Saturday, April 28, 2001

Bowl games’ director
turned to mainland after
Hawaii fans didn’t
turn out

Two straight years of empty seats
forced move to West Coast

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By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

DECLINING ATTENDANCE are the two words Fritz Rohlfing used as the main reason for bidding aloha to the island chain.

The executive director of Aloha Sports Inc. felt remorse for having to make such a drastic move, but if you were one of the few people at last year's Oahu and Aloha bowls, then you know these postseason events were only ghosts of Christmas past.

One major college executive called the 2000 Christmas Day games, "an embarrassment for college football." For the second consecutive year, the traditional Aloha Bowl had too many empty seats staring ABC-TV viewers in the face.

"We just couldn't let that happen again," Rohlfing said. "And we felt like the best way to accomplish that was by going to the mainland. It was a very difficult decision. Obviously, we wanted the games to continue to be a success here."

But they weren't.

Despite having four first-round NFL Draft picks in the two games that featured nationally ranked Georgia against Virginia in the Oahu Bowl and Boston College vs. Arizona State in the Aloha Bowl, local fans stayed away in big numbers. Add the difficulty of getting airline seats and hotel rooms during one of the busiest times of the year and it's easy to see why the NCAA gave its approval at the recently completed certification meetings in Florida.

"It's been very frustrating for us to try to get our fans to those games on such short notice," Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said. " We wanted at least one game to stay in Hawaii. But we understand the logistical problems bowl officials there have to face."

NCAA committee chairman Mike Parent also said he felt it was in the best interest of both games for them to move to the West Coast sites. He also said that Hawaii had carried on a fine bowl tradition through the years.

Rohlfing has yet to get the blessing from ESPN and ABC-TV. Network officials are reportedly upset at losing the Christmas Day time slot. The new Jeep Seattle Bowl is scheduled for Jan. 2 at Safeco Field. The new Jeep San Francisco Bowl is tentatively set for Dec. 30.

Rohlfing said that if ABC backs out of the contract, he is prepared to look for another network partner. He believes longtime title sponsor Jeep will keep the current seven-figure deal in place.

As for the University of Hawaii, the loss of the two games seriously handicaps the Warriors' chances of playing in the postseason. Their only real shot is winning the Western Athletic Conference title. UH officials are hopeful a game can be brought here in the future, but the earliest possible date is 2003.