HONOLULU (Ticker) -- Citing declining support, the Aloha and
Oahu Bowls will relocate from Hawaii to the mainland United
States beginning next season.
Aloha Sports Inc. confirmed on Friday that the Aloha Bowl will
be played in San Francisco and the Oahu Bowl will move to
Seattle.
Pac Bell Park will host the San Francisco game on December 30.
The Seattle contest will take place at Safeco Field on January 2
before moving to the new stadium of the Seattle Seahawks the
following season.
The bowl games are expected to be renamed in accordance with the
new locations.
The games had taken place in Honolulu as part of a Christmas
doubleheader and have been played in front of sparse crowds in
recent years. Last season, the Oahu Bowl between Virginia and
Georgia took place on Christmas Eve and the Aloha Bowl between
Boston College and Arizona followed on Christmas Day.
"I'm saddened to see the bowl games move, but the NCAA simply
would not have allowed the games to continue under the present
circumstances," said Aloha Sports CEO Fritz Rohlfing. "For us,
the economics of the games meant it was either a case of move
them or lose them."
In other bowl news, the NCAA gave the Greater New Orleans Sports
Foundation final certification to host a bowl game at the
Louisiana Superdome starting this season.
The New Orleans Bowl, to be played December 18th and televised
by ESPN2, will match the Sun Belt Conference football champion
against the third pick from the Mountain West Conference.
It will be the second bowl game played at the Superdome, joining
the Sugar Bowl.
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