HONOLULU -- The NFL said it will not move the Pro Bowl from Honolulu for at least for another two years, city officials said.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann said the National Football League assured him on Friday that the game will remain until 2009 even though the Pro Bowl has an option to go to another city that year as long as it returns to Hawaii in 2010.

The promise gives Hawaii some breathing space on the event's future.

"It gives state officials and those of us in the city that want to be supportive an opportunity to develop a well defined strategy to keep the game in hawaii beyond 2009," Hannemann said.

Hawaii Tourism Authority President Rex Johnson said the NFL asked him about changing the dates of the Pro Bowl in Hawaii in 2009.

In the future, the mayor said it is unlikely the Pro Bowl will be played in Hawaii every year.

The state pays the NFL roughly $4 million a year to host the Pro Bowl, which the state said generates about $30 million in visitor spending and another $3 million in tax revenue.

The NFL has been looking at changing the date of the Pro Bowl from one week after the Super Bowl to one week before it and having it in the same city as the Super Bowl.