Jones: Board actions driving NFL away
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones wrote a letter to a Stadium Authority board member, accusing him of driving the NFL out of the state.
Advertiser library photo
After weeks of discussion, the Stadium Authority yesterday approved NFL's preference of FieldTurf as a replacement surface at Aloha Stadium, the site of the league's Pro Bowl and UH's home football games.
June Jones, above, sent his letter to stadium board member Michael Green.
In a letter to Michael Green, Jones said that the NFL "will leave Hawai'i; now I am sure.
"I hope that this is not what you and Larry (Price) wanted: to rob the state of revenue and the opportunity to see a professional game once a year," Jones wrote.
Green read from Jones's letter at the Stadium Authority meeting yesterday.
"I don't get it," said Green, a former Stadium Authority chairman. "I was stunned. I'm a big fan of June Jones, I'm a big fan of the program ... I'm not trying to keep the NFL out of (Hawai'i)."
Other board members said Green was one of the more vocal supporters of replacing the existing turf with either natural grass or an alternative, such as FieldTurf.
"You both don't think the state should be paying the NFL to come anyway, but that is a whole other can of worms, I'm sure," Jones wrote. "But now we have pissed them off so I am sure that you don't have to worry about a new contract with the NFL anymore."
The state's current five-year contract pays the NFL $22 million.
Jones said the questions the Stadium Authority had about FieldTurf at its May 30 meeting had already been answered.
"But none of them were," Green said. "The (Hawai'i Tourism Authority) said they would provide answers today."
Jones wrote: "It is so unbelievable to me how egos and personal interests have changed the environment completely. We have made the NFL not like us."
UH athletics director Hugh Yoshida said the letter did not express the opinions of the university.
"I really believe everybody wants to do the right thing," Yoshida said in response to the letter, printed on UH letterhead. "I think the issues are very real. Questions have been answered today."
Said Green: "I have an obligation to make sure we're responsible that this stadium serves the people it was created to serve. This isn't the June Jones stadium."
Jones could not be reached for comment yesterday.
