Because the game will be shown by ABC, which will not black out the market, it will not be available for the school's pay-per-view package and UH could lose $120,000-$200,000 in combined pay-per-view and ticket revenue.

Last year, UH earned an average of $116,044 per game as its share of the pay-per-view agreement with KFVE and Oceanic Time Warner Cable. A new local television and pay-per-view agreement could be announced next week.

Frazier said through a department representative that he could not speculate on the impact of moving the kickoff of the Fresno State game. But the WAC was sufficiently concerned for UH that it reportedly asked ABC to consider blacking out the game.

"I give Herman a lot of credit for agreeing to do the game (anyway)," Benson said. "He's a big-picture guy who recognizes the overall value of what a game like this means."

Beyond the exposure that game will give UH and the WAC in Hawai'i, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, where both it and the Oct. 1 Nevada at San Jose State games will be televised, conference officials see it as an opportunity to get back on network TV.

Significantly, they will be the WAC's first TV network games since 1998. That was the final year of the then-16-team conference's contract with ABC/ESPN. When eight defectors broke away the following season to form the Mountain West, they took the six-year, $48 million contract renewal that had been negotiated for the WAC.

But with the Mountain West set to leave ABC/ESPN in 2006 for rival College Sports TV, ABC has chosen to take another look at the WAC on a trial basis.

Mark Mandel, ABC Sports vice president, said: "We're just happy to have those WAC games and we'll take it one year at a time. So, I wouldn't tell you what to expect beyond this year."

The WAC said approximately 18 percent of the country is expected to get the two games this season, including Hawai'i, California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. WAC officials are hoping good ratings from the game, which should be helped by the lead-in from the preceding game, Southern California and Washington State, will lead to more games with ABC in the future.

Mandel said, "Obviously, ratings are a big part of our decision-making and that will enter into it."

Mandel declined to say if ABC will do some Mountain West games this season, but that conference has yet to announce any games with the network.

As it stands, UH would not be able to claim an "inconvenience fee" from the WAC for switching the Fresno State kickoff, only for moving the Wisconsin game to Nov. 25, a Friday.

Only schools that move games to weekdays for television are eligible for the $50,000 fee. But that could be discussed at the WAC Board of Directors meetings that open in Lahaina Sunday where raising the inconvenience fee to as much as $100,000 will be on the agenda.

Frazier declined to say if UH would seek relief from the WAC.