By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Can it still be the Hawai'i Bowl without the University of Hawai'i football team in it? And, how long would the game last that way?

You've got to wonder now that the NCAA's refusal to relicense the Silicon Valley Football Classic for 2005 has tossed the issue of guaranteeing UH's place in its hometown bowl into the lap of the Western Athletic Conference.

The way it stands, the Warriors could be bowl-eligible in 2005 and not be assured a place in the game — or any other — if they aren't one of the top two in the conference standings.

Allowing that to happen would be a big mistake for all concerned, one with potential long-lasting repercussions.

By not relicensing the Silicon Valley game, which drew just 5,494 fans in December, the NCAA yesterday reduced the number of bowls the WAC has contracts with to just two, the MPC Computer Bowl and the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, in a conference that has had four bowl-eligible teams each of the past two seasons. WAC rules guarantee the top two teams in the standings a place in conference-affiliated bowls.

Under that policy and without an alternate opening, UH would have sat home the past two seasons when it finished fourth and fifth respectively.

"We definitely wouldn't want that to happen; we want UH, if the Warriors are bowl-eligible," said Jim Donovan, executive director of the Hawai'i Bowl.

At issue now is whether the Hawai'i Bowl should be opened up to other WAC teams even if UH is bowl-eligible. When the game was created in 2002, its owner, ESPN Regional Television, and the conference agreed, for the sake of building a foundation, to assure UH a spot in the game if it had a winning record.

Last year, conference athletic directors, tired of sending Fresno State to the Silicon four years in a row, voted to end the UH exemption. They were ultimately overruled by the presidents, UH athletic director Herman Frazier said.

But now, with the WAC down to two bowls and a largely new slate of ADs and presidents, it could be an uphill campaign for UH both at next month's spring meetings and when the presidents meet in June.

Conference members worry one of their own will end up with a better record than UH but might be squeezed out of the postseason if other bowl opportunities aren't found. UH and the Hawai'i Bowl are concerned their game could die if UH isn't at least an every-other-year participant.

The danger is that reason gets left behind and the WAC ends up with a policy that forces the bowl to take a team that local fans won't buy and additionally alienates people by shutting out UH.

The fear is if the parties are unable to find a middle ground the bowl will perish and both UH and the WAC will be much poorer for it.

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