structure revenues from the stadium will be expected to retire the bonds. Like the parking structure UH will not be making money from an on campus stadium. To top that off UH will have to go to the legislature to pay for major repairs just as Aloha Stadium does today. The feeling at the legislature is UH is not managing it’s campuses or athletic department properly and should tackle those problems first before asking the State to build a UH run stadium.
Good morning Tsaikos!
Ummmm, well, lessee…
– most students don’t live on campus
– a lot of them don’t even go to the games on campus now
– UHAD doesn’t get to keep the money NOW generated by parking, concessions, etc.
I’ve learned not to get on H1 on game days when I know there will larger crowds. If I do, I’ll get off at Punahou St. Of course, I try to get there early (i.e., before the box office opens) to get a good parking space.
I remember having to find street parking to go to games at the Termite Palace, and that was before all the high rises were built. It’s bad enough now if you want to go to someplace like Maple Garden or visit someone in the area.
BTW, talked to a friend who works within the House leadership and their belief is Aloha Stadium has about 15 years of useful life left. I believe that is why Ben Jay has started the discussion on a new stadium. Friend mentioned building a new stadium on the current site is one of the many options on Jay’s mind.
Agree with Tsai – Love the idea of an on campus stadium, or one in the old stadium park area, but the support logistics and traffic issues would make for some real headaches. IF and that is IF they were able to accommodate tailgaters and stagger arrival times, maybe it could be done. Too bad we can’t do it for sure – I saw a number of students and other UH athletes at the VBall game on Saturday.
Okay boolakanaka, you have your mission. Make this work. We know you can do it. Report back to us here when you’re ready. nah nah – j/k bully! Thanks for your post!
I’m not optimistic they would be able to build anything before I’m too old and creaky to walk up any stairs.
DPK – like most Hawaii fans, the students only showed up in numbers for the big games. There were some games where there were fewer than 50 in the Maniacs section.
Go Warriors!
That makes two of us, Warrior Dave! 😆
Move UH to the old Barbers Point Base. Sell the UH property for some ungodly amount of money. Build a new campus from scratch w all sports stadiums on or near campus. Connect it to the Skytrain and you can even have an on campus beach and airport. It may take 50 years to complete but so what.
24–Who would buy an entire university campus, except for another university, thus, again, who would buy an entire campus?
ST has a valid point, if vehicle access is difficult, some will choose not to make the effort. Good financial info from Boolakanaka too. It tempers my opinion supporting an on-campus stadium. I still think an on-campus stadium would be a great addition to the college experience, but regretfully most fans are not in college.
If Aloha Stadium has 15 years left, and the repairs now are in phases, why not master plan phasing in a newly constructed portions of the stands, a total rebuild section by section? It will displace some season ticket holders, but can’t help. Maybe the transfer of management could be phased in as well – this would be more difficult. The stands could be designed for a 30,000 capacity in the lower tier with the structure designed to accommodate upper tiers to be added at some point in the future if the capacity needs to be expanded to 50,000+.
Main thing is to get some of the cash flow heading to the AD instead of to the legislature.
Once the rail expands to UH, and it will, Parking and traffic to events should not be a problem. One of the many great benefits of rail. Look at Yankee Stadium, there is no parking. Almost everyone takes rail to it.
Once rail gets to UH, need for parking will diminish. that’s what happened at the University of Utah. Once rail went there, much of the parking lots were not needed. Instead, they used the parking lots to build new buildings.
Cost of the stadium is the big problem for UH. Also, having UH manage the design and construction is another major problem. Not confident in the people at UH: Cooke Field disaster. Wahine softball stadium disaster. On and on….
Many schools have stadiums that are not close to the main campus like UH. But not many mainland schools have the problem with being a Island with expensive land and having to ship in goods /building material; etc. A half a billion $$ to build a 30,000 seat stadium is ridiculous. The traffic alone will drive people to not attend games and don’t let it be a night the 2-3 sports are playing downtown high school or college, sheez. Listen, many schools bus there players to the pratice fields and the stadium for games. And schools like University of Texas bus the players back and forth to the practice field which is on campus but miles away.
