The deterioration of Aloha Stadium was an issue that had been growing more and more pressing over the last several years, and the issue hit crisis mode after a local report surfaced back in December that the stadium, which had been hosting events for 50 years, was now unsafe to hold crowds.
The stadium was in such bad shape that it was condemned shortly after.
Aloha Stadium had a capacity for 50,000 fans and there was no other venue on the islands that could come close to that. The athletic department had plans in the works for a new Aloha Stadium, but it won't be finished until 2023 with a capacity of 35,000.
That left the Hawaii athletic department looking for a temporary place to play their football games this fall, as well as in 2022.
Back in mid-May, the school announced that they were pouring about $8.3 million to outfit the on-campus TC Ching Athletics Complex as the temporary solution.
The school released renderings back at that time of what it would look like, and Hawaii football recently shared updates on the progress.
The TC Ching complex will have the capacity of just 5,000 - which is well below the 15,000 the NCAA requires FBS programs to have to keep their FBS status. Surely there's a waiver for circumstances like this, but we all know how the NCAA can be.
Capacity concerns aside, it's great to see the work being done for Todd Graham's program to have a place to play the next two seasons.
"In GREEN Manoa Valley..." #HawaiiFB is #ComingHome pic.twitter.com/dfjIHGscBW
β Hawaii Football (@HawaiiFootball) June 17, 2021