Not that there is any lack of motivation for the University of Hawaii football team to win the Mountain West Conference one of these years, you understand.

But the debut of the LA Bowl this year adds a whole other layer.

Such as, if the Rainbow Warriors were to win the MWC for the first time, there could be the possibility of teeing it up against Nick Rolovich and Washington State in the postseason. Pride Rock vs. the Palouse and Play Warrior against Play Coug.

And wouldn’t that beat the heck out of playing Whodaguy bowl opponents such as Western Kentucky, Texas-San Antonio or East Carolina?

With the announcement on Wednesday that the inaugural LA Bowl will kick off at a yet-to-be-announced date in December in Inglewood, Calif., matching the No. 1 pick of MWC teams and a fifth pick of Pac-12 teams for the next six years, opportunity beckons.

The LA Bowl will replace the Las Vegas Bowl atop the MWC’s bowl lineup for the foreseeable future. The Vegas game had been mainstay of Western Athletic Conference and MWC champions since 1997 but an elusive prize for the ’Bows. Of the 12 schools currently in the MWC, only UH and San Jose State never put in an appearance.

With the Vegas Bowl moving from Sam Boyd Stadium to the $1.84 billion Allegiant Stadium this season and severing its tie with the MWC in favor of a Pac-12 vs. Big Ten or Southeastern Conference opponent, UH has missed its chance there.

But the LA Bowl, which will be played in the palatial 70,240-seat, $4.96 billion SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, brings its own potential benefits, including a week on the 248-acre sports and entertainment complex.

“Our bowl game events throughout the week will embrace Los Angeles as the entertainment capital of the world,” said Jason Gannon, the LA Bowl’s managing director, in a release.

If UH can get there, that is.

In the backyard SoFi Hawaii Bowl, the contract calls for the MWC representative to play an opponent from Conference USA or, in alternating periods, usually the American Athletic Conference.

As such, the ’Bows’ best chance of playing a Pac-12 opponent in the postseason is to now get to the LA Bowl, which is finishing construction on the land formerly occupied by the Hollywood Park racetrack near The Forum.

Under terms of its agreement with the MWC, the LA Bowl gets the first choice of bowl-eligible MWC teams not going to the College Football Playoff or the New Year’s Six bowls. As with the Vegas Bowl, that has usually meant the conference champion.

Last year, had UH beaten Boise State in the MWC championship game, that could have meant a UH appearance in Vegas. Instead, the Broncos went as champions and were matched against their former coach, Chris Petersen, and his Washington team.

After the Rams played the Dallas Cowboys in an August exhibition at Aloha Stadium, Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ chief operating officer and executive vice president of football operations, looked to the future, noting, “We enjoyed playing in (UH’s) stadium and look forward to welcoming Hawaii to our new home.”

That could be worth looking forward to for a lot of reasons.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.