Agreed that traffic congestion and parking will be significant problems facing an on-campus football stadium. But these obstacles should not be deterrents in moving forward to replace the aging Aloha Stadium to an on-campus site. At other famous football sites, Bryant-Denny Stadium for example, most fans walk to the stadium because of limited car parking. Walking the 2-3 miles to the stadium is somewhat of a tradition at Tuscaloosa. Even at USC’s Coliseum there is insufficient parking. For UH, a simple solution to solve the transportation-parking dilemma would be to have shuttle service from pre-designated, off-campus parking areas. Eventually, rail may be extended to serve UH.
27-Jcricket is entirely correct, there are ways, if prudently planned, to make density and congestion work towards your favor. That said, the ability to stomach the price-tag of such an endeavor is the principal road-block, (pardon that obvious pun) for such a project. I do think if you synergize major points of mass-transportation to the site, it would go a long way, for the public at large, to embracing and utlizing such a venue.
The rail will stop at Aloha Stadium, so when the rail extends to UH it will become more convenient for the students.
As much as I am for an on-campus stadium, boolakanaka has an extremely important point – the price tag is a big obstacle. That said, the Aloha Stadium site is the best we got to work with. Can the state and the university find away to incrementally make physical improvements and provide the financial benefits to the athletic department.
…moving entire campus to west Oahu.
positives:
cheaper land, beach access, resorts near by, plenty of shopping, freeway leads there, rail can get there pretty easy, more open space for urban planning, expansion needs for future, already has a campus there, better student housing can be built, etc etc
Manoa campus-portions of it to be sold (for a pretty penny), turn upper campus maybe into a satellite campus or graduate-masters type campus, or expand the research-center campus.
To expand the university where it is now, will mean to expand the freeways, and infrastructure, even possibly buying properties near by to gain more space for expansion. All of which is hard to do in a dense area to start with not to mention the cost in doing so. Any investor or contractor would be worried from the get-go. It will cost X dollars to start but in the end will cost Z by the time it’s finished, all of which we (the public) cannot afford, just to keep it in Manoa. No brainer….
I visited Princess Leila out at West Oahu last week, and I noticed the supports being built for the rail. Each support looks rather pricey, and there weren’t a whole lot of them. By the time that thing is completed, my great-grandkids will be taking space shuttles to school.
So, I’m thinking, if it takes $300 million to build an on-campus stadium, just give the athletic department the money and let them spend it on whatever they wish. I’m sure they can blow through that amount in a eight years or so.
Hey, I agree with Down With.
Why not move the entire campus?
In most places, campuses are it’s own town, isolated from the bigger cities. Maybe it’s just too costly to maintain a university in the heart of Honolulu. Or the live of Honolulu. I’m not very good with geography or anatomy.
the best part of moving the campus….that much less traffic going into town….Hooooray. There is a significant traffic difference when UH is in and when they are not,…..
Any word on Wittek? And why doesn’t someone call Larry Ellison and see if he wants the stadium named after him
Remember going to football games at termite palace. Used to park 2 or 3 miles
from stadium on the street. Traffic was awful just getting to King Street…..
Remember one game vs Long Beach State. Left home at 5 PM. Accident on freeway
at Pearl City. Finally got into my seat at 830 PM. Missed the entire first quarter.
That was nuts…..
Build new stadium at West Oahu. Freeways and rail will allow for easy access. Parking
will be unlimited.
#34, I am sure moving the campus violates an union bylaw somewhere.
Why would they move the campus to West Oahu? That seems pretty pointless to me considering they spent millions building the UH West Oahu campus already. Having two campuses out there in the same area wouldn’t really make any sense either. Merging the two schools would defeat the puprose of even having a more affordable school like UH West Oahu in the first place since students would end up having to pay Manoa prices.
