Posted on: Friday, March 19, 2004

Bowl may not be televised in Hawai'i

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl is considering blacking out the ESPN cablecast of its game locally this year, officials confirmed.

"It is something we have talked about," said Pete Derzis, senior vice president of ESPN Regional Television (ERT), which owns and operates the game.

ERT is the largest syndicator of college sports and is a subsidiary of ESPN, which has shown both previous games live on the cable network on Christmas Day.

This year ESPN is leaning toward moving the game to 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve, a Friday, because the NFL may make a rare move onto Christmas Day.

An NFL spokesman said no decision has yet been reached on the Christmas Day date and may not be announced until April. Derzis said the bowl has until the NCAA certification meetings April 20-23 to make its choice.

UH football coach June Jones has been a strong proponent of blacking out the bowl game here, maintaining it would bring more fans to Aloha Stadium. The inaugural Hawai'i Bowl drew an announced attendance of 35,513. Last year that decreased to 25,555.

Jones said he would like to see a Hawai'i TV "exemption" under which ESPN blacks out not only the bowl game but any UH home game the network picks up because of the impact on ticket and pay-per-view sales.

Some wonder if ESPN will be willing to do it. A television industry source said, "this game presents an interesting question because ESPN, which shows the game, also owns it so they might be more sensitive to ticket sales than they would be otherwise. But if they black it out in Hawai'i, there is the danger of setting a precedent. Will the other bowls they own also want the same thing?"

ERT operates the Las Vegas and Fort Worth bowls and is seeking certification for another in Charlotte, N.C.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.