Hawaii Bowl The Hawaii Bowl is a post - season National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played annually at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu , Hawaii since 2002 . Typically played on either Christmas Day or Christmas Eve , the game matches teams from either Conference USA or the Pac - 12 and a team from the Mountain West Conference . As part of the bowl charter , a " Hawaii guarantee " allows the University of Hawaii the Hawaii Bowl bid , regardless of its conference standing , provided it is bowl eligible and doesn ' t qualify for the BCS ( as it did in 2007 ) . If Hawaii is not eligible then another MWC Member gets chosen . This continues a tradition started when Hawaii was a member of the Western Athletic Conference . The bowl is one of six post - season contests run by ESPN Regional Television ( " ESPN Plus " ) , a subsidiary of ESPN , which has carried the game since its outset . Bowl games in Hawaii . The Hawaii Bowl succeeds the Poi Bowl ( 1936 – 1939 ) , Pineapple Bowl ( 1940 – 1941 , 1947 – 1952 ) , Aloha Bowl ( 1982 – 2000 ) and the Oahu Bowl ( 1998 – 2000 ) as bowl games played in Hawaii . This bowl is a new event not affiliated with the previous games . While the Aloha Bowl tried to move to San Francisco , California and was decertified by the NCAA , the Oahu Bowl was moved to Seattle , Washington and was held for two years as the Seattle Bowl before losing certification in 2002 . Game history . In its first year , the Hawaii Bowl was sponsored by ConAgra Foods . The following year , Sheraton Hotels and Resorts Hawaii assumed sponsorship which it continues to hold today ; the game ' s full name was changed to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl . The 2005 appearance of the UCF Knights at the Hawaii Bowl was the first ever bowl game in that school ' s history . In 2006 , the Pac - 10 replaced C - USA as the WAC ' s opposition . If the Pac - 10 was not able to provide a bowl - eligible team , C - USA would have supplied the team ( assuming it had a sixth team that was bowl eligible ) . If neither conference had a bowl - eligible team , the spot would have been filled by an at - large team . In 2007 , C - USA had a guaranteed spot in the Hawaii Bowl , which was filled by the East Carolina Pirates . Since Christmas Eve fell on a Monday in 2007 , the game was scheduled for the night prior ( December 23 ) to avoid a conflict with " Monday Night Football " ( also on ESPN ) . The 2011 Hawai ' i Bowl featured the Conference USA champion for the first time , as Southern Mississippi played in the bowl instead of going to the Liberty Bowl , where the C - USA champion typically plays . The 2012 Hawaii Bowl claim an Official 2012 Attendance of 30 , 024 , but pictures from the game suggest that the Official Attendance was grossly inflated . Tenth Anniversary Team ( 2011 ) . To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Hawai ' i Bowl , the Honolulu Star - Advertiser , in conjunction with the bowl game , allowed fans to vote on a tenth anniversary team . Nine players were voted to the Sheraton Hawai ’ i Bowl Ten Year Anniversary Team by fan voting . An additional seven players were picked by a panel of sportswriters and Sheraton Hawai ’ i Bowl Staff . The team was announced on December 16 , 2011 .