There is a point right up to which you drive a hard bargain. A juncture where good business sense eventually supersedes a further digging in of the heels.

Let's hope that line hasn't been crossed by the Hawai'i Tourism Authority's vote to reject the NFL's latest Pro Bowl offer.

The HTA was right last month to send back a proposal that didn't spell out which years the NFL's all-star game would be played here.

After a 30-year partnership that saved the Pro Bowl, the NFL owed Hawai'i that much. And the HTA correctly stood up and said so by rejecting the proposal.

It paid off: The NFL offered up the 2011 and '12 dates Hawai'i preferred rather than later years deemed less attractive.

Under those circumstances, and in this economy, the latest proposal was a deal the HTA could not only live with but be proud of. One that should have been, at least, accepted conditionally on some best-effort provisions being met.

That's why you have to wonder if the HTA has gone too far in pressing its latest rejection of NFL terms.

When you're Hawai'i and dicker with the NFL in this situation, you're really jostling with the 800-pound gorilla of pro sports. You make your point but eventually, when you've gotten what you most need, you make the deal.

With Pro Bowl visitors down 6.8 percent and the game's television ratings plunging 14 percent in one year, the HTA is right to put a sharp pencil to any contract with the NFL. To be sure, it needs to ask tough questions and seek the most favorable terms but it also needs to be cognizant of the ground it stands on.

The fact is the claimed $28.6 million in visitor spending says Hawai'i needs the Pro Bowl here more than the NFL does. What leverage the state has comes from the players who enjoy coming here and whose families look forward to the experience. A couple generations of players have spread the word about it. You'd almost think Peyton Manning is on the state's payroll in this regard.

But player goodwill is a card the HTA should not overestimate as it presses its case. The state is dealing with a new administration on Park Avenue in New York, one willing to experiment and one for whom the bottom line now matters even more than before as a parting with 169 league workers this week underlined.

Keeping the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium is a win-win situation for all concerned, but for tourism-dependent Hawai'i most of all.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.