UH Football
UH-Montana opener to be aired on live TV

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Although only about half of the tickets have been sold, the Sept. 8 college football game between Hawai'i and Montana will be televised live throughout the state.

KFVE, which owns the television rights to UH sports, usually televises home football games on a three-hour delayed basis. But because the game will be played at Maui's War Memorial Stadium, KFVE will show it live across the state, as it does with all away games, said John Fink, the station's president and general manager.

Fink said KFVE received permission from UH before offering the game as a live event to advertisers.

Game officials estimate that about 10,000 tickets have been issued. Maui officials have said War Memorial can seat as many as 22,000, although UH officials said they consider the seating capacity to be 20,000. Several media members who attended this year's Hula Bowl, which was played at War Memorial, estimated the seating capacity to be well below 20,000.

But UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida, who is expecting a sellout, agreed to allow the game to be shown live on O'ahu.

"It's like how we treat any other road game," Yoshida said.

Fink said it is impossible to black out the telecast on Maui because KFVE is available as an over-the-air channel. Fink said he might consider blocking the cable reception of the game on Maui, but only if a live telecast would greatly impact ticket sales.

Fink said it was necessary to go live to offset production costs. For telecasts on the Mainland, KFVE rents production trucks and other equipment from area television studios. But he said KFVE will have to ship three production trucks to Maui, and take a full crew.

"In essence," Fink said, "it's more difficult to do a game from Maui than the Mainland."

Plans also call for KHNL, KFVE's sister station, to produce its three news shows from Maui in the three days leading to the game.