Stephen Tsai: Hawaii’s destination days are over

There was a time when Hawaii was “the” place for entertainment events.

Promoters boasted more than a billion viewers from 36 countries watched Elvis Presley’s “Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite” concert.

Almost every big performer and band with gigs in Japan stopped in Hawaii for a concert. Acts from the Jackson 5 to the Rolling Stones performed in the HIC. Aerosmith was the opening act for — guess who? — The Guess Who. The Stylistics opened for Al Green.

In sports, the Hula Bowl was an all-star game that All-Americans actually lobbied for invitations to play in.

The Aloha Classic was a four-team premier tournament for recent college basketball seniors. Back then, Marty Blake, the NBA’s director of scouting (and unofficial draft guru) would stand on a stool and use measuring tape to record a player’s height.

Chuck Leahey used his Navy connections to help create the Rainbow Classic, which would become the nation’s best holiday basketball tournament. In 1992, the semifinalists were North Carolina, Kansas, Michigan and Hawaii — which was like that bumper sticker: Paris, London, New York, Waimanalo.

And Gov. John Burns built a stadium for the University of Hawaii football team.

In time, musical acts realized they did not need a layover in Hawaii to tour Asia. The state’s best concert venue — Stan Sheriff Center — was not available because of a weird non-compete clause with the Blaisdell Arena. And despite an uptick in arena concerts in the 2010s, self-condemned Aloha Stadium is now closed for spectator events (although there have been successful concerts staged in the Halawa facility’s parking lot).

In sports, expanded conference schedules have made it difficult for UH to find basketball opponents in late December and led to the extinction of baseball’s Rainbow Easter Tournament.

Now UH, even without a permanent stadium, is facing the challenges of filling a football schedule. In the glory days, UH ended the regular season against Wisconsin, Wyoming, Notre Dame, Michigan and so forth. Because of conference championship games, teams are reluctant to play regular-season games in Hawaii in December or late November.

UH’s last nonconference opponent to end the regular season was BYU, which was competing as an independent, in 2017. Before that, it was UMass in 2016.

The so-called Hawaii exemption — which gives a team an extra regular-season game if it plays in Hawaii — has lost its attraction. A 12th game was an incentive for an 11-game season; not so much when all teams were allowed a 12-game schedule. And a 13th game, even it is played on week zero, leaves little rest time. With the playoffs expanding next year, it is conceivable a team, using the Hawaii exemption, could play 18 games.

While Oregon is committed to playing UH at the Ching Complex in 2024, there is talk that it might be the last time the Ducks — or other Power Five programs — will be making new deals to play the Warriors in Hawaii.

And, therein, lies a scheduling dilemma for the Warriors. With dropouts, the Warriors have only 12 regular-season games on the 2024 schedule. There is an argument to leave it at that, which would give the Warriors a Sept. 7 bye and, in theory, make it easier to become bowl eligible. A team needs at least a .500 record to qualify for a bowl unless there aren’t enough qualifying teams. That means it would need to win six with a 12-game season and seven with a 13-game schedule.

But laying 12 would be an ill-conceived decision. UH is a broke-okole institution that could use the extra coin from another home game. The Warriors should be improved next year, and the expectations need to be higher than only six victories. (Plus, in 2016 and 2021 the Warriors qualified for the Hawaii Bowl with sub-.500 records.) Athletic director Craig Angelos was hired, in part, because of his national connections. He can find a 13th opponent. After all, with the shifting landscape of college football, which has impacted Hawaii, UH should not be contributors to its own downsizing.