Posted on: Friday, February 4, 2005

Christmas Eve could be Hawai'i Bowl day

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer

Saying its "eyes were opened" by the response to its Christmas Eve game in 2004, the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl will consider a Dec. 24 date for this year's game.

"Nothing is firm yet and we're looking at all our options, but the fact that the game was as successful as it was on the 24th, my eyes were opened," said Pete Derzis, executive vice president of ESPN Regional Television, which owns and operates the game.

The bowl said it drew 38,322 to watch Hawai'i beat Alabama-Birmingham, 59-40, the largest crowd of the three Hawai'i Bowls. In addition, the game attracted 1.95 million households on ESPN, its best audience.

"Obviously, the turnout and the enthusiasm were fantastic and everything seemed to have come together very well," Derzis said. "We'll study all of that before making a decision."

The 2002 and 2003 games were played on Christmas Day. College bowl games in Hawai'i — the Aloha, O'ahu and Hawai'i bowls — had, since 1982, traditionally been played on Christmas Day. But the NFL's switch to the Christmas date for 2004 for its first Dec. 25 doubleheader since 1971, necessitated a switch for the Hawai'i Bowl.

Derzis said, "NFL programming is going to be a major factor (in the Hawai'i Bowl date)." He said once the NFL and its television partners work out their schedule the Hawai'i Bowl will meet with ESPN programmers and its local executive committee to pick a date. He estimated that might happen next month.

This year Christmas Day will fall on a Sunday.

The NCAA requires bowl games to average turnstile attendance of at least 25,000 or 70 percent of the stadium seating capacity over a three-year period or risk losing their license.

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