The University of Hawai'i athletic department has asked the Aloha Stadium Authority to consider some form of financial relief, including a "profit-sharing" plan under which the school might receive a portion of the revenue its football games help generate.

Kevin Chong Kee, authority chairman, said the group is considering the request and reviewing its administrative rules. "We're looking to see what can be done to help the UH athletic program," Chong Kee said.

UH was not charged rent at the Halawa facility for the 2008 season but paid $778,592 in so-called "out-of-pocket" expenses, according to the school.

Athletic director Jim Donovan has told the school's Board of Regents that student fees and Aloha Stadium relief are two major areas that could help the department substantially reduce its deficits. The department has a $5.4 million accumulated debt built up over the past five years and is forecasting a $2.5 million-to-$3 million shortfall for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

Donovan has told regents that UH is the only school in the nine-member Western Athletic Conference that does not receive concessions, parking or signage revenue from its football venue and is the only one without a student athletic fee.

Until the 2006 season UH paid rent and expenses for its use of Aloha Stadium. But beginning with the 2006 season the authority agreed to rescind the rent when financial conditions permitted. UH had been paying approximately $300,000 per season under a formula that called for the school to be assessed $10,000 or 7.5 percent of ticket sales per game, whichever was greater.

The stadium regularly generates a surplus, often somewhere between $1 million and $2.5 million per year, though the legislature sometimes "sweeps" much of it for other state use.

Donovan has asked that when surpluses arise that major tenants share in the profits. "My logic is that we're bringing in the lion's share of the revenue from sports (events) that actually use the stadium," Donovan said. "And, it is imperative for us to be a success in Division I football."

Chong Kee said the authority may have to amend the administrative rules it operates under to accommodate UH, a review that is under way. Chong Kee said it might be possible to have something in place in time for the upcoming season.

A long line of UH athletic directors has sought a portion of the stadium's concessions or parking revenue since it became the Warriors' football home in 1975. The late Stan Sheriff used to argue that if UH was charged for the cleanup of the stands it should also share in the concessions revenue since that is where the majority of the debris is generated.

UH was charged $104,846 in combined cleanup and refuse disposal costs for the 2008 season, an average of $14,978 per game.