RE: 39 Andrew:
spending millions on a west Oahu campus, would be cheaper than doing anything at Manoa….Just to build a bigger parking lot in Manoa would be triple the cost of any parking lot built and you could make it three times the size in West Oahu for the same price tag…
Build smart and for the future. And I don’t mean for “tomorrow” I’m talking take the average and multiply by four, then double it. The problem is we plan for tomorrow, but being in Hawaii, by the time we finish something, we’re over budget and tomorrow came and went, and again we are in the same place we started from. Our freeway system is a great example of this, by the time is was done it was way under sized, over budget, and way outdated for the times….now look at it.
36–I’m afraid Mr. Ellison’s lack of response is that the project does not meet his requisite criteria for his potential involvement…e.g. prudent utilization of his capital, that will in turn provide a tidy return on investment.
Amazing!! Stephen reports that our kids will be taking space shuttles to school in five years.
FYI, trains will start running from the East Kapolei station makai of the UH West Oahu campus to Ala Moana Shopping Center in 2019. The first ten miles are to open in 2017. HART reports show the project is on schedule
I recall when Aloha stadium was first built and the games played there. It was a great place to drive to even when the traffic was a bit heavy…not like today. I agree that rail will solve much of the problem…no reason to build an on campus stadium. Just get the rail to the stadium and the UH campus, get the legislature to give the stadium to UH and all the proceeds and much of the problem is resolved….a lot cheaper in the long run.
Yes the cheapest is to use the existing Aloha Stadium, and somehow get proceeds from certain things so the UH can afford the cost of holding outings there as well as maybe make a profit once they start winning and the fans return.
Regarding the rail: it needs to go to West Oahu, North Shore, Diamond Head, Waikiki, UH, Airport and Ala Moana and all the stops in between at minimum….then it will make things worth it.
jm2375 has a very good point about students attending any sporting event. It’s simply not something that’s important to students today like it was in the 80’s and 90’s. There is simply so much more for kids to spend time and money on these days. And it’s a problem that exists across the country. Even Saban at Alabama has told students to use em or lose em. He was upset they were leaving games early or coming late so he threatened to sell some of the allotted student seats to the general public. And it’s not just students. Before he left I once talked to Jim Donovan about the refusal of OC16 to go to HD broadcasts for games in the Stanley and he told me about meetings with consultants who had studied declining attendance at every major venue in every major sport pro and college and it was found to coincide with HD broadcasts. And who can blame fans. With HD broadcasts you can see so much more than when attending games and it’s cheaper. But getting back to students I personally have two kids just out of colleges on the mainland and they only attended the big games. There was just so many other things they wanted to do and it’s no different here.
RE: UH Stadium
Whether a stadium is bullt or not, I floated this concept a while back–especially when you have and upper and lower campus (quarry). Dole street is literally “upper” with a cliff down to the quarry. Stadium plans have been 2-dimensional, figuring what will fit, where. How about extending the level of Dole street to near the freeway–the 3rd dimension.
We could get a covered baseball, softball, football/soccer fields or any combo thereof and a whole level near the height of the existing freeways. Traffic will not have to funnel in off Dole street. Crazy? Maybe.
This occurs to me because of a visit to Mercer Island, WA for my niece’s wedding. A party was held at a park on the island. I remember driving uphill on a steep road to reach the park, which was flat and situated between two hills. It was a looong walk past two baseball fields to get to the picnic area. Only upon leaving by a different route I saw the huge concrete pillars…
The 20 acre Park on the Lid
http://mercerisland.patch.com/listings/park-on-the-lid
ST: you sat in traffic because there are only 3 old-fashioned one lane roads to enter lower campus.
that’s why I propose the idea of building the on-campus stadium over HI with off-ramps leading directly into the parking structure between University Ave and King Street and H1 Frwy -also, direct entrances from University Ave and King St
this way you reduce traffic on University Ave/Dole St entrance and the old entrance from Kaimuki into lower campus and Dole St into lower campus
keep 95% of incoming traffic to the Makai side of H1 including all visitors locker rooms, bues, delivery vehicles, emergency vehicles, etc.
