The Hawaii Bowl is a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

that has been played in the

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, area since 2002. The game was originally held at

Aloha Stadium Aloha Stadium is a closed multi-purpose stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a census-designated place that is a western suburb of Honolulu. It is the largest stadium in the state of Hawaii. , the stadium ceased fan-attended operations indefinitely, and ...

Halawa Hālawa () is a census-designated place (CDP) in the ‘Ewa District of Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. Hālawa Stream branches into two valleys: North and South Hālawa; North Hālawa is the larger stream and fluvial feature. Their c ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the

Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex The Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex is a sport complex located on the campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Honolulu, which features a three-story building next to an all-purpose track and Clarence T. C. Ching Field. The facil ...

in 2022. The bowl is one of the post-season contests run by

ESPN Events ESPN Events is an American multinational sporting event promoter owned by ESPN Inc. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shares its operations with SEC Network and formerly with ESPNU. The corporation organizes sporting events ...

. Typically played on or near

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

, the bowl normally features a team from the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

, playing a team from either the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. For practical and logistical reasons, the Mountain West Conference's tie-in is automatically allocated to the

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Conference in most sports and competes at ...

if the team is

bowl-eligible Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible". ...

, and was not selected to play in a

New Year's Six The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, are the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl. These games are traditionally play ...

(or previously,

BCS BCS may refer to: American football * Bowl Championship Series, a system that selected matchups for major college football bowl games between 1998 and 2013 * BCS conferences, the six FBS conferences with automatic major bowl bids under that sys ...

) bowl game. This means that the Rainbow Warriors do not have to travel to the

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or demogr ...

for a bowl game unless it is of significant importance. As a result of this practice, the Rainbow Warriors have made the most appearances in the game, at nine. For the 2021 through 2023 editions, the bowl was sponsored by EasyPost. Previous sponsors include

ConAgra Foods Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

(2002) and

Sheraton Hotels and Resorts Hawaii Sheraton Hotels and Resorts Hawaii was the Hawaii division of Sheraton Hotels, when it was a separate company. Sheraton is, today, a brand within the larger Marriott Hotels company. Based in Honolulu, the corporate group administered and managed ...

(2003–2013), and

SoFi SoFi Technologies, Inc. (abbreviated as SoFi) is an American personal finance and financial technology company. Founded in 2011 at Stanford University, it operates as a direct bank and provides its technology platform to other financial institu ...

(2018–2019). On April 24, 2025, it was announced that Sheraton would be returning as the title sponsor of the game.

Bowl games in Hawaii

The Hawaii Bowl is not affiliated with other bowl games previously staged in Hawaii: the

Poi Bowl The Poi Bowl was a college football bowl game played during the late 1930s in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Honolulu Stadium. The game featured the then-Hawaii Rainbows football, Hawaii Rainbows and, usually, an invited team from the Pacific Coast Conferen ...

(1936–1939),

Pineapple Bowl The Pineapple Bowl was a college football bowl game played during the late 1930's, 1940s and early 1950s in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Honolulu Stadium. The game featured the then- Hawaii Rainbows and an invited team from the mainland. History The Pin ...

(1940–1941, 1947–1952),

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Aloha Stadium. Certified by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the game featured teams from Division I-A (later known as the Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

(1982–2000), and

Oahu Bowl The O'ahu Bowl (often written as Oahu Bowl) was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. Played on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, the ...

(1998–2000), or the

Hula Bowl The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in Orlando, Florida. The game was first s ...

all-star game (1960–2008, and resuming in 2020). While the Aloha Bowl tried to move to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and was decertified by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

, the Oahu Bowl was moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, and was held for two years as the

Seattle Bowl The Seattle Bowl was a college football bowl game played in 2001 and 2002 between teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Pacific-10 Conference in Seattle. This bowl game was a continuation of the Oahu Bowl which had moved to Seattle. T ...

before losing certification in 2002.

