Stadium agreement expected to be signed within coming weeks as board welcomes new faces, new roles

‘AIEA — Thursday’s Stadium Authority Board meeting was a new experience for some of those that were in attendance.

For starters, it was new University of Hawai’i athletic director Matt Elliott’s first time attending one of these sessions as the day wrapped up his first month in his new position.

Vice chair Eric Fujimoto was also unanimously selected to be the chair of the board with Andrew Pereira chosen to fill Fujimoto’s former position.

The biggest change of them all however was that of former chair and board member Brennon Morioka, who was honored with a lei and a seatback of the old Aloha Stadium.

Regardless of all the personnel changes, the status report of the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District remained the same — there will be a agreement between the state and development team Aloha Halawa District Partners by mid-August.

The July 2025 Stadium Authority Board meeting was filled with optimism as all signs point to a contract being signed and the start of demolition of the old Aloha Stadium within the next month.

“We’re now first-and-goal with enough energy to take this through,” said Chris Kinimaka, a special projects manager for the state’s Department of Accounting and General Services.

“I’m very confident that this contract is going to be executed,” Morioka added.

Morioka, who served on the board for eight years, has seen all the ups and downs with the idea of a new stadium as he has served when the old Aloha Stadium was still in operation, when it was condemned and nearly to the start of its demolition.

“That’s why this is so exciting because we’ve never been so close. We’ve been talking about this for a long time, we never imagined that the stadium would be condemned prior to the building the new stadium,” said Morioka, who will still be involved with the NASED project with his engineering background as senior advisor to the Gov. Josh Green and his state team.

“It was always the intent to build the new stadium while the old Aloha Stadium was still functional, so that threw a huge curve ball into the whole project, which kind of put a lot more sense of urgency on this. Getting to this point is really a big relief, even though we haven’t finally executed everything, but we know we’re there so it’s really exciting for us.”

Morioka noted that there have been “major marathon sessions, 10 hour each day” over the past few days as attorneys go through all the language and specifications in the contract during the negotiation period.

Brennon Morioka was honored by the Stadium Authority Board for his time as chair and member.

When the state and AHDP come to an agreement, the Stadium Authority Board will hold a special meeting to vote to authorize state comptroller Keith Regan to sign the contract on behalf of the state.

Demolition would start shortly after that agreement is met. Kinimaka said during the meeting that the final aspects of the demolition permit is imminent, needed approval from one or two agencies before proceeding.

Newly-elected chair Fujimoto, who has a financial background with 31 years in wealth management, said he understands the value of a new stadium and its importance to the community and the University of Hawai’i. Fujimoto also spent time as president of the Na Koa Football Booster Club and on the board of ‘Ahahui Koa Anuenue, who helps with fundraising for Hawai’i athletics.

“For me, my position about UH athletics is going a step above it,” Fujimoto said.

“The University of Hawai’i, it is our economy in Hawai’i. A vibrant university of Hawai’i gives us medical school graduates, law school graduates, engineering school graduates. These are career jobs that will keep families in Hawai’i. Through the evolution, I believe athletics is an arm of a vibrant university. I think that’s your front porch towards that.”

Like Morioka, Fujimoto is confident that a stadium agreement will be reached by August 15, a week before the University of Hawai’i football team begins its 2025 season against Stanford.

“We’re very conscious of this deadline and we are very focused on it,” he said. “I’m all systems go on that vision.”

Elliott was also filled with optimism after Thursday’s meeting.

“There’s been obviously a long time and people have had to be really patient but in this moment, everything that we’ve been hearing is that progress is being made and that is really important,” he said.

“What strikes me is that when I now start to get more involved and see these representations of what’s possible in the future is that they’re building a center for the community and that is really cool.”

While the stadium agreement being signed is expected to stick to its mid-August timeline, Morioka was noncommittal in the new stadium being built in time for the Rainbow Warriors’ season opener in 2028 against Kansas.

When asked about the stadium being built in time for the first football game in 2028, Morioka said the target was “end of 2028.” He noted some struggles with scheduling and supply chain along with tariffs — external things that the state has no control over.

The actual target date of stadium completion will be announced when the contract is signed in the coming weeks.

“But that’s always been, that’s still and remains to be always our target. It’s just is that going to be realistic at this point. Do we want to be aggressive and then not hit an aggressive target, or do we want to be a little bit more realistic with something that we’re all comfortable in hitting, because that then also helps UH plan too.”

Morioka also added that the state legislature will need to lift the sealing on the stadium special fund, which is around $49.5 million in general funds to help pay for some of the advance work for development.

“Not dire right now because we don’t need the monies just yet, but we do believe with the conversations with the legislature, both in the senate and especially in the house side that we’re going to be getting the support we need in lifting that sealing next year.”

LISTEN BELOW
Ku’ulei Agbayani and Paul Brecht discussed the stadium updates on ‘Wake Up in The Den’. Plus, hear from Brennon Morioka and Matt Elliott.