Maui UH football game not hot ticket

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Despite sluggish early ticket sales, the University of Hawai'i has no plans to move its season-opening football game from Maui's War Memorial Stadium.

	2001 Schedule
•	Sept. 8: Montana (at Maui)
•	Sept. 15: at Nevada
•	Sept. 29: Rice
•	Oct. 6: at SMU
•	Oct. 13: UTEP
•	Oct. 20: at Tulsa
•	Oct. 27: Fresno State
•	Nov. 3: San Jose State
•	Nov. 10: Boise State
•	Nov. 17: Miami-Ohio
•	Nov. 24: Air Force
•	Dec. 1: BYU

Donovan said about 4,500 tickets have been sold for the Sept. 8 game against Montana at War Memorial Stadium, which has a seating capacity of about 18,000. Another 2,000 corporate seats will be constructed on a nearby hill.

UH season-ticket holders, who had the first option to buy tickets, purchased about 2,000 tickets. That sales period has ended.

Donovan said Montana has requested 2,000 tickets for its fans. Because of that, "those people might not be accommodated with a change of venue," Donovan said. "It would cause all kinds of problems. We'll be in Maui no matter what."

Donovan said a group of UH officials will go to Maui in early June to promote the game to fans and corporations.

"With a little push, as far as advertising goes, the sales will continue to rise," Donovan said.

At Aloha Stadium, Donovan said, UH can gross between $1 million for a game against a marquee school such as Notre Dame and $600,000 for an NCAA Division I-AA opponent.

Including corporate sponsorships, UH would gross about $500,000 for a sellout at War Memorial. The top ticket for the Maui game is $28.50 compared to $21 for a game at Aloha Stadium.

What's more, Donovan said, the cost of staging a game on Maui is low. UH will arrive on the morning of the game and leave immediately after. Also, Maui County will waive the stadium rental fee. For a game at Aloha Stadium, UH must pay a rental fee of 7.5 percent of the gross ticket revenue, plus out-of-pocket costs such as security and ushers.

In addition, the Maui game is considered to be a "bonus" for UH. The Warriors were scheduled to play their usual eight home games this season, but because of a conflict, the game scheduled at San Jose State will be moved to Aloha Stadium.

"The fact that we have a ninth (home) game makes it a good year to experiment," Donovan said, adding, "besides, the whole point (of playing on Maui) is to reach out to the Neighbor Islands to show we really are Hawai'i's team."