{"id":179673,"date":"2025-07-04T01:42:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T01:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/179673\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T01:42:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T01:42:22","slug":"state-officials-la-rams-mull-more-hawaii-minicamps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/179673\/","title":{"rendered":"State officials, LA Rams mull more Hawaii minicamps"},"content":{"rendered":"

WAILUKU, Hawaii \u2014 Puka Nacua passed through a War Memorial Stadium gate with a wide smile and an open hand as he prepared to greet a horde of eager keiki pressed together along a waist-high metal fence.<\/p>\n

Between some rounds of jan-ken-po with the Maui youths and ingestion of a spam musubi, the Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver got in some route-running during a 90-minute walkthrough on a turf surface emblazoned with a Rams logo that had been tweaked to resemble a cresting wave.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully minicamp\u2019s here every year,\u201d Nacua, a Utah native who has family ties on Hawaii Island, said after that session.<\/p>\n

[Note: See below for more photos of the Los Angeles Rams minicamp on Maui.]<\/p>\n

The Rams received a rousing welcome for their Maui minicamp \u2014 dubbed the \u201cMauiCamp\u201d \u2014 in late June. The team, including recognizable stars like Nacua, Matthew Stafford and Davante Adams, performed community outreach with a series of events that were deemed a success in their partnership with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, with one notable exception in the contract.<\/p>\n

What could be next between the state and the NFL franchise?<\/p>\n

A Rams return visit for a minicamp is a strong possibility, but a future preseason game appears to be a longshot, according to the team and state officials.<\/p>\n

Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism director James Tokioka told Spectrum News on Thursday that the state has a one-year option for another Rams minicamp in 2026, but that it will first assess the returns on its investment in the Los Angeles market during the coming 2025 NFL season.<\/p>\n

The HTA will reportedly give the Rams around $1.8 million for last month\u2019s one-week visit, which included practices for the team, a flag football clinic for Maui keiki and a team walkthrough attended for free by 6,000 members of the public. On June 17, Rams rookies assisted with the rebuilding of a Lahaina home<\/a> lost in the August 2023 wildfires. The team donated a pro-quality locker room to Lahainaluna High School<\/a> and\u00a0members of the team also met with Special Olympics Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, \u201cIt’s the marketing and promotions at SoFi Stadium during games,\u201d Tokioka said. \u201cIt’s getting access to their fan base via social media and pushing the information for people to come to Hawaii. That was a big part of the contract. It wasn’t just a visit to come here to Hawaii. So, we need to measure all of those deliverables and see how that works.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HTA, which is overseen by DBEDT, also has an ongoing tie with the Los Angeles Clippers to bring the NBA team\u2019s preseason camps to Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u201cLos Angeles is our biggest market, so it’s someplace that we really wanted to focus our marketing on, and especially with everything \u2026 mirroring what happened with the fires in Los Angeles and Lahaina,\u201d Tokioka said. \u201cSo, yeah, we’ll see what the numbers come out to. But I’m thinking, just from the experience on the Maui camp, that we’re going to be looking at (more) opportunities next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 400 Maui keiki \u2014 200 boys tackle players and 200 girls flag players \u2014 were enthusiastic participants in a clinic after the team\u2019s June 17 walkthrough at War Memorial, including some eight-man teams from Hana and Lanai. Stafford and his backup, Jimmy Garappolo, slung underhanded snaps to girls quarterbacks. They shook their heads as many put passes on point to their receivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were really impressive,\u201d Stafford told the media afterward. \u201cIt was a whole bunch of fun for us to get to work with them after we got a little work in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a unique opportunity to show the kids and people of this area what we do, and be able to interact with them and hopefully inspire some young Puka Nacuas \u2026 to get it done,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Nacua, the MVP of the 2019 Polynesian Bowl on Oahu, was clearly enthused to be back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like home,\u201d he said. \u201cAs soon as we got off the plane, the first person, he gave me a big hug and had a big smile. He was like, \u2018oh, thank you so much for everything you do for the Polynesian community.\u2019 That\u2019s how I expected it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Los Angeles Rams receiver Puka Nacua greeted Maui keiki as he entered War Memorial Stadium for a June 17 team walkthrough and clinic. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

The last Rams visit to Hawaii for a camp was in 1972<\/a> and their return was hailed by many.<\/p>\n

But as reported by Honolulu Civil Beat<\/a> on June 23, the HTA was grilled by state lawmakers on a luau that the Rams held for their supporters for which the state was on the hook for roughly $80,000 because contract language on the matter was unclear.<\/p>\n

