Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Aloha Stadium in ʻAiea, Hawaiʻi, a suburb of Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu since 2002. Typically played on either Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, the game matches teams from either Conference USA or the Pac-10 vs. WAC member schools. The bowl is one of six post-season contests run by ESPN Regional Television (a/k/a "ESPN Plus"), a subsidiary of ESPN, which has carried the game since its' outset.
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December 24, 2008 8:00 est ESPN
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History
In its first year, the Hawaiʻi Bowl was sponsored by ConAgra Foods. The following year, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts Hawaii assumed sponsorship which it continues to hold today; the game's full name was changed to the Sheraton Hawaiʻi Bowl. The game succeeded the Aloha Bowl (played 1982–2000) and the Oʻahu Bowl (played 1998–2000) as bowl games played in Hawaiʻi; however, this bowl is a new event not affiliated with the previous games. While the Aloha Bowl tried to move to San Francisco, California and was decertified by the NCAA, the Oʻahu Bowl was moved to Seattle, Washington and was held for two years as the Seattle Bowl before losing certification on 2002.
As part of the agreement with the WAC, a "Hawaiʻi guarantee" allows the University of Hawaiʻi a bid in the Hawaiʻi Bowl regardless of its standings in the WAC, provided it is bowl eligible and doesn't qualify for the BCS (as it did in 2007).
The 2005 appearance of the University of Central Florida at the Hawaiʻi Bowl was the first ever bowl game in that school's history.
In 2006, the Pac-10 replaced C-USA as the WAC's opposition. If the Pac-10 was not able to provide a bowl-eligible team, C-USA would have supplied the team (assuming it had a sixth team that was bowl eligible). If neither conference had a bowl-eligible team, the spot would have been filled by an at-large team. In 2007, C-USA had a guaranteed spot in the Hawaiʻi Bowl, which was filled by the East Carolina Pirates.
Since Christmas Eve fell on a Monday in 2007, the game was scheduled for the night prior (December 23) to avoid a conflict with Monday Night Football (also on ESPN).