Hawaii Bowl

The Hawaii Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played annually at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii since 2002. Typically played on either Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, the game matches teams from either Conference USA or the Pac-12 and a team from the Mountain West Conference. As part of the bowl charter, a "Hawaii guarantee" allows the University of Hawaii the Hawaii Bowl bid, regardless of its conference standing, provided it is bowl eligible and doesn't qualify for the BCS (as it did in 2007). If Hawaii is not eligible then another MWC Member gets chosen. This continues a tradition started when Hawaii was a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

The bowl is one of six post-season contests run by ESPN Regional Television ("ESPN Plus"), a subsidiary of ESPN, which has carried the game since its outset.

Bowl games in Hawaii
The Hawaii Bowl succeeds the Poi Bowl (1936–1939), Pineapple Bowl (1940–1941, 1947–1952), Aloha Bowl (1982–2000) and the Oahu Bowl (1998–2000) as bowl games played in Hawaii. This bowl is a new event not affiliated with the previous games. While the Aloha Bowl tried to move to San Francisco, California and was decertified by the NCAA, the Oahu Bowl was moved to Seattle, Washington and was held for two years as the Seattle Bowl before losing certification in 2002.

Game history
In its first year, the Hawaii Bowl was sponsored by ConAgra Foods. The following year, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts Hawaii assumed sponsorship which it continues to hold today; the game's full name was changed to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

The 2005 appearance of the UCF Knights at the Hawaii Bowl was the first ever bowl game in that school's history.

In 2006, the Pac-10 replaced C-USA as the WAC's opposition. If the Pac-10 was not able to provide a bowl-eligible team, C-USA would have supplied the team (assuming it had a sixth team that was bowl eligible). If neither conference had a bowl-eligible team, the spot would have been filled by an at-large team. In 2007, C-USA had a guaranteed spot in the Hawaii Bowl, which was filled by the East Carolina Pirates.

Since Christmas Eve fell on a Monday in 2007, the game was scheduled for the night prior (December 23) to avoid a conflict with Monday Night Football (also on ESPN).

The 2011 Hawai'i Bowl featured the Conference USA champion for the first time, as Southern Mississippi played in the bowl instead of going to the Liberty Bowl, where the C-USA champion typically plays.

The 2012 Hawaii Bowl claim an Official 2012 Attendance of 30,024, but pictures from the game suggest that the Official Attendance was grossly inflated.

Tenth Anniversary Team (2011)
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Hawai'i Bowl, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, in conjunction with the bowl game, allowed fans to vote on a tenth anniversary team. Nine players were voted to the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl Ten Year Anniversary Team by fan voting. An additional seven players were picked by a panel of sportswriters and Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl Staff. The team was announced on December 16, 2011.