The Pro Bowl has been a fixture in Honolulu for 25 years and has one year left on its current contract.

Sunday, the NFC beat the AFC, 55-52, in the highest-scoring Pro Bowl in history. A sellout crowd of 50,127 in Aloha Stadium attended. It was the game’s 24th sellout.

The proposed agreement would allow the state to renegotiate the $5.6 million it pays to the NFL to host the 2005 game, and would provide new payments for the years thereafter, said Larry Johnson, a Hawai'i Tourism Authority board member and the state’s chief negotiator for the Pro Bowl.

The total value of the agreement hasn’t been finalized, according to all parties.

"It’s a verbal agreement at this point in time," Johnson said. "We’re in the process of trying to document what we verbally agreed to.

"We’re very pleased that it looks like the Pro Bowl will stay for another five years," Johnson continued. "It’s obviously very good for the state, in terms of economic value, and also in terms of entertainment value."

Jim Steeg, the NFL senior vice president for special events who is involved in negotiations, refused to confirm that the NFL would accept lower payments by the state to host the game.

"I just don’t want to comment about the negotiations when you’re in the middle of them," Steeg said. "It’s like talking about a player, saying that you got your star quarterback about to get signed, and he hasn’t signed the contract yet. Wait until it’s all done."

The Pro Bowl has provided Hawai'i national exposure and attracted thousands of visitors. The price Hawai'i pays to the NFL to host the game has increased to more than $5.3 million for this past Sunday’s game, and $5.6 million for the game in 2005.

Under the proposed contract, the state would have to pay less to host the game as compared to previous years, Johnson said. He did not say how much or why the NFL agreed to taking less money.

"The verbal agreement that we have calls for the rights fee that we pay the NFL to be less than what we have in the existing contract," said Johnson, who was the retired chairman and CEO of Bank of Hawai'i.

Johnson said the University of Hawai'i for the first time will get involved with marketing of the Pro Bowl.

"The HTA doesn’t have the staff to promote sports marketing," Johnson said. "Whereas the University of Hawai'i has some very qualified individuals there on their athletic staff who are prepared to handle promotional efforts."

Johnson said the state and the NFL hoped to finalize the contract over the next couple of months.

According to HTA statistics, the 2003 Pro Bowl brought in 18,000 visitors to Hawai'i, which accounted for $28.07 million in visitor spending and $2.72 million in state taxes.