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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, February 2, 2007

Reserved stalls proposed for football

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Allowing the University of Hawai'i to pre-sell reserved parking stalls to football season ticket holders and eliminating the swap meet on game days are among the proposals athletic director Herman Frazier is asking the Aloha Stadium Authority to consider for the 2007 season.

"This is just the beginning," Frazier said Thursday of the "concept paper" he submitted to the authority. "I have my thoughts and they may have some different thoughts but the fact of the matter is it has got to get better."

Snarled traffic and a scarcity of on-property parking have frequently been cited as deterrents to fans attending UH games in recent years.

The stadium authority has assigned a task force to study the situation and make a report at the Feb. 22 authority meeting.

After observing traffic flow problems at UH's final two regular-season games, against Purdue and Oregon State, Frazier said, "it was very obvious that we are struggling from a parking standpoint. I think it hurts us if we're out promoting our product and playing competitively and people have to sit in traffic for an hour and a half to get into the contest."

Frazier advocates UH being allowed to buy the parking rights from Aloha Stadium and then resell them to season ticket holders. "In a perfect world, you'd want to pre-sell the whole lot," Frazier said. "If you do that then only people with passes would even come into the stadium (lot)."

Currently only members of 'Ahahui Koa Anuenue, the athletic department's booster club, have reserved parking. They account for approximately 1,500 of the 8,000 parking stalls, Frazier said.

UH has approximately 18,000 season ticket holders, a number that has steadily dropped, and offering them reserved parking could enhance retention and hike sales, UH officials believe.

But Frazier said the impetus for the plan, "isn't about money, it is about convenience for our fans."

Whether UH presold "75 percent, 45 percent or 35 percent of the stadium, "we need to try something this year, no question," Frazier said.

Under such a plan, Frazier said, pass holders would enter through one gate and cash customers through another. In addition, lots would be color-coded and restricted to certain groups. Frazier said the lots would not be over-sold so passholders who chose to come later would still be guaranteed stalls and parking attendants would remain on duty until midway through the second half.

Traffic flow was enhanced for the Dec. 24 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl matching UH and Arizona State and Frazier said he'd like to see the swap meet either eliminated on UH game days or the parking lots opened up earlier to UH fans.

"It seems to me, in addition to us being a lessee of the stadium, we should have some say over what happens around our events," said Frazier, who served as a stadium manager at Arizona State. "So, if we have a little bit of knowledge in certain areas I would certainly hope they would listen to what we have to say."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.