Dec. 25 bowl in Hawai'i possible
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
Barely a month after Aloha Stadium sat empty Christmas Day, devoid of a bowl game for the first time in 19 years, it suddenly has two groups vying to bring one back as soon as this year.
Yesterday was the deadline for new bowls to file for certification and representatives of two groups said they have submitted proposals to the NCAA.
Ken Hoffman, executive director of the Motor City Bowl, heads Global Events Management, which says it wants to hold a game Christmas Day. Hoffman said the forms were completed some time ago.
In addition, the Western Athletic Conference is heading another group proposing a Dec. 25 game. Karl Benson, WAC commissioner, met with University of Hawai'i and ESPN officials here last week and said the necessary paperwork has been completed.
The proposals go to the NCAA Football Certification Subcommittee, which will review them and schedule formal presentations in April before deciding between them.
Both groups have said they would offer the University of Hawai'i a spot in the game if the Warriors are bowl eligible. UH was 9-3 in 2001, the only team with more than eight victories without a bowl game; 12 schools with records of 6-5 or less played in the postseason.
People familiar with the WAC proposal say ESPN has agreed to match a WAC team against a team from Conference USA in their game. Global Events Management has explored WAC and Pac-10 matchups among others.
Although the certification committee currently has a two-year waiting period for initial applications and a ceiling on the number of bowls at 26, people in the bowl industry say they expect both restrictions to be lifted this year. Without a waiver, the 2003 season would be the earliest a new bowl could begin.
An NCAA spokesman said both issues will be up for discussion by the committee.
The Aloha Bowl became Hawai'i's first NCAA-certified bowl in 1982 and lasted until 2000. Bowl Games Hawai'i sold the Aloha Bowl, along with the 2-year-old O'ahu Bowl, to Aloha Sports Inc. in 2000. Aloha Sports held the games at Aloha Stadium that winter but announced plans to move them in 2001 because of poor turnout.
The O'ahu Bowl landed in Washington as the Seattle Bowl and debuted with Georgia Tech playing Stanford Dec. 27. Organizers reported 30,114 tickets sold for the game and claimed a profit.
"It was light years ahead of what they had a year ago in Hawai'i," Duane Lindberg, assistant commissioner of the Pac-10 Conference, told the Seattle Times.
The Aloha Bowl was supposed to relocate to San Francisco but failed to win approval in time to hold a game. Aloha Sports Inc. has said it will apply for recertification in April for a San Francisco game.
The WAC and Global Events Management both had unsuccessful negotiations with Aloha Sports about purchasing the Aloha Bowl. Hoffman said he is interested in obtaining the name Aloha Bowl for his game, although, "I don't yet know whether that is legally possible."
