Thursday, December 3, 1998

8,000 bought
Prep Bowl pay-TV
package

OIA and ILH differ in their
reactions to the surprising success
of the game's telecast

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Nearly 8,000 customers ordered the 26th Prep Bowl on pay-per-view TV last Friday night, an Oceanic Cable official said.

It was the first live telecast of the bowl, which had a turnstile count of 20,959 at Aloha Stadium.

But the success of the telecast -- about four times what Oceanic officials had projected -- is what could spell doom for the possibility of future telecasts of the postseason classic.

The gate was the seventh lowest turnout in 26 years.

When asked if he would go along with another TV package for the Prep Bowl, Interscholastic League of Honolulu executive secretary Clay Benham said, "I would discourage it."

Benham had predicted a turnout of 30,000 for the unprecedented matchup of nationally ranked St. Louis and Kahuku.

"I was very disappointed with the number people at the game," he said. "And I'm not the only one who feels that way. I think we would have had 30,000 if there was no television."

Benham and the ILH principals had long opposed televising prep football games, but relaxed their stance to go along with an experimental pay-per-view plan put together by Oceanic.

Benham and Oahu Interscholastic Association executive secretary Dwight Toyama agreed on a PPV fee of $12.95, which was supposed to safeguard the gate.

But staying at home apparently became an even more attractive option when rainy conditions persisted before game time.

One ILH football coach had said last week that he was surprised at how many of his own acquaintances had expressed an unwillingness to battle what was expected to be one of the largest bowl crowds ever. He said the overall cost of bringing a family to the stadium was another factor.

Unlike Benham, Toyama said he was delighted with the PPV figure.

The 27 schools in the OIA and ILH are to get 40 percent of the total pay-per-view revenue, which came to about $103,600.

In addition, Oceanic had to pay a $30,000 rights fee to the leagues up front.

Oceanic's head of program services, Lonnie Shupp, said that even though the pay-per-view take was much higher than expected, the cable company will be lucky to break even on broadcast and operational expenses.

Toyama said he will recommend another pay-per-view package next year, possibly at a higher price.

His reasoning is that TV made more money for the bowl than it could have generated if it was not televised.

"Many of the people who paid to watch the game on TV were people who wouldn't have gone anyway," Toyama said.

Furthermore, Toyama said the availability of TV salvaged revenue from the more dedicated fans who