The ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl received a 2.42 television rating, meaning the game was watched in around 2.1 million households, Hawaii Bowl executive director Jim Donovan said today. Hawaii Bowl receives
2.42 television ratings
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com"We're pretty happy since it's the first year of the game," Donovan said.
The Hawaii Bowl ranked 17th in viewership among the 28 college football bowl games this year. The Christmas Day game was shown live on ESPN-TV at 3 p.m. in Hawaii and 8 p.m. on the East Coast.
The game is owned by ESPN with support from the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA. Tulane of C-USA beat Hawaii of the WAC, 36-28 in front of an announced crowd of 31,535 at Aloha Stadium.
Donovan said it is too early to tell if a profit was drawn from the game.
Each team was guaranteed a payout of $750,000, with a percentage of money generated above that (after expenses) also going to the schools.
"Our break-even point was $2 million," Donovan said. "We don't have all the information on expenses yet."
The Hawaii Bowl, ESPN and the conferences have a four-year contract to stage the game. The University of Hawaii is contracted to play in the game if it is bowl eligible but not BCS eligible again next year.
Creation of the game was spurred by UH not being invited to a bowl game after the 2001 season despite a 9-3 record.
The Warriors finished 10-4 in 2002 after the loss to Tulane.
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