Was it really just a couple years ago that the Aloha Stadium Authority had to go to the University of Hawai'i president to get the athletic department to finally pay up on $341,000 in overdue bills?

Wasn't it just the other day that two of the state's biggest sporting entities, UH and Aloha Stadium, seemed time zones apart in thought and purpose rather than a mere few miles down the H-1?

You might wonder these days as the cooperation deepens to what might be the most harmonious and productive level in their shared history.

Now, heading into what will be the 35th season together, stadium and authority officials have been at work on a couple of proposals that make sense.

One of them, doing away with swap meets on UH home football dates, could be put in place this season. Another, instituting a system that provides UH with rebates if its crowds reach attendance targets, is nearing the final stages in the state system.

Both could help UH pare down some of its accumulated debt of upwards of $7 million. The former could also make things easier for tailgating fans, whose interests have often been overlooked.

They are the kind of helping hands that you would like to think two local institutions, both state-operated and taxpayer financed, would extend as a matter of course. After all, a major reason for the stadium's existence in the first place, in then-Gov. John A. Burns' vision, was to help drive the success of the state's only major college athletic program. When one does well, both stand to profit.

But too many times along the way there has been internecine fighting. Much too often there has been unproductive finger pointing. UH could be arrogant and imposing. The stadium inflexible and without vision. Or, as one critic put it, Aloha Stadium was sometimes a place "where rules were made to be made."

So you've got to appreciate and welcome the spirit of cooperation that seems to be growing.

Authority chairman Kevin Chong Kee has brought a can-do attitude to the facility. So, too, has stadium manager Scott Chan, who once played on its turf as a Kaiser High quarterback. Both — and the folks around them — have been willing to not only listen to UH's concerns but go the extra mile in attempting to address them.

Likewise UH athletic director Jim Donovan has approached the situation with a more constructive and less combative presence that hasn't always been seen from his office.

Working together there's no reason why both the stadium and UH can't be successful. It all comes down to making "Aloha" more than just the name on the sign out front.