NCAA recertifies Hawai'i Bowl
Advertiser Staff
The ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl was recertified yesterday and will again match a Western Athletic Conference football team with a Conference USA opponent Christmas at Aloha Stadium. The action came despite changes in the 2003 bowl lineup.
The University of Hawai'i, which played Tulane in the inaugural game, will represent the WAC as long as the Warriors become bowl eligible by winning at least seven of their 13 games.
"We're pleased we have been recertified for 2003 and look forward to expanding upon all the positives that the inaugural game produced," said Jim Donovan, executive director of the Hawai'i Bowl.
Under an agreement that has three more years to run, the bowl will have the third choice of eligible C-USA teams. The Liberty Bowl and Mobile bowls have the first two picks.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson said the top two teams in conference standings are guaranteed berths in games affiliated with the WAC. Both the Humanitarian and Silicon Valley Classic bowls, which have been tied in with the WAC for the past three seasons, were among the 27 bowls recertified by the NCAA Football Certification Subcommittee.
One new bowl, the Fort Worth (Texas) Bowl, received certification while the Seattle Bowl, formerly the O'ahu Bowl, lost certification, leaving the number of games at 28.
The demise of the Seattle Bowl leaves both the Atlantic Coast Conference and Mountain West Conference looking for new slots. The Fort Worth Bowl, where the WAC had hoped to place a team, will instead match the eighth choice from the Big 12, which has vacated the Humanitarian Bowl, against the sixth selection from CUSA.
Meanwhile, the WAC will cap its obligation to the San Jose, Calif.-based Silicon Valley Classic at $300,000 this year, according to people familiar with the deal. The WAC has sunk more than $1.5 million into the game over the past three years.
The WAC agreed to participate this year after Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the NHL San Jose Sharks, took over responsibility for the game.
