It's going to cost more to be a University of Hawai'i football fan.

A proposal calls for Hawai'i viewers to pay to watch KFVE's football telecasts of select road games this season.

The plan, to be announced as early as next week, will expand the pay-per-view package to include some football games played on the Mainland, some Rainbow Warrior home basketball games and some Rainbow Wahine home volleyball matches. In previous years, those events aired live and free. Only live telecasts of Warrior home football games were sold as pay per view.

George Yoshida, a Waipahu insurance agent, called the new pay-per-view plan "crazy," especially after UH raised the premium-seat fees for football.

"They increase (the surcharge) for tickets and now they want to make you pay to see away games?" Yoshida said. "That's ridiculous. That's very poor sports marketing. You don't give double whammies."

UH football coach June Jones declined to comment because he said he did not "know the particulars of the plan."

But KFVE general manager and vice president John Fink, whose station owns the television rights to UH sports, said expanding the pay-per-view menu to include UH road football games will "make the package more valuable (and) encourage people to buy the package."

UH and KFVE split revenue from pay-per-view subscriptions.

Last month KFVE, which has covered UH sports for the past 22 years, won the television rights for the next three years. KFVE — owned by Alabama-based Raycom — will pay UH $1.75 million in cash annually.

After the winning bid was announced, Fink and UH athletic director Herman Frazier jointly confirmed that KFVE would eliminate free same-day delayed telecasts of home Warrior football games and expand the pay-per-view package. Previously, UH home games that kicked off at 6 p.m. would be telecast free by KFVE at 10 p.m.

Fink said the plan is designed to improve attendance at UH's home events and increase pay-per-view subscriptions. Free replays of UH football telecasts now will air the day after each game.

Fink said there is a possibility the new pay-per-view package will include Rainbow Wahine road volleyball matches. The last regular-season telecast of a Wahine road match was in 1995.

Fink said he hopes to announce full details of the new pay-per-view package "by the end of next week."

The proposed package will bring more revenue to the financially strapped UH athletic department, which has finished in the red for four consecutive fiscal years. It also will provide a boost to restaurants and bars subscribing to the pay-per-view service.

Robbie Acola, owner of Eastside Grill, said up to 180 fans watch UH football telecasts in his restaurant, a 33 percent increase from his usual Saturday business.

"The bars with the right equipment will benefit from" the new pay-per-view plan, said Acola, who spends about $5,000 to subscribe to the UH, NCAA and National Football League pay-per-view packages.

Fink said KFVE and UH also are close to deciding on a carrier for pay-per-view telecasts. KFVE is not equipped for a pay-per-view system, and needs a partner to transmit pay-per-view telecasts.

Fink declined to identify the potential carriers. But Oceanic, which was the carrier the past three years, and at least one satellite company are believed to be in the running.

UH SCHEDULE

Football road games this year (no decision has been made which will be pay-per-view):