University of Hawaii football kickoff and TV times up in the air
Normally, this weekend would mark the point when the University of Hawaii football team, its opponents and TV partners announce kickoff times and network distribution of some early-season games.
But that is one more thing the impact of COVID-19 has changed and teams and their fans will have to wait to an as yet unannounced date, the conferences and ESPN, CBS and Fox networks said Tuesday.
“Collectively, the conferences and television networks have agreed to an extension for determining college football’s early-season game times beyond the standard June 1 deadline,” the Mountain West, Pac-12 and others jointly announced. “These kickoff times and network designations will be announced at a later date as we all continue to prepare for the college football season.”
Three of UH’s first four games — Aug. 29 at Arizona, Sept. 5 against UCLA at Aloha Stadium and Sept. 19 at Oregon — are among the Rainbow Warriors’ high-profile games for which kickoff times and networks had been anticipated.
The sports calendar remains murky with TV networks also waiting to see when Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL and NHL will begin or resume play and how those dates might overlap with college football.
The announcement also means that no date has yet been set for the 2020 SoFi Hawaii Bowl, which has traditionally been held on or near Christmas Eve for the past 18 years.
Meanwhile, the Pac-12 announced Tuesday it will allow for voluntary in-person athletic workouts for all sports on member campuses to commence on June 15, subject to the decision of each individual campus and where permissible by relevant governmental entities.
The conference said a decision to update its pandemic policy was made at a meeting of the Pac-12 CEO Group Tuesday and comes on the heels of last week’s decision by the NCAA to permit conferences and schools to reopen for on-campus voluntary athletically related activities in all sports from June 1.
Neither the Mountain West, where UH competes in football, or the Big West, where UH participates in most other sports, has announced guidelines.
