Manager of a closed stadium? You might think the job would be a walk in the park, but Aloha Stadium manager Ryan Andrews has stayed busy.
Under his leadership, the stadium has seen a return to 90% of its pre-pandemic revenue — that's back when it hosted football games as an operational stadium. The venue officially ended fan-attended events in December 2020.
HPR talked to Andrews about how his team “made lemonade out of lemons” by expanding the iconic Aloha Stadium Swap Meet & Marketplace and figuring out inventive uses for the parking lot, from concerts to an annual holiday light show.
"I always joke I am probably going to be the only stadium manager that actually never managed a fully operational stadium. We did have some events with like no-fan UH games, but I mean, inside the stadium, no real major events, which is kind of sad," Andrews said.
He said the swap meet, which has been around for 45 years, is a huge revenue stream for the stadium.
"Usually about 50% of the stadium revenue came from the swap meet, but, you know, it never got a lot of attention because it was something that just happened every Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday," Andrews said.
With the added complications of the pandemic, Andrews and his team realized that the stadium was not going to reopen, so they brainstormed additions to the beloved swap meet, such as food trucks and activities. He said revenue from the swap meet grew by over a million dollars in the last year and a half.
His team has also been working with promoter Raymond Ho, who has planned concert events with the stadium in the past — but those received various noise complaints from neighbors. Andrews said Ho came back with a new plan including 10 p.m. endings, and that's been working so far.
"We've done, I think, now eight or nine concerts with him. We have two more in November, and then two more in February, and those have been fantastic," Andrews said. "If you think about it, 12,000 people is probably the largest venue in the state of Hawaiʻi, which is kind of sad, but we're still at least serving that role as a gathering place for the islands."
Andrews said there have been opportunities for larger acts, but the parking lot setting has been a sticking point.
"When they realize what the situation is, they say, 'Ah, okay, we'll wait for the new stadium to come.' And that's always a little bit sad," he said.
The deteriorating stadium is expected to be demolished to make way for the proposed new Aloha Stadium Entertainment District. There have been talks of moving the swap meet to the Upper Hālawa lot once demolition begins, Andrews said.
"We don't know how the phasing of construction will be until we have that developer fully under contract. But we anticipate that the first phase would be the stadium, pretty much in its place right now — so take it down and start building up the new one there," he said.
Having the stadium parking lot unoccupied due to the lack of Rainbow Warriors games led to some pretty interesting economic opportunities, like leasing parking to the Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company and Nan, Inc. Those companies are employing thousands to modernize the shipyard at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam — where there's no on-site parking for the extra workforce.
Andrews said the oddest event they've hosted was a cat spay and neuter clinic.
"That was pretty hilarious. People drove in and dropped off their cat and then came back later and picked it up. And it's a great way to use a locker room that would normally be, you know, it's not being used right now," he said.
He attributed the venue's financial success thus far to his team's creativity and initiative. The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism this year named the Aloha Stadium Events and Operations Department the “Team of the Year.”
"Although, again, we aren't fully fulfilling our mission, we are still doing part of it. We are a gathering place for Oʻahu, and we've done it under pretty poor circumstances," he said.
His job has not been easy, he said, amid the roller coaster of the new Aloha Stadium development plan.
"I won't lie, it's been a challenge emotionally as well. And just, it's very fatiguing at times," he said. "It's very gratifying when you can do an event like Megabon, and see all these people coming and enjoying themselves and having a good time with their family and dancing and eating, that's great. And that's what we're doing, we're making experiences for people, and that's what we miss about the stadium, is that you're creating experiences that people take with them for their entire life," Andrews said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Oct. 7, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
