HONOLULU — The president of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association said Tuesday the departure of the NFL’s Pro Bowl for Orlando, Florida, is a black eye to the state’s sports tourism sector.
Mufi Hannemann said it will be difficult to get the game to return.
The former mayor of Honolulu said the state should have leveraged its longtime Pro Bowl relationship to bring a preseason game to the islands, he said.
“We lost a partnership with a major sports organization that helped us to be able to say to the world that we can and we do hold major sports attractions in Hawaii.