Tokioka said the matter would be rectified for any Rams return.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly details of the contract weren’t finalized appropriately on our side at HTA. But that doesn’t take away from the good that the MauiCamp brought to Hawaii,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a good team there now, and some of them are new, but they’re working really hard on making things right, especially in the sports area of HTA. And we’ll get it right, we’ll figure out what happened, and we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Maui made sense as the destination this time, that wouldn\u2019t necessarily be the case for a possible subsequent Hawaii visit. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen told MauiNow.com<\/a> that he hoped the team would return to the Valley Isle every year, but War Memorial Stadium \u2014 the largest venue on the island \u2014 is set to undergo renovations that could make it unusable for much of 2026.<\/p>\n

Minicamp is one matter; Hawaii has also hosted the odd NFL preseason game. The last was in 2019 between the Rams and the Dallas Cowboys at Aloha Stadium, which was the first in the state in more than 40 years.<\/p>\n

That game at the 50,000-seat venue \u2014 the longtime former home of the Pro Bowl \u2014 sold out in less than 24 hours of ticket availability. It was meant to be a pilot program for more such games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But that was before 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium opened in 2020, and that was before Aloha Stadium was shuttered following the 2020 UH football season. The old stadium still stands<\/a> and the earliest a replacement will come is in 2028, with a possible capacity of around 25,000.<\/p>\n

Those seating figures matter, said Tokioka, who noted proceeds for preseason games go to the home team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s hard for Hawaii to compete with that,\u201d he said, \u201cbut that doesn’t mean that we won’t be asking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rams coach Sean McVay, who was on hand for the 2019 game, tried to be diplomatic on the subject at the MauiCamp.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I\u2019m not sure about that. Shoot, I try to take it a year at a time,\u201d McVay said. \u201cCoaching years are dog years. I know this: When we did come here in 2019, it was a really enjoyable experience and so far everybody\u2019s been so welcoming and accommodating. A lot of good vibes, so we like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Rams spokesperson told Spectrum News on Wednesday that McVay’s comments on the matter will stand for the organization, which closed its offices for the offseason.<\/p>\n

State progressing in talks with Rams for UH football game at SoFi\n<\/p>\n

Part of the HTA contract with the Rams included a window for discussions to have a future University of Hawaii home football game played at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

Tokioka said officials have targeted the Sept. 18, 2027 game against UCLA that would otherwise be played at the 15,000-seat Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.<\/p>\n

Tokioka called it \u201ca perfect opportunity\u201d to play at SoFi, the domed venue in Inglewood. He said he has spoken to new UH Athletic Director Matt Elliott, a former UCLA associate AD, on the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not going to rush (the Rams), because this is 2027, but I did get the confirmation to move forward with the details. So that’s a huge start,\u201d Tokioka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it’s just figuring out details. There’s a lot of stuff that have to do with television rights and everything along those lines that the two universities would have to figure out.\u201d<\/p>\n

SoFi Stadium hosts the LA Bowl. It also played host to the College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Puka Nacua caught a pass from Matthew Stafford during the team’s June 17 walkthrough at War Memorial Stadium. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Backup quarterback Jimmy Garappolo smiled as he tossed snaps to girls flag football players. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A girls flag football clinic participant caught a pass. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Quarterback Matthew Stafford flipped a snap to a clinic participant. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Matthew Stafford slapped hands with a clinic participated after a completed pass. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Receiver Puka Nacua talked to participants about a drill. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Girls clinic participants listened to instructions. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rams linemen led girls clinic participants in a drill. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rams coach Sean McVay, left, gestured during the clinic. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rams star receiver Davante Adams got into a stance during a clinic drill. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Former Rams standout Andrew Whitworth spoke about the locker room donation to Lahainaluna High. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Davante Adams posed with players from Lanai. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Rams mascot Rampage greeted clinic participants. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Puka Nacua laughed during a scrum with the media. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Puka Nacua munched on a spam musubi at the MauiCamp. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The tweaked Rams logo featuring a wave at War Memorial Stadium. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

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Puka Nacua played jan-ken-po with Maui keiki. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

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Rams players stretched during warmups at War Memorial Stadium. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rams players loosened up. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Rams player flashed a kukui necklace. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

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Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford slung a pass. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rams tackle Trey Wedig (72) and lineman KT Leveston (70) did a slide drill. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Puka Nacua went up to dunk a football over a War Memorial Stadium crossbar. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rams “MauiCamp” signage rimmed the stadium. (Spectrum News\/Brian McInnis)<\/p>\n

Brian McInnis<\/a>\u00a0covers the state\u2019s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.\u00a0He can be reached at\u00a0brian.mcinnis@<\/a>charter.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WAILUKU, Hawaii \u2014 Puka Nacua passed through a War Memorial Stadium gate with a wide smile and an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[12606,1615,1613,32840,7,9104,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424,9,1004],"class_list":{"0":"post-179673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-app-professional-sports","9":"tag-app-sports","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-brian-mcinnis","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-hawaii","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-rams","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesrams","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-rams","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114792428276032447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}