WAC seeks certification for new Hawai'i bowl game
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Western Athletic Conference will seek NCAA certification for a new football bowl game to be played in Aloha Stadium, possibly as early as this December, commissioner Karl Benson said yesterday.
Benson said the bowl — for which neither a name nor date has been chosen — would have a provision assuring the University of Hawai'i a spot if the Warriors are bowl eligible.
The Warriors were the only 9-3 team in Division IA without a bowl bid this season, a situation that prompted UH, the WAC and ESPN to hurriedly explore a 13th game last month before being turned down by the NCAA.
Emerging from two days of meetings here with officials from UH and ESPN yesterday, Benson said, "We're going to move forward as quickly as possible and get the necessary paperwork completed."
The application deadline is Tuesday. Applicants that clear the first hurdle go before the NCAA Bowl Certification Subcommittee in April.
Although there is a moratorium on the number of bowls for the 2002 season capped at 26, Benson said the WAC will ask for a waiver. If a waiver isn't granted, the WAC would seek approval for 2003.
The WAC currently underwrites the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif. and the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho. Both were successful this year and Benson said there are no plans to move.
Another group, Global Event Management, headed by Ken Hoffman, director of the Motor City Bowl, has said it will also seek NCAA approval for a bowl game here in 2002 or 2003.
After 18 years with at least one NCAA bowl here, Honolulu lost both the Aloha and O'ahu bowls in April when Aloha Sports Inc. pulled up stakes a year after purchasing the games from Bowl Games of Hawai'i.
The two-year old O'ahu Bowl moved to Seattle where Stanford and Georgia Tech played in the inaugural Seattle Bowl at Safeco Field last month. The Aloha Bowl, a Christmas Day tradition, was not held.
UH officials had met with Aloha Sports Inc. about the possibility of an arrangement to take over the game but were unable to reach an agreement.
Aloha Sports Inc. officials have said they hope to have the Aloha Bowl recertified and eventually put the game in San Francisco.
