Some of the most popular spots at Aloha Stadium for Saturday’s Los Angeles Rams-Dallas Cowboys game weren’t really seats at all.
They were the shady tunnels, cool recesses and even portions of the spiral ramps, where fans could gather and escape the searing late-afternoon sun for a few plays or even multiple series.
“We tried to make an exception (to congregating policies) and, at the same time, stay within the fire code,” said stadium manager Scott Chan.
For those who plan to attend the University of Hawaii’s season opener against Arizona, it might end up serving as a preview.
The NFL preseason game kicked off at 4 p.m. amid 88 degree temperatures, with is pretty much what the National Weather Service projection for Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. UH-UA start is. The heat index (what it feels like) is expected to be 90-91 degrees, an NWS forecaster said Monday.
In that it might be only slightly cooler than the patch of the Sonoran Desert that the Wildcats call home, where the forecast high is for 93 degrees Saturday.
Under UH’s preferred practice of 6:05 p.m. home starts, temperatures would be slightly cooler and attendance likely higher.
How heavily the time change will impact UH at the ticket window remains to be seen, but coming off the first UH winning season in eight years and with a Pac-12 opponent, you would have liked to have seen the ‘Bows surmount the 30,000 mark had it been a regular 6:05 p.m. kickoff.
But now, some people around UH will tell you, unless late-week ticket sales speed up, they’d be glad to see 25,000 through the turnstiles.
The Rainbow Warriors are at the mercy of the Mountain West Conference’s TV partners on this one, and that amounts to something of a double whammy, given the earliest season-opening date in school history and free TV.
The CBS Sports Network, which will carry the game, and ESPN are the top-tier rights holders to MWC games, and the conference is sensitive to their programming wishes.
For example, UH’s Nov. 30 regular-season finale with Army at Aloha Stadium is listed for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on senior night, the latest start of the year for the Rainbow Warriors. That was necessitated by CBS’ decision to start the Brigham Young-San Diego State game at 4 p.m. Hawaii time.
On Saturday, CBS didn’t want to go head-to-head with ESPN’s Florida-Miami game, which is set up for prime time on the East Coast with a 1 p.m. Hawaii time start.
UH used to be able to salve some of the pains of TV-mandated times by the Rainbow Warriors’ share of the conference rights fees. But in joining the MWC in 2012 that all changed.
Even though UH must adjust its kickoff time for TV even if it means taking a hit at the box office, the school does not directly receive any remuneration when the pot of money is divided up at year’s end. Under terms of its membership agreement, UH keeps its local pay-per-view money (about $2.5 million this season) but only gets a share of the conference pool if all of the other 11 schools get $2.3 million or more.
That has yet to happen and doesn’t figure to change this year.
Meanwhile, the early kickoff should do wonders for beer and drink sales.