Dave Reardon: Maui Invitational no easier to attend on Oahu

On the week of Thanksgiving, some fans are saying no thanks to the very rare treat of very high level college basketball at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Five of the top 11 teams in the Associated Press poll — No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Purdue, No. 4 Marquette, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 11 Gonzaga — and traditional powers UCLA and Syracuse are on Oahu for the Allstate Maui Invitational, as is host Chaminade. Many say this is the greatest field in the 40-year history of the event.

The Maui Invitational has long been considered the premier holiday season college basketball tournament, an honor previously bestowed upon UH’s Rainbow Classic.

The tournament is on Oahu this year because of the wildfires that struck Lahaina on Aug. 8, killing at least 100 people and destroying more than 2,000 buildings in the historic town. The Lahaina Civic Center remained standing, but the tourney’s usual home has been in use as a FEMA relief center for people affected by the fires.

KemperLesnik, which owns and operates the event, promised it will return to Maui next year when it announced in September that UH had agreed to host it for a year.

Sean Luz Eyman, an avid football and basketball fan from Mililani, says he will attend. He paid $72 per ticket for a two-game evening session.

“Looking forward to watching well-coached, athletic, and well-attended men’s basketball games at the SSC. UH Hilo or Niagara in front of 1,800 people doesn’t do it for me,” Eyman said, taking a shot at the Rainbow Warriors’ first two opponents, both of whom UH beat soundly last week.

But some question that part about “well-attended,” largely due to parking restrictions at UH because the three days of the tournament are all school days, and two games each day will be played entirely during regular school and work hours.

That could make for some bad optics at the 10,300-seat Sheriff Center. It’s hard to guess how many more fans will attend than the 2,400 who normally stuff the Lahaina Civic Center for this TV-centric ESPN event.

On Monday, Tennessee tips off against Syracuse at 9:30 a.m., followed by Purdue and Gonzaga at noon. The evening session starts at 4 p.m. with Kansas playing Chaminade, followed by UCLA and Marquette scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Fans are not allowed to park on campus. Students, faculty and staff will need to show proof of such to park. This might be a necessary measure for the daytime sessions, but hopefully someone will make an adjustment to open things up for the evening games; parking spaces will become available as students and staff leave campus for the day.

The university is prioritizing its main function, which is education of its students, and is trying its best to accommodate the tournament, a UH spokesperson said Saturday.

Eyman said he plans to ride the free shuttle from the Hawai‘i Convention Center to UH and back. If he parks at the convention center, though, he will still need to pay $15.

Other local fans said they will stay home and watch on ESPN, as they don’t want to deal with any potential parking hassles, and tickets are too expensive.

“UH sports are more affordable,” Abe Villanueva said.

But Dana Sugimoto and Glen Higa said they have secret parking places near UH. It’s like how locals know hidden surf spots, and “secret fishing holes, hole-in-the-wall eats and clean/accessible restrooms in Chinatown,” Sugimoto said.

That’s likely not amusing to fans of these high-profile programs who have already invested a lot of money in a Hawaii vacation and now have to pay more if they don’t want to walk to get to and from the games.

They are being encouraged to use ride-shares, taxis or TheBus, or they can catch a shuttle to UH and back — ranging in price from $30 for only Wednesday to $93 for all three days. That’s quite a few mai tais or souvenirs from an ABC Store.

Trevor Caughey of Kihei bought two tickets for the championship day sessions on Wednesday. This would have been his first time attending the Maui Invitational. But when the tournament was moved from the island where he lives, Caughey could not go.

He works at Maui Off Road Adventures ATV, which shut down for two months after the fires.

“Now (business is) at maybe 35% of what it was,” he said. “We’re just waiting for the tourists to come back.”

On Saturday, Caughey was still trying to sell the two tickets for which he paid $590. He said he did not get a refund because he missed an email that set a Nov. 4 deadline for refund requests.

People can point fingers in a lot of directions at various entities for inconveniences and added costs because this event was moved to a place it had never been held before.

But Caughey’s woes are a reminder that the real culprit is the tragedy of Aug. 8.