Game history

In its first year, the Hawai'i Bowl was sponsored by

, making it officially the ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl. The following year,

assumed sponsorship; the game's full name was changed to the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl until Sheraton declined to renew sponsorship in 2014. In 2018,

signed on as title sponsor of the game which is officially known as the SoFi Hawai'i Bowl. The current Mountain West tie-in was held by the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) until 2012, when the WAC ceased sponsoring college football, and Hawaii moved to the Mountain West. The first two editions were played on the Aloha Bowl's traditional Christmas Day date, but ESPN's acquisition of NBA rights came with the league's Christmas Day games, thus the game moved to

after 2004 in most years. The

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

appearance of the

UCF Knights The UCF Knights are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NC ...

at the Hawaii Bowl was the first ever bowl game in that school's history. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, the Pac-10 replaced

(C-USA) as the WAC's opposition, with C-USA as an alternate. Since Christmas Eve fell on a Monday in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, the game was scheduled for the night prior (December 23) to avoid a conflict with ''

Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...

'' (also on ESPN). In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, the bowl organizers selected Notre Dame as an

at-large bid At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

, marking the first time an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

played in the contest. C-USA again became a primary tie-in starting in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. The

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

game featured the C-USA champion for the first time, as

Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

played instead of going to the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic Cit ...

, where the C-USA champion typically played at the time. The bowl featured the Mountain West champion for the first time in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, as

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

played instead of going to the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada, before moving t ...

, where the Mountain West champion typically plays. Between 2002 and 2018, C-USA sent a team to the bowl 12 times, registering an 8–4 record. In 2019, the

(The American) superseded C-USA as the primary tie-in to face a Mountain West team (or independent BYU). On October 2, ESPN Events announced that the 2020 edition of the bowl game had been canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On August 10, 2021, EasyPost was announced as the new sponsor of the bowl, making it the EasyPost Hawai'i Bowl. EasyPost remained the sponsor through the 2023 edition. On December 23, 2021, the game was cancelled for the second consecutive season, after the Rainbow Warriors withdrew due to injuries and COVID-19 issues within the team. The 2024 edition of the bowl took five

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

periods to decide, setting a new record for the most overtime periods in a

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS) bowl game. However, this record was surpassed just two days later when the

2024 GameAbove Sports Bowl The 2024 GameAbove Sports Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 26, 2024, at Ford Field in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. The 10th annual GameAbove Sports Bowl game (though only the first under the name; prior editions were known ...

took six overtimes to decide.

(2011)

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Hawai'i Bowl, the ''

Honolulu Star-Advertiser The ''Honolulu Star-Advertiser'' is the largest daily newspaper in Hawaii, formed in 2010 with the merger of '' The Honolulu Advertiser'' and the '' Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' after the acquisition of the former by Black Press, which already owned ...

'', in conjunction with the bowl game, allowed fans to vote on a tenth anniversary team. Nine players were selected by a public vote, and an additional seven players were picked by a panel of sportswriters and organizers. The team was announced on December 16, 2011.

Game results

Source:

MVPs

2002–2019

The bowl named an MVP from each team from inception through the 2019 edition.

2022–present

Since the 2022 playing, the award—given to a single player—has been known as the Hugh Yoshida Most Valuable Player Award, honoring a former athletic director at the University of Hawai'i. Source:

Most appearances

Updated through the December 2024 edition (21 games, 42 total appearances). ;Teams with multiple appearances ;Teams with a single appearance Won (10): Coastal Carolina,

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

, Notre Dame,

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

Tulane The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it be ...

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

Lost (5):

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

, BYU,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, UAB, UCF

Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2024 edition (21 games, 42 total appearances). * The record of the Pac-12 includes appearances when the conference was known as the Pac-10 (before 2011). * The WAC no longer sponsors FBS football. * Independent appearances: Notre Dame (2008), BYU (2019)

Game records

Source:

Media coverage

The bowl has been televised on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

since its inception.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Bowl game navbox College football bowls American football in Hawaii College sports in Hawaii Recurring sporting events established in 2002