Hawaii is left in a lurch when the Pac-12 decides to stay in house this football season

The University of Hawaii had a lot of Mountain West Conference company in its financial misery when the Pac-12 Conference announced Friday it would only play in-conference games in football, women’s volleyball and soccer this fall.

The Rainbow Warrior football team had been scheduled to play three Pac-12 teams in its first four games — Aug. 29 at Arizona, Sept. 5 against UCLA at Aloha Stadium and Sept. 19 at Oregon. Arizona was to pay UH $400,000 for its appearance in Tucson and Oregon was contracted to pay $1 million. The UCLA game figured to be UH’s most attractive home game.

Overall, the Pac-12 canceled 13 football games against Mountain West teams.

Along with Monday’s announcement that Fordham was canceling its Sept. 12 game with UH, the Rainbow Warriors now have four openings on what had been a 13-game schedule.

The Rainbow Wahine volleyball and soccer schedules have yet to be announced but those teams regularly play Pac-12 teams also.

UH football competes in the Mountain West Conference while volleyball and soccer are in the Big West.

UH athletic director David Matlin said “I appreciated that all three Pac-12 commissioners called prior to the release today. We plan to huddle to discuss (the next steps, as time permits.”

In general comments on the possibility of canceled games last month, Matlin said, “Obviously, these are unprecedented times. I think there are a lot of ways to solve these as you look at future years, too. There is the contract and then there is the relationship. And, we are all going to have to work with each other in similar situations.”

Oregon AD Rob Mullens told the Oregonian he was looking to reschedule the game for a future year.

The Pac-12 move came on the heels of Thursday’s announcement that the Big Ten Conference will play only in-conference games this fall.

In a statement, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said, “The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our number one priority. Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and based upon the trends and indicators over the past days, it has become clear that we need to provide ourselves with maximum flexibility to schedule, and to delay any movement to the next phase of return-to-play activities.”

Matlin said, “Obviously, with three Pac-12 teams on our football schedule, today’s decision affects us more than others. “We are disappointed because not only were we looking forward to opening the season at Arizona, we were excited to host UCLA for the first time in over 80 years and renew a series with Oregon. However the decision was made in the best interest of student-athlete health and wellness and we support that and will move on accordingly with the rest of our schedule.”