State of Hawaii is paying the NFL $4million to keep Pro Bowl there

[underpants]

The state of Hawaii is paying the NFL about $4 million this season and next to keep the Pro Bowl team in Honolulu. Location for the contest is up in the air after 2012.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Pro-Bowl-score-deangelo-hall-mvp-013011?gt1=39002

Pro Bowl is wonderful, but is it money well-spent?

As alluded to earlier, news releases about generosity make me suspicious. I got one this week trumpeting "NFL Provides $100,000 in Pro Bowl Grants to Hawaiian Non-Profit Organizations." This is specious when you consider the state pays the NFL $4 million a year for the right to stage the Pro Bowl. I'll probably get an e-mail from someone saying the NFL Charities Pro Bowl Grant Program is totally separate from league operations, or whatever accounting line that $4 million occupies ... and more from folks who benefit from these programs. The question remains, though, if the $4 million outlay derived from tourism taxes could be more efficiently used if the NFL is cut out as a middle man.

NEXT YEAR'S Pro Bowl is also set for here. Depending on how you look at it, another $4 million leaves the state to pump up its sports ego, or another $4 million is wisely invested in tourism and marketing that pays us back many times over.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/sports/furtherreview/20110130_pro_bowl_is_wonderful_but_is_it_money_well-spent.html