It was with painful, perhaps pointed, irony in a week in which one of the most visible results of the state's association with the NFL was announced, that the league also reminded us it could be packing up the Pro Bowl for a move.

If there was anything that could temper the joy over plans to start construction of a $4 million renovation of Roosevelt High's well-worn track and football field, this was it.

If there is a symbol of the tangible benefits of the state-NFL partnerships, this is it. For it was the promise of $200,000 in NFL seed money that sparked a remarkable union of alumni, community and the state government to action for massive and long-needed improvements at Roosevelt. More then being a one-shot wonder, it should also open additional doors and channels of thought.

But while completion of the Roosevelt project, scheduled for May 15, 2008, is reason for excitement, the prospect that the NFL could announce plans to leave soon after that is troubling on several levels.

The current contract expires in 2009, through there is an option for 2010. Even as negotiations continue, the NFL has made it increasingly clear with each rumbling out of its New York headquarters that the Pro Bowl, a fixture here since 1980, is being shopped around.

You'd like to think that when the NFL gets down to it, it should realize that Hawai'i is the best place for the game for a lot of reasons. You hope it understands that 27 years of association proves the Pro Bowl is better off here in the long term.

Indeed, the Pro Bowl would have met a largely unmourned death a quarter-century ago if not for Hawai'i's intervention. Packed around like a traveling medicine show that nobody was buying, the Pro Bowl limped from city to city in the NFL attracting little more than yawns from meager crowds and groans from unenthusiastic participants.

Only at Aloha Stadium has it found both an eager home and an enthusiastic following. Not to mention $4.2 million in state money plus rights to parking, concessions and signage of late.

For the most part, players and their families now view the trip as a reward, not a burden. Should the NFL begin packaging the game with Super Bowl cities, as it has threatened, or farming it out, that enthusiasm — and the game — is sure to fade in time.

The Pro Bowl has been a win-win deal for all concerned. The Roosevelt refurbishing should serve as a shining example of that. Hopefully not a parting one, either.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.