Fans have not sat in Aloha Stadium seats for a live event since Jan. 26, 2020, back when the Hula Bowl, a college football All-Star game, was held. On Dec. 17, 2020, the 50,000-seat stadium was condemned and deemed unsafe to hold crowds.
The New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED) has been in the planning stages for years. The current hope for the stadium is to be ready in time for the 2028 college football season.
Aloha Stadium’s future
Prepare yourselves for "Aloha Live!" That's the new concept unveiled at the most recent Stadium Authority meeting on Dec. 19, 2024 by Aloha Halawa District Partners (AHDP), the group of more than a dozen local companies selected last October as the developer. “Aloha Live!” was pitched as a new entertainment district surrounding the stadium and Halawa Skyline rail, which includes restaurants, shops, and potentially could serve as the new home of the Hawaii Music Hall of Fame and Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame.
Members of ADHP have visited the MLB’s Atlanta Braves and NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs and perused their respective stadiums and surrounding entertainment districts for reference. As of December, the group was also planning a visit to SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams.
As for seating capacity, a minimum of 25,000 seats is expected, which is half of what the current Aloha Stadium holds.
Past plans called for the new Aloha Stadium to be built where the parking lot is and switch the two locations, but AHDP now plans to demolish the stadium and promptly begin construction towards the new stadium at the same location.
AHDP and NASED hope to execute a contract by June.
The University of Hawaii football team played its home games at an empty Aloha Stadium in 2020. Since then, it has hosted games at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex at the UH-Manoa campus, which has an approximate seating capacity of 15,194.
Stadium Authority meetings are held monthly.
"Things are going to get interesting and busy," Stadium Authority chair Brennon Morioka said at the end December's meeting when previewing 2025.
Aloha Stadium’s past
Aloha Stadium opened on Sept. 12, 1975. The entire building could be reconfigured for baseball and football. In the summer of 2006, the stadium decided to do away with its baseball configuration due to cost and maintenance issues, a move that was executed in January 2007.
In addition to sporting events, it also held concerts for some of the world’s most iconic musical artists, including Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, U2 and Bruno Mars.
The physical state of Aloha Stadium, which is made of steel and has continued to rust, led some to call it the “Rust Palace” and the “Metal Mecca.”
From the mid-2000s on, the future of the stadium became a topic of debate. Would it be better to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to restore and refurbish the stadium, or build a new one?
Due to the state of the stadium, decision makers have deemed building a new stadium as the optimal path forward, though the current one still stands.
The ILH played its regular season football games at Aloha Stadium in 2021, albeit without fans allowed due to local COVID-19 restrictions. It was the last time games were played at the current Aloha Stadium.
In July 2022, former Hawaii Gov. David Ige approved a $400 million state budget for NASED, with $350 million going towards the construction of a new stadium and $50 million towards planning and other organizational costs. The rest is to be covered by the developer as part of a public-private partnership (PPP).
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
