It didn't matter if they were football fans or nonfans, locals or visitors, practically everyone interviewed in Waikiki yesterday said they think the Pro Bowl's run has been good for Hawai'i and that its absence will be a negative.

"We're in the middle of the Pacific, it's an opportunity for us to be exposed around the world," said Faith Mahelona, 52, a Wai'anae resident who was at the NFL-sanctioned Pro Bowl Festival at Kapi'olani Park yesterday along with throngs of other football fans.

As for the NFL and its players, Mahelona said, Hawai'i offers "that aloha that can only be found over here."

A 30-year string of Pro Bowls at Aloha Stadium ends after tomorrow's game. The NFL is choosing to hold the 2010 game the Sunday before the Super Bowl, with both games held in Miami.

What happens after that is still under negotiation between the NFL and the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, which has been paying the league about $4.5 million annually for the privilege of hosting the event.

In Waikiki yesterday, people were hoping the Pro Bowl would come back.

"We don't have a lot of professional sports here in Hawai'i," said David Hart, 30, a South Carolina native who is stationed here with the Air Force. Hart, who attended the festival at Kapi'olani Park, stood out in a Packer-era Brett Favre jersey and plastic cheesehead.

This will be his third straight Pro Bowl, and this time he's bringing along a brother and two cousins, all from the Mainland. "It doesn't matter if you're a Raider fan or a Packer fan, it's about being an 'ohana here, it really is."

Henry Morgan, 48, of Juneau, Alaska, was in Hawai'i for his second consecutive Pro Bowl.

"I think Hawai'i loses out and everybody who enjoys football loses out," said Morgan, an avowed Raiders fan.

Morgan said he would not travel to Mainland cities to watch the Pro Bowl the way he makes it a point to come to Hawai'i now. "Who wants to to go back East to sit to watch a football game?"

Morgan came along with two friends, one from Alaska and one from Washington.

Kyle Bartsch, 38, a pilot from Raleigh, N.C., said he promised his 7-year-old son Connor that they would come to the Pro Bowl in Hawai'i this year if Philip Rivers, the San Diego Chargers quarterback and former North Carolina State star, was picked for the all-star game.

Rivers didn't make it, but Bartsch decided to come to Hawai'i anyway.

"I think the players will start to complain enough that they'll come back here," Bartsch said. "It's a treat to come here; it's not a treat to go to Miami."

Dominic Latorre, a 41-year-old Kane'ohe firefighter who took his daughter and son out of school to attend the festival yesterday, said he was disappointed with the decision not to return next year.

Latorre said he's been going to the Pro Bowl, and hanging out at the players' hotels hunting autographs, since he was a teenager.

"I'm glad the players want to come back here, that's important," said Latorre, a Lions fan.

Even those who had no intention of going to either the Pro Bowl or the festival said they want the game to stay.

In front of Honolulu Zoo, Travis and Tori Markham of Kane'ohe were hanging out on a park bench with their three small children, completely oblivious to the activity across the street at Kapi'olani Park.

Travis Markham, 28, said his family casually watches football but had no interest in either going to the nearby festival or tomorrow's game. But that doesn't mean he wants the Pro Bowl to go away, he said.

"I think a majority of the people do care — and the players, too," Markham said.

Citing the state's current economic difficulties, he said, "This kinda puts Hawai'i on the map."