There was some Christmas Eve melancholy for Texas Christian basketball coach Jamie Dixon.

Dixon was an assistant coach with the Hawaii basketball team for two stints in the 1990s. It was during that period when he met the woman who would become his wife. They have returned to Oahu frequently, both when he coached at Pittsburgh and now at TCU.

“I used to come out here every summer and see all my friends,” Dixon said after TCU’s victory over UH in Sunday’s third-place game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

But family trips to Oahu are on pause now that his in-laws have relocated to Texas.

Dixon said the Horned Frogs’ participation in this year’s eight-team tournament was “not quite like the last time or the other times that I’ve come through because … we’re not gonna be coming back again, it’s probably part of it, for the event.”

A changing landscape in athletic conferences and television viewership is impacting traditional Hawaii sporting events. With conference expansions requiring more — and earlier — league games, the pool of available teams is expected to drain for the Diamond Head Classic.

Beginning next academic year, the Big 12, of which TCU is a member, is increasing league games from 18 per team to 20 to correlate with membership expansion from 14 schools to 16. The Big Ten, SEC and ACC also are adding new members this coming July, meaning fewer nonconference basketball games and a heavily booked calendar in late December.

Conference reconfigurations also are impacting the UH football team.

The 12-team Mountain West, of which UH is a football-only member, agreed to accommodate Oregon State and Washington State — the two teams left behind when 10 Pac-12 schools departed for other leagues — the next two years. Instead of playing eight league games, each MWC team will play seven conference games and either OSU or WSU in a nonconference game. To add Washington State, UH lost San Jose State from its 2024 schedule. At 2,412 miles, San Jose State is literally UH’s closest MWC rival.

Oregon, which is leaving for the Big Ten, appears poised to pull out of the scheduled Aug. 24 game against Hawaii. The proposed move would allow Oregon to continue its rivalry series against Oregon State. After losing a potential replacement, the Warriors have renewed their search for a Week Zero opponent.

The hope is the Diamond Head Classic will continue to draw a quality field. This year, the DHC and accompanying Hawaii Bowl — both administered by ESPN Events — also were affected by alternative television events. With ESPN televising four NBA games on Christmas Day, the Diamond Head Classic was pushed to end on Christmas Eve. That led to the Hawaii Bowl being played on Saturday, a day earlier than its normal Christmas Eve slot.

While attendance was low for the Diamond Head Classic and Hawaii Bowl, both are worthy events. The DHC continues a tradition started with the first rendition of the Rainbow Classic, which usually was played between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

The Hawaii Bowl was designed with UH in mind. With the departures of the Aloha and Oahu bowls, there was no postseason spot for a 9-3 UH team in 2001. The pandemic, Aloha Stadium’s self-imposed closing for spectator events, and UH’s absence have hurt the Hawaii Bowl’s allure in recent years. But it is a well-run event that fills a void for a locally played football game.

The Diamond Head Classic and Hawaii Bowl provide live entertainment options during a time when there are not many.