RE: my #46
From Wikipedia:
As a UH grad that was a little too busy with academic pressures to go to games in the late 70s and early 80s I got to give my two cents. It was not until after I was out of school and working that I became a fan. I can’t fault the students for not attending games, to me the UH teams are for all the state. Oahu is the only market/island that can get fannies into seats. It gets down to interest, time, cost and effort. The rail will reduce time and effort to get to games. Cost may be a big factor, but if the economy picks up, wages increase then maybe some of the disposable income will find its way to the athletic department. Interest will always be there, most folks here have a UH connection and they are our only “pro” teams.
5-0
Stadium wala’au again…aisoos.
cats and dogs this pm.
thanks for the am practice report.
I’m just happy Chow is finally seeing Higgins makes plays finally! Not the best arm but quick decision maker who gets the ball out fast. Gonna try make practice tomo morning and see it first hand. Excited for the season! Have high hopes for the new Oline. But the pessimist in me believes Chow wont make it past the first 5 games.
Go Huskies! My 2nd favorite team after UH of course
UConn is in the beautiful rolling hills of Storrs, near the city of romantic Willimantic in the county of Windham. Went to a free concert with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Aerosmith in 1974. Some friends “found” a keg of beer that had “fallen off a truck”.
Open air concert on UConn’s campus, no problems with having a keg. Good fun.
Thanks for the updates, Stephen. Glad to see that Manoa’s injury isn’t as serious as it might have been. Our group on the sideline prayed for him on the spot.
GO WARRIORS!!!
59
Sixty!!!
Seriously. Who would support that kind of expenditure with nothing but a loosing team and program on the horizon? If we had a winning team and program, there might be support for it at the legislature. I doubt the majority of legislators see chow building our program into a winning program.
Chows record certainly does not inspire confidence about a winning program emerging anytime in the near future.
Ben Jay similarly has not been here long enough to earn any credibility with the powers that be at beretania.
Murakami stadium was built because les proved his worth and value to the uh and the people of hawaii. The same cannot be said about bj.
The hotdogs at the termite palace were tastier than the ones today at Aloha Stadium. They were a lot cheaper too,
#62, Haha, what wasn’t cheaper back then?? I don’t know how I could run up and down throes wooden bleachers as a kid. As an adult I would be afraid that I would fall through the termite boards!
EVERYBODY HAS “GOOD IDEAS” THAT WILL MOST LIKELY ADVERSELY AFFECT OTHERS TO BENEFIT THEMSELVES.
64: Huh?
An arena on the lower campus could work if extensive use of public transportation is utilized. Some day (I hope in my lifetime), I’ll be able to ride the rail all the way to U.H. from the west side to watch a football game and not have to fight traffic.
I going be sent to the glue factory way before any rail reaches UH
#67, haha me too! Some pros are so optimistic, but I learn from the past. Took 30 years to build H3…
“hotnog, eenut, chits, Coke!” Howard Egami, I still hear your voice. Thank you for the memories and years of service to Hawaii Fans.
After watching the news tonight, sounds like TE Unga is continuing to turn some heads. I am sure glad we have an experienced TE coach to help this young man learn the position and get ready for the season. Oh wait! We don’t have a TE coach.
If this kid is what everyone thinks he is, I would sure love to see a true TE mentor come in. Not just an offensive coach who shifts to cover that position. Maybe Chow will hook it up. Let’s hope so.
Many people in Hawaii love their cars too much to ride mass transit. I believe that for many, with the cost of home ownership in Hawaii is so ridonculous that cars are all they have. The connection that many have to their automobiles makes it that much more difficult to leave at home. Keep in mind that buses sit in the same traffic that cars do. Would you rather spend your 2 hours next to a stranger or in the comfort of your own car? Rail doesn’t factor in because it will never be a reality. I don’t care if they already started or not. We’ll never see it. You watch.
Used to believe in mass transit but agree with Kev-1. People love their cars. What will happen is the automatrix – driverless cars on smart roads. People don’t want to drive. They want to text, relax, read, catch up the news, etc. – all in the comfort of their own cars.
Coach putting some pressure on TG by praising all the other QBs?
Good morning!