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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, July 27, 2001

WAC will help UH pay football ticket refunds

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

RENO, Nev. — The Western Athletic Conference will help pay the ticket refunds for the Oct. 26 college football game between host Hawai'i and Fresno State.

Last week, UH president Evan Dobelle overturned a long-standing school ticket policy and offered refunds to ticket holders unhappy with the decision to move the game from a Saturday night to a Friday afternoon.

The refunds, UH athletic department officials estimated, could amount to thousands of dollars.

But WAC commissioner Karl Benson said the league will use money received from its new television deal with ESPN to pay for the refunds and any other lost income caused by the date switch.

Benson said UH should not be penalized financially for a move that was urged by the league and ESPN.

The number of refunds won't be known until mid-September when season tickets for football are sent to UH fans. Ticket subscribers must mail in the Fresno State ticket to receive a refund.

More than 24,000 season tickets have been sold.

Since Dobelle's announcement, the athletic department has received only a few telephone inquiries about ticket refunds, although more calls are expected as the season nears.

League and school officials acknowledge that moving the game to a Friday afternoon was a deal-breaking point in the new three-year contract between the WAC and ESPN, which is starting a series of Friday telecasts in the fall.

UH officials did not want to play on a Friday afternoon, saying it would inconvenience fans and hurt attendance. Soon after UH agreed to the date switch, the WAC announced the ESPN deal was finalized.

The UH refund policy called for a subscriber to cancel the entire season package. But in ordering the single-game refund, Dobelle said that policy did not meet the common-sense test.

The WAC will receive an estimated $1 million a year from ESPN. The money will be deposited into an account, with the accumulated money in the fund distributed evenly among the 10 WAC schools at the end of each fiscal year.

Last year, the WAC subsidized the Silicon Bowl, which offers an automatic berth to a WAC football team. Benson refused to disclose the amount the WAC paid to the bowl.