Tuesday, August 7, 2001

[ ALOHA BOWL ]

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Wandering
Aloha Bowl still
looking for home

South Carolina capital becomes
Aloha Sports Inc.'s latest target
for the wayward game

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From staff and wire reports

Aloha Sports Inc. chief executive Fritz Rohlfing talked with Motor City Bowl counterpart Ken Hoffman yesterday about Honolulu as a possible site for the homeless Aloha Bowl.

The two are expected to talk again today as Rohlfing tries to find a suitable site for his postseason game. Originally slated for San Francisco, Rohlfing left the city by the bay after local organizers refused to play the game on Christmas Day.

ABC-TV has the contract for that game and doesn't want to lose the coveted holiday timeslot. Anaheim, Calif., has no qualms of playing on Christmas and is still in the hunt for the game.

So is the capital city of South Carolina, which is the newest location being considered by Rohlfing. He will visit Columbia, S.C., this week at the invitation of Mayor Robert Coble to evaluate the city as a possible game site.

"Columbia has expressed great interest in hosting the game," said Rohlfing, who is traveling with business partner Terry Daw.

Rohlfing said the bowl game in South Carolina would likely match teams from either the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big East Conference.

But he said the company is still considering Anaheim, as a site, and that negotiations are continuing with Anaheim and Orange County officials about hosting the game at Edison International Field.

One problem with playing the game at either site is the NCAA only certified San Francisco and Honolulu at the meetings in April. Rohlfing will have to get permission before moving a game to another site.

Aloha Sports has been searching for a new home since announcing in March that it was moving the postseason college football game and the Oahu Bowl from Hawaii to the mainland.

Officials cited low attendance because long distance mainland fans had to travel and the fact that both games were played on Christmas Day.

The games had been played as a doubleheader at Aloha Stadium in 1998 and 1999 but were split this past year and played on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Bowl owners pay the teams to play and make their money mainly on ticket sales. Payout for the two former Hawaii bowls was $750,000 for each team.

The Aloha Bowl was originally scheduled to be played at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco on Dec. 30, while the former Oahu Bowl was to move to Seattle.

The Seattle game is expected to be played Dec. 27.