[ WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
Warriors setting up
future games
with UNLVThe schools are ironing out dates
and financial arrangements for
the 2006 and 2008 seasons
A contract is in the works for Hawaii to play football at UNLV in 2006 and the Warriors to host the Rebels in 2008, UH athletic department officials said yesterday.
Dates of the games and financial arrangements still have to be finalized, UH athletic director Herman Frazier said through a spokeswoman.
"There have been two or three conversations (between the schools' athletic departments)," UH media relations director Lois Manin said. "We're still waiting for them to get back to us."
An article in yesterday's Las Vegas Sun indicated the two games are close to becoming a done deal.
"There are still a few things that need to be worked out before the contract is signed," UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick told the Sun. "But we have an agreement to play."
The Rebels beat the Warriors 33-22 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas last September. Hawaii leads the series 10-6.
Around 10,000 UH fans from Hawaii and Las Vegas went to last year's game. The crowd of 34,287 was the third-largest home crowd ever for UNLV football.
It was also a rowdy gathering, as rampant drinking and fighting led to three arrests and at least one hospital visit. Criminal- and civil-court cases alleging inciting of a riot and police brutality are pending due to one of the arrests. At least one Hawaii fan who attended last year's game said she won't be at the next one there.
"I really wasn't comfortable and I would pass on going," said Fran Kirk, a Hawaii resident who went to the game with friends from here. "I don't want to speak for anybody else, but it's too bad about the fighting. (The 2006 season is) a long ways away. Hopefully tempers cool by then."
Hamrick, who is in his first year as UNLV athletic director, created a task force to decrease violence at UNLV home games following the UH game.
Measures include more police and security officers.
"We need people to understand that if they are disruptive and fighting, they will be ejected, and if they resist, they will be arrested and prosecuted," Hamrick said in a news release last October.