Aloha Stadium's moveable grandstands will be locked in football configuration and its parking lot might become a site for the automobile sport of drifting, stadium officials said yesterday.

Gov. Linda Lingle this month signed off on a rule change to delete a measure requiring the grandstands be moved into baseball configuration once a year, and approved another to double the swap meet admission fee to $1 for ages 12 and older.

State comptroller Russ Saito said the governor agreed with the Aloha Stadium Authority's recommendation on the two rule changes.

Lingle approved the two rules on Sept. 7, Saito said.

High repair and maintenance costs, and low baseball attendance at the stadium, were cited as some reasons for the configuration rule, Saito said.

Under the rule, the stadium will no longer be able to host baseball games once permanent renovations are made as early as next year.

The stadium will still be able to host concerts, but not professional soccer unless some field seating is removed to accommodate the sport's wider playing field.

The decision to lock the grandstands is expected to save the state $18,000 to $20,000 in labor and equipment rentals each time the stadium is reconfigured, according to Aloha Stadium engineer Ken Tong.

It would cost more than $11 million to repair the 30-year-old system that controls the moveable grandstands, according to a consultant's report. The system has become unreliable, costly and unsafe, officials said.

As for the swap meet, the doubling of the admission fee to $1 is expected to generate additional revenue of more than $650,000 per year.

The stadium has not decided when the fee increase will be implemented, according to interim stadium deputy manager Scott Chan.

Only two people testified against the increase out of 600 swap meet vendors, and the Stadium Authority voted 5-1 in favor of the increase, Saito said.

The swap meet is held every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and draws 30,000 to 35,000 customers per week, according to interim stadium manager Ken Lum.

The Stadium Authority is also expected to vote next month on whether to allow drifting — where drivers maneuver their cars in a controlled slide — in the lower Halawa parking lot, according to Aloha Stadium Authority chairman Kevin Chong Kee.

Hawai'i's drifting and racing enthusiasts have been looking for a venue since Hawai'i Raceway Park closed in April.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.