Chargers in talks to have preseason game in Hawaii
By Clark Judge | SportsLine.com Senior Writer
KAPALUA, Hawaii -- The NFL is in Hawaii today, and the San Diego Chargers could be here tomorrow.
According to Jim Steeg, San Diego's executive vice president and chief operating officer, the club is considering scheduling an exhibition game at Honolulu's Aloha Stadium as early as the summer of 2006.
Steeg said he discussed the possibility of playing the game with two clubs he declined to identify and will try to meet later this week with representatives from Honolulu, site of the NFL's annual Pro Bowl.
He gauged the chances of taking a 2006 game to Hawaii as 50-50.
Steeg was the NFL's senior vice president in charge of special events before joining the Chargers last November and worked on preseason games in Europe as well as overseeing the postseason Pro Bowl.
"Since working the Pro Bowl all those years that was always the thing: When can we get an NFL preseason game?" said Steeg, here for the NFL's owners' meetings. "When I was here in February I told them that if you put together the right deal we (the Chargers) would be interested. So I think we're going to do some talking this week to see what the possibilities are."
The former Houston Oilers played two preseason games in Hawaii in 1961 when they were a member of the AFL.
The NFL has held one preseason game in Hawaii since the merger, when the Chargers and 49ers played in 1976, according to the league office. The NFL has also taken them to Europe, Japan, Mexico and Canada. The league also will play a regular-season game between San Francisco and Arizona this season in Mexico City.
"Somebody's going to lose a home game," said Steeg, "so you have to be able to replace the home-team revenues. But it has the possibilities where you could play a Week 1 game and scrimmage each other for three or four days, and I think you'd get a lot out of it.
"Listen, we'd like to establish this as a home market alternative anyway. We'd like to have a presence here on radio and all that. I know when I was here for a Pro Bowl game I thought there were more Chargers' jerseys here than any other team, so there's an interest."
Steeg said he does not expect a decision to be made soon.
"The only thing we're going to talk about now is what the numbers could be," he said. "They're going to have to come up with a guarantee. It's not going to be a 'spec' where it's: We think you can get to this much money; it has to be: This is what the numbers are.
"I think (the game) would do well and would be something that would be special. Now that you the FieldTurf instead of the artificial turf (at Aloha Stadium) and you have the alternative practice fields ... I think it would be a big game. There would be a couple of attractive teams here, and, hopefully, we're one of them."
