Beginning Thursday morning, University of Hawaii football fans will have an opportunity to buy the remaining tickets for Saturday’s game against San Diego State at the Ching Complex.
It will be the first NCAA on-campus football game with up to full capacity in the program’s history.
After 45 football seasons at Aloha Stadium, the Rainbow Warriors were forced to relocate their home games when the Halawa facility was deemed unfit for spectator-attended events this year. UH spent more than $8 million to retrofit the Ching Complex into a venue with 9,000 seats, a new artificial surface and made-to-order video scoreboard.
Because of COVID-19-related restrictions, the Warriors played in an empty Aloha Stadium in 2020 and the first three games at Ching this fall. They were allowed to play host to 1,000 spectators for the Oct. 23 game against New Mexico State. Attendance limits will be lifted today for organized outdoor events that require spectators to be vaccinated and masked. Tailgating and food concessions will not be allowed at those events.
During the summer, UH made offers to season-ticket holders based on a donation-tier system. When the no-spectator mandates were announced and then extended, those who bought season tickets were refunded their money or rolled their purchases into the 2022 season. That meant the Warriors had to essentially re-sell the tickets that were not committed to Warriors players and coaches, corporate partners or the UH students.
A UH spokesman said season-ticket holders were sent an email inviting them to purchase two tickets for each of the remaining home games against San Diego State on Saturday and Colorado State on Nov. 20. UH expanded the invite list to include season-ticket holders in 2019. Today is the deadline to respond to the ticket offer.
The remaining seats will go on sale to the public beginning at 9 a.m Thursday. Those purchases may be made at www.etickethawaii.com.
UH coach Todd Graham said he welcomes a fully attended home game.
“First time ever since I’ve been here,” said Graham, who was hired in January 2020, two months ahead of the pandemic-related shutdowns. “We talked about, for the first time in two years, we’re going to have our fans (in a) packed house and know what it feels like to play a home-field game. We’re excited about that.”
The Warriors are coming off a discouraging 51-31 road loss to Utah State during which they committed 10 penalties (including a false start at the 1), gave up 564 yards, and were burned on two long scoring passes and a touchdown return on an on-side kick. The Warriors, who are 4-5 overall and 1-3 in the Mountain West, likely need to win three of their final four to become bowl eligible.
“Our focus is going and getting back on track,” Graham said. “Excited to play in front of our crowd. I can’t wait to see it. I’m looking forward to it. It’s been misery having football games without fans. And, so, never in my wildest dreams would I think that could ever happen. You live and learn. I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to come out this weekend and to be able to have that atmosphere. It’ll be my first experience with it (in Hawaii). I’m looking forward to it. Man, we need to be loud and proud.”
