Officially, the NCAA adopted the so-called “Week Zero” amendment to the Hawaii Exemption to help the University of Hawaii with its football scheduling.
But you’d be hard pressed this season to find anybody on UH’s schedule that stands to benefit more from the year-old policy than the Colorado State football team.
More about the Rams’ good fortune in a minute, but first a suggestion that UH be granted a rebate of sorts when its Mountain West Conference opponents reap the additional benefits of the Hawaii Exemption.
The distance and difficulty in traveling here were why the MWC insisted on travel subsidies — euphemistically referred to as “travel cost sharing” in contractual documents — before it agreed to let the Rainbow Warriors join the conference in 2012.
UH is required to pay MWC members from California $150,000 for their travel here. Conference members outside California receive $175,000. That amounts to $650,000 this season and $700,000 in 2018, a tidy sum for an athletic department staring at a projected million-dollar shortfall.
Where UH should be granted some relief is when teams take advantage of one or both elements of the Hawaii Exemption, booking a 13th game or taking the “Week Zero” early game option.
The Hawaii Exemption was born at the 1955 NCAA Convention in New York, the brainchild of then-UH football coach and athletic director Henry “Hank” Vasconcellos, who sold the NCAA membership on allowing teams that come to Hawaii to play one game above the regular ceiling in order to help them recoup the cost of travel. Originally that meant an 11th game and was later upped to 12 and, finally 13, as teams began playing more games.
In 2016 the NCAA approved proposal 2015-79, allowing teams to open their football season a week before the rest of the FBS in cases when they play UH or an international game. UH played Cal in Australia last year. This year Stanford and Rice play in Sydney.
This year San Jose State of the MWC is playing a 13th game and also taking the “Week Zero” option to play a home game Aug. 26.
Brigham Young, a nonconference opponent, is also playing 13 and opening Aug. 26. UH’s contract with BYU is a home-and-home exchange of guarantees and does not include a travel subsidy.
But it is CSU that really scores. Initially the Rams were scheduled to begin their season Sept. 9 against Abilene Christian in the grand opening of their $220 million, 40,000-seat on-campus stadium.
But when the MWC schedule came out in March, Rams coaches noted with distaste that they would play 12 consecutive weeks without an open date. Quickly, they got Oregon State to agree to a switch of dates and invoked “Week Zero” as a solution.
By moving their Sept. 23 Oregon State game to Aug. 26, the Rams got a marquee opponent for their stadium opening and, it will be noted here with irony, gave CSU an open date before it plays UH on Sept. 30 at Aloha Stadium. San Jose State gets its open date the week after playing at Aloha Stadium.
So, let’s recap here: CSU gets relief from a gauntlet of 12 consecutive weeks without a break, sets up an open date before playing UH, adds a TV game and still is due a $175,000 check from UH.
What the MWC should — but probably won’t — do is tell member teams going forward that they can have their choice: 1. The 13th game; 2. The “Week Zero” date or 3. The cash.
Now, that would be more like real “travel cost sharing.”
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529- 4820.
