Gov. Ben Cayetano will make an announcement tomorrow on the status of replacing the existing AstroTurf with FieldTurf, per conditions outlined in a contract between the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and the National Football League, which brings the Pro Bowl to Honolulu every year.

The decision to move the Aug. 2 deadline was made during a meeting today with the governor and representatives from the HTA, Stadium Authority and FieldTurf.

"The outcome is happy for everybody eventually," said HTA interim executive director Rick Humphreys. "I think the NFL will be happy with the results ... The Pro Bowl could in perpetuity be here in Hawai'i ... The Pro Bowl is one day, one game, and we have to take advantage of a year-long marketing effort for the money we spend."

Gilman has called the Aug. 2 deadline "virtually impossible" to meet, saying the company needs about 45 days to properly install its artificial grass-like surface.

The Stadium Authority set that deadline to ensure enough time to move the stands and paint the field. The first scheduled event at the stadium is the Father Bray Classic on Aug. 24. The University of Hawai'i's football season opens on Aug. 31.

FieldTurf has not yet received a contract from the state. Cost has not been agreed on, though the company has stated a cost of $877,000 to install the turf.

That figure does not include the cost to prepare the subsurface of the stadium for installation. Gilman said he received the results of the geotechnical studies done at the stadium this weekend. He hasn't had time to figure out how much it will cost and exactly how long it will take to prepare the field, which includes shaving down the crown. Gilman said the work on the subsurface may take about two weeks. Laying down the turf will take another two weeks.

Gilman would prefer to install the turf during the break between the Hawai'i Bowl, held on Dec. 25, and the Pro Bowl, scheduled for Feb. 3.

"I'm much more comfortable with that kind of time frame," Gilman said. "We'd have plenty of time to get it all mobilized and in place and do it."

Shipping the turf, which has already been precut to fit Aloha Stadium, from the company's warehouse in Georgia to Honolulu may take up to a month, Gilman said.

And with the company already working on about 50 projects in the United States this summer alone, manpower would be difficult to round up to meet an August deadline. If the work is done in January, when the company is installing fewer fields, he could send two or three teams to Hawai'i.

The proposed time frame is "much more realistic," Gilman said. "It takes all the pressure off."

The studies done by the local engineering firm R.M. Towill Corp. cost FieldTurf a little under $50,000, Gilman said.

"It's nobody's fault," he said. "It's just taken this amount of time to get all the information ... This should've been given to us three months ago."

Though Gilman had estimated the installation to cost $877,000, he does not have an actual price for the job, which now includes prep work on the field.

"We're not donating the turf," Gilman said. "Somebody's got to pay for it."

The HTA has agreed to pay up to $500,000 to install FieldTurf. The NFL has said it would also "contribute significantly."