Why Hawaii is NOT Worthy

First of all, pro sports teams are not doled out to cities just because they are sufficiently populated. It’s not like Disneyland, where if a city has more than 200,000 people it’s tall enough to ride.

Secondly, do you really think the NFL would put a franchise in Oahu just because it can make cool hats?? What about UH? What about the fact that Nike hooks them up and it’s not like every weekend the town is buzzing with UH football fever (even though half the island went there)?

And more about UH, how can you describe Oahu as a fertile field for football when UH’s football attendance ranks 65th out of 117 schools?

Now I’m not saying that large college attendance directly correlates to big ticket numbers for the pro game—I understand that students inflate the numbers—it’s not like Ann Arbor should have a pro team. But I am saying that it shows a level of enthusiasm for the sport. For example, when the Chicago Bears were building the new Soldier Field (actually, they didn’t build it, they stole a huge toilet bowl from an alien colony near Jupiter and dropped it into the old stadium) they played the 2002 season in Champaign, at the University of Illinois, and the town went crazy.

I also agree that the problem with a team in Hawaii is not that players have to travel far. The bigger problem is that there’s no historical example, besides UH, on which to base any prediction of a pro team’s potential success on the main island. Who knows how many people would be willing to watch the NFL on a Sunday afternoon instead of going to the beach, taking a bike ride, or the numerous other ways of enjoying the weekend? We just don’t know. To write off a team like Oakland, though, is ridiculous. They are the perfect example of how an NFL franchise can do OK despite a crappy stadium and less than golden surroundings. They have some of the greatest fans in the country who have proven their commitment over years of passionate support. How does having two teams in the bay area cancel that out?

Of course, none of this really matters. There are 32 teams in the NFL and it’s not getting any bigger. If a team relocates any time soon, chances are it’s going to LA.