Hawaii Bowl getting to be a tougher sell every year

Sunday’s announced matchup of Fresno State and Rice on Christmas Eve does little to make anyone think it will exceed the attendance for the Aloha Stadium gathering of last year. Oregon State beat Boise State and the announced attendance of 29,106 included First Daughters Malia and Sasha Obama.

There’s no presidential motorcade this time and attendance has declined the past four years — and it is no coincidence that the last time the University of Hawaii played in its backyard bowl game was … you guessed it … four years ago.

The announced count was 43,673 when Tulsa beat Western Athletic Conference co-champion UH 62-35 in 2010. Since then, it’s been all downhill for the Warriors, with four consecutive losing seasons and an overall record of 14-36. And all downhill — at the turnstile anyway — for the Hawaii Bowl.

It’s no secret that this game needs UH. But you can’t win four regular-season games and qualify for the postseason, no matter how bad the competition is in your division.

With the way things stand now, no one expects UH here next year, either. Not with Wisconsin, Ohio State and Boise State on its schedule.

The game’s executive director, Dave Matlin, has pulled off some real magic on several occasions to make this game at least palatable and sometimes very intriguing.

But let’s be real: Not many fans here want to pay to go see a Mountain West team other than Hawaii play a Conference USA team on Christmas Eve. And, at 6-7, Fresno State doesn’t even have a winning record. Rice isn’t that much better at 7-5.

Matlin and his crew will do their best, but this is a tough sell. Hopefully the TV ratings make up for a likely poor gate, because the event also has value as a tourism marketing tool. Three hours of our sunshine telecast around the country in late December doesn’t hurt a bit.

When things were going good for SMU with June Jones it made for a couple of good homecomings. But the dream matchup of Hawaii and its former coach who led it to the Sugar Bowl never materialized.

Notre Dame and Hawaii was a good one — except for the outcome for UH fans.

With each November loss, I began to hope Notre Dame might become a possibility for this one … but I was reminded that the Fighting Irish are now affiliated with the ACC.

Notre Dame and UAB was a nice dream; make some money for the bowl’s future viability via the attraction of ND, and give the Blazers a warm-hearted aloha as they leave college football. After all, UAB with star receiver Roddy White played in this game.

But that was back in 2004, when UH was a regular in it; it was Hawaii’s third consecutive appearance. The Warriors won 59-40 in front of 39,754. Timmy Chang threw four touchdown passes, and Chad Owens scored three.

Those days seem long gone, and we don’t know when they will return.