The National Football League will donate $1 million toward establishing a youth community center next to Nanaikapono Elementary School in Nanakuli as a gesture of appreciation for Hawai'i's longtime support of the Pro Bowl, NFL officials said this week.

Since 1993, NFL Charities has set up 10 such Youth Education Town community centers as a lasting legacy for Super Bowl host cities. The centers' mission is to provide "sports and recreational activities, in combination with education, to assist disadvantaged youth," the NFL said.

The NFL, which has contributed $1 million to Hawai'i nonprofits over the past 10 years, will make the formal announcement of the Nanakuli YET center on Feb. 8 during Pro Bowl week, said Beth Colleton, NFL director of community affairs.

Honolulu is host city of the Pro Bowl, which will be played for the 26th year at Aloha Stadium on Feb. 12.

Nanaikapono principal Myron Brumaghim said YET is being built for the community, not just the school, so community meetings will allow input from a "lot of people looking at it with different lenses."

"For me, I feel the more opportunities available to kids the better," Brumaghim said. "I look at the recreational opportunities here and see we have a lot of water but few basketball courts."

Brian McCarthy, NFL's director of corporate communications, said, "The people of Hawai'i have supported us for more than 25 years, and this is another opportunity for the NFL to show our appreciation and provide a legacy to the boys and girls of O'ahu.

"We have extended a very successful program normally reserved for our Super Bowl host cities ... to the Pro Bowl," McCarthy said.

Boys & Girls Club of Hawai'i, which also has clubhouses in Wai'anae and 'Ewa Beach and an afterschool program at Nanaikapono, will manage the Nanakuli YET center. The organization has negotiated a 30-year lease with an option for a second 30 years with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for a one-acre-plus lot for the facility, fulfilling a primary requirement set by the NFL.

"DHHL is very happy to be part of this partnership," said Micah Kane, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands chairman. "Nanakuli is an underserved area, and this program will be well received and is much needed."

Matching the NFL donation is also a requirement, and local efforts to obtain the necessary funds already are under way.

David Nakada, Boys & Girls Club of Hawai'i executive director, said the organization will have to raise more than $1 million to complete the project, which he estimates will cost $4.5 million. He said Hawai'i's U.S. senators, Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, already have secured $700,000 in grants to support the effort. Boys & Girls Club is seeking corporate sponsorships, grants in aid and community block grants for additional support.

Nakada said the Nanakuli YET will be a one-story building with a gym, learning and technology centers, and a social recreation area. He said he hopes to have it open in 24 to 30 months.

The architectural firm of Mitsunaga & Associates Inc. will be scheduling community brainstorming meetings to determine how the center can best meet the community's needs.

Nakada said he is confident the money can be raised. He said he also is encouraged by other Leeward projects, citing the Salvation Army's plan to build a Kroc Center in Kapolei and possible new YMCA facilities in Kapolei and Wai'anae.

"The Salvation Army and YMCA deserve kudos for their vision, because the development of support services is going to be tremendous," Nakada said. "I agree with Michael Town (a Boys & Girls Club board member and Circuit Court judge) that the real enemy is the streets, and not competition with other agencies, because if the streets win, the whole community loses."

Rex Johnson, executive director of the state Tourism Authority, said he and retired banking executive Larry Johnson, the authority's designated negotiator, were in Chicago early last year, working on a contract with the NFL to keep the Pro Bowl here through 2010, when the NFL brought up the idea of establishing a YET center on O'ahu.

"Larry was the driver and began talking with them on how to get the thing done," Rex Johnson said. "The NFL looks at Hawai'i as its 33rd franchise, and this is an ultimate reward."

Johnson said 25,400 visitors here during Pro Bowl week in 2005 came just for the game. Hawai'i benefitted from $39.45 million in visitor spending and $3.83 million in resulting state taxes during that period, he said.

Colleton said the NFL includes a Learning Across America program at all YET centers to keep them connected.

Two more YET center sites are planned, one for Houston and one for Jacksonville, Fla.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.