HONOLULU — The University of Hawaii remains on track to expand the seating of the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex to more than 15,000 seats by the 2023 football home opener, according to UH Athletic Director David Matlin.
However, the other main component of the university’s latest refurbishment of its makeshift football venue, the installation of Aloha Stadium’s 75-foot-wide video screen, is not guaranteed to be ready by the Sept. 1 game against Stanford, he told Spectrum News.
Construction of the video board’s housing for its new location atop Les Murakami Stadium’s Grand Slam Club room, overlooking the Ching field, has proven to be a complex project, Matlin said. It involves electrical work and then, of course, actually transporting the large screen from the stadium.
“I’d anticipate sometime this year,” Matlin said of the latest timetable. “Hopefully before the beginning of the season, but there’s some supply chain things. It’s quite an endeavor. … (We) still gotta finalize some details. But the goal is still that it will be ready for sometime during the season. But there’s still work to be done on that.”
Fans have voiced complaints about visibility issues with the existing Ching Complex video board near the UH Lower Campus parking structure that was installed in 2021. The score of the game, which is at the bottom of the screen, is obstructed from many seating sections. The score is not posted anywhere else in the venue, but that was expected to be solved by the arrival of the much larger Aloha Stadium board.
Meanwhile, with the completion of UH spring football practices in early March, work began this week to remove the old Ewa end zone bleachers and begin drilling in preparation for the arrival of the new seating in May — some weeks later than originally expected.
“I can say that we’re on target right now,” Matlin said of the seats. “That’s a lot of the prefab work that’s done (beforehand). I think we’re in good shape. Until everything gets here, you’re walking on pins and needles.”
The seating expansion of about 6,000 more seats to an existing capacity of 9,346 will encompass installation in two open corner pockets on the makai side of the field, and a larger structure behind the Ewa end zone to mirror the one that was installed on the Diamond Head side in the 2021 work at Ching.
The new corner seats will be of a similar aluminum style and connect with the adjacent sections with access tunnels underneath.
Nothing will change regarding the mauka and makai stands and luxury boxes, Matlin said.
UH needs to average attendance of 15,000 once every two years to avoid a waiver to maintain its FBS status.
The other aspect of the $30 million project, the excavation of Cooke Field’s two-tiered grass fields to make way for a soccer/track and field venue, plus a designated hammer throwing area, will commence in August with the goal of making it a usable venue before school begins in the fall of 2024.
Seating for that venue was originally targeted at 1,200 but Matlin cautioned “that’s a soft number right now” as UH is exploring building longer seating instead of higher.
Matlin, who announced in January he is stepping down as athletic director, will finish his tenure in early June. A to-be-named successor will oversee completion of the projects, including further Ching Complex expansion to a targeted 17,000.
As for the languishing New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District project, Gov. Josh Green recently proposed an alternate direction for the P3, or public-private partnership development of a new venue in Halawa, but he maintained a 2027 timetable for the venue’s readiness for UH and other tenants.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.