Posted on: Sunday, August 5, 2001
Ferd Lewis
50,000 seats plenty for now
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
The final piece in the $93 million renovation of Penn State's Beaver Stadium was put into place the other day, a 1,500-pound Nittany Lion weather vane.
Not just any weather vane, mind you, but one designed by the weather-vane maker to the stars, Travis Tuck, who cast a velociraptor for Steven Spielberg and other designs for former President Bill Clinton.
Why Penn State required a sculpted weather vane, of all things, isn't known. But if the current trend toward all-out one-upmanship in college athletics continues, expect somebody else to sport a bigger one before too long.
As what critics decry the escalating "arms race" in college sports, everything has become fair game in keeping up with the Joneses. Or, in this case, the Michigans, Tennessees, etc.
Penn State's stadium expansion to 106,500 edges past Tennessee (104,000) to give it the second-largest stadium capacity in college football — for the moment.
But as Michigan, owner of the lead with 107,501, has proven, bigger isn't always most profitable. Or even common sense. The Wolverines have still managed to run an athletic department budget deficit the last two years, living beyond their considerable means.
We bring this up as an example to those who would blindly insist that, when it comes to eventually replacing the aging Rust Palace that is Aloha Stadium, the University of Hawai'i must shoot for the moon. Or, a Rose Bowl-sized facility.
When UH President Evan Dobelle tossed around the figure of 60,000 seats as an example for discussion, some took it as gospel. Too many people were quick to breathlessly run with it. And, some even wanted to expand upon it. The bigger the better.
The time is approaching when the Warriors will need an alternative to the present Aloha Stadium — one that speaks to both their needs and the sensibilities of the taxpayers who will foot the bill.
Any plan that calls for more than 50,000 seats should be carefully thought through. The fact is, UH has sold out barely 11 percent of its football games played in 26-year-old Aloha Stadium. On average, it has put 37,339 in the seats over the past 15 years.
Perhaps, if the fortunes of this year's team take off, the Warriors will pick up from the magic of 1999. Maybe then UH games will once again become the events they were in the 1980s when crowds of 40,000 regularly rocked Halawa during the Dick Tomey and Bob Wagner eras. Hopefully enough old-time fans and new-found patrons will turn out.
Then, a rational case can be made for expanding upon the current capacity.
But when resources are stretched thin and the state's teachers are being nickeled-and-dimed, this is no time for Hawai'i to get caught up in a nonsensical collegiate arms race we have no prayer of winning.
