The University of Hawaii football team’s third game of the season, a Sept. 12 meeting with Fordham at Aloha Stadium, is “in jeopardy,” a Patriot League spokesman said Monday.
The Rainbow Warriors are scheduled to open Aug. 29 at Arizona, followed by a Sept. 5 game with UCLA at Aloha Stadium.
The Patriot League’s Council of Presidents announced its COVID-19-impacted Fall 2020 Athletics Plan on Monday, a section of which states, “No Patriot League teams will fly to competitions and, with rare exceptions, regular-season competition will exclude overnight travel.”
The campus of Fordham, a Football Championship Subdivision member, is in New York City.
Sports Illustrated first reported the possible complications.
Patriot League spokesman Ryan Sakamoto said, “Based upon the language, that game certainly looks like it will be in jeopardy.”
Another Patriot League team, Georgetown, is scheduled to play at the University of San Diego in November. Most of the conference’s other nonconference games are within 600 miles or less.
Sakamoto added, “Conversations are still on-going, so I don’t know that there is a definite answer yet. There are discussions (about) whether there is a potential for exceptions. None of those games have been canceled yet. As we move forward, that will probably be some more clarity.”
Fordham spokesman Joe DiBari said, “There is a (conference) meeting on Wednesday to discuss football, so we should know more by then.”
Typically UH contracts with FCS opponents provide for UH to pick up the airfare, a couple of nights lodging and some ground transportation costs.
