Hawai'i Bowl will remain on Dec. 24

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl will keep its game on Christmas Eve this year, its first Saturday date.

The Dec. 24 game is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN, executive director Jim Donovan said yesterday.

"The combination of Christmas Eve and a Saturday afternoon bodes well, I think, for our game," Donovan said. "We've never had a Saturday (date) before and that is more of a traditional football day plus the traffic should be better, too."

ESPN Regional Television, owners and operators of the 3-year-old game, credited last year's first Christmas Eve date with contributing to their largest crowd (38,322) and best audience (1.95 million households).

The game matches representatives from the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA. The University of Hawai'i, which has been a participant in all three games as the WAC representative, is guaranteed a berth if the Warriors win a majority of their 12 games this season.

While bowl officials preferred the Christmas Eve date over a return to the Christmas Day slot that a series of Hawai'i-based bowls have operated on since 1982, they did not want to go head-to-head with the NFL, which also has games that weekend.

Donovan said indications are the NFL will have one game on Christmas Eve and it may serve as a lead-in game for the Hawai'i Bowl.

"If that is how it works out, that should help us a lot," he said.

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