Senate committees pass Hawaii athletics funding bill

HONOLULU (AP) — Three state Senate committees on Friday passed a bill that would take $3 million from the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s budget and give it to financially strapped University of Hawaii athletics programs.

The ways and means, tourism and education committees of the Senate each passed the bill after a joint hearing.

“This can be a unique opportunity and approach to support our student athletes as they venture out as ambassadors of aloha across the country and other countries,” said Sen. Jill Tokuda, who represents Kaneohe.

The legislators noted in a committee report that the bill was intended to cover athletics in the entire university system, including the Hilo campus as well as the flagship Manoa campus.

The tourism authority receives $82 million from transient accommodations tax revenue. Chief Operating Officer Randy Baldemor told lawmakers the agency needs every penny to market Hawaii to the millennial generation and new markets.

“We need to be part of transformation of tourism industry and the type of tourist that comes here,” he said. “In this competitive dynamic industry, new visitors are coming in and we need to reach out to them.”

The Manoa campus’ athletic department has been struggling to plug a deficit for years. The university sought $3 million for athletics from Gov. David Ige’s supplemental budget for this year but didn’t receive it.

Athletics Director David Matlin testified Hawaii’s geographic isolation imposes $3 million in travel-related costs on the school that its peers don’t have.

Of that, $1.2 million goes toward paying the travel costs of competing schools when they fly to Hawaii for games. The university signed agreements to subsidize its fellow teams when it joined the Big West and Mountain West conferences and left the Western Athletic Conference.

The rest, or $1.8 million, covers travel expenses for Hawaii athletes when they’re on the road.