The weather forecast is for a high of 29 degrees with a 30 percent chance of snow Saturday in Madison, Wis.

We bring this up because that is where a shivering University of Hawai'i football team could have found itself trying to clinch a berth in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl against the University of Wisconsin instead of in Hälawa. And the lengths UH might have to someday go if it is to keep playing Big Ten opponents.

Playing the 8-3 Badgers in Aloha Stadium will be no easy task, of course, but for a UH team that requires a victory to become bowl eligible, it beats — by about 50 degrees and 4,151 miles — what the Warriors could have been facing in their last and most important game of the regular season.

Though the game has been scheduled for Aloha Stadium since the contract was first signed in 2004, the Badgers this spring dangled a $1 million payday if UH would move it to 80,321-seat Camp Randall Stadium in December instead.

It had to have been an enticing offer for UH, which has been running an accumulated net deficit of more than $5 million for several years now. But athletic director Jim Donovan turned down the Badgers' proposal and, eight months later, time has underlined the wisdom of his decision for several reasons.

For one, even though the Warriors have opened as 13-point underdogs on the Las Vegas betting lines, they'll have much more of a chance to win than they would have in Madison. For another, if the game draws near 45,000, the Warriors will likely come close to taking in what they would have walked away from Madison with after paying travel expenses.

There is another reason as well: It might be the last chance to see a Big Ten team here against UH for another decade — or more. After playing four Big Ten opponents here in the previous five seasons, Saturday's game against the Badgers is the only one scheduled through at least 2018. Nor has there been any immediate prospects of adding new ones.

"I said 'no' to the ($1 million offer) for two reasons," Donovan said. "No. 1, I didn't want us to have to play there in December and, No. 2, it would not have been fair to our season-ticket holders. I thought having Navy and Wisconsin back-to-back to finish the (regular) season made a much more attractive package."

Donovan said Big Ten teams, once willing to book end-of-season games here are still happy to play UH on the continent, but not on the one-here-and-one-there basis the Warriors seek.

Since the advent of the 13th game by the NCAA, a number of teams have been reluctant to come to Hawai'i and give up one of two possible open dates. Witness not only Michigan State of the Big Ten buying out a 2007 agreement, but Pac-10 member Washington State paying $350,000 to cancel its 2011 game here.

Additionally, as travel costs have risen, several schools have come back to UH demanding new terms or else. Indications are UH sweetened some deals, including the Wisconsin contract.

Then, there has been the concern that with UH going on late-seasons runs, it could impact a visiting team's 11th-hour bowl situation. UH, which is 14-1 in November since 2006, has won three of its last four home games against Big Ten opponents. The Warriors kept Michigan State from becoming bowl eligible in 2004 and there is the potential to downgrade Wisconsin's bowl this time with an upset.

Time was when complaints about officiating, following back-to-back victories over Northwestern and Michigan State in 2004, fueled an uproar among Big Ten coaches. But UH imported Pac-10 officiating crews for Wisconsin in 2005 and Purdue in 2006. A Los Angeles-based Pac-10 crew is scheduled to work Saturday's game.

After throwing more money into the deals and being accommodating on officials, UH is left with few other means to entice Big Ten teams here, hardly a promising situation.

So, take a good look at the Badgers come Saturday because it is anybody's guess when another Big Ten team might be putting in an appearance here.