The Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl is expected to shortly announce a four-year extension of an agreement for a Conference USA team to play opposite a Western Athletic Conference team in its game.

The announcement, which could come as soon as today, will tie the bowl with C-USA through the 2013 season, according to people familiar with the negotiations. C-USA was already signed to supply a team for the 2009 game.

The Hawai'i Bowl is expected to receive the "preferred choice" of bowl-eligible C-USA teams after the Liberty Bowl makes its selection. The Liberty Bowl has traditionally taken the champion of the 12-team conference.

In years when the University of Hawai'i is bowl eligible and not picked for a Bowl Championship Series game, the Warriors will represent the WAC in the Hawai'i Bowl as it has five times in seven years.

C-USA was an original partner in the Hawai'i Bowl, supplying teams from 2002-05 and again in 2007.

But the Hawai'i Bowl picked up the Pac-10 in C-USA's place in 2006 when Arizona State played UH. The Pac-10 was to have furnished its sixth-place team last year, but managed only five bowl-eligible members. Notre Dame, an independent and at-large pick, played UH instead.

This year, the Hawai'i Bowl was to have received the seventh choice of Pac-10 teams, but the Pac-10 and the Hawai'i Bowl terminated their three-year deal by "mutual agreement."

With the departure of the Pac-10, the Hawai'i Bowl could have chosen to pick from the at-large pool. But the chances of pulling off another Notre Dame coup were slight and the bowl would have been forced to wait until December to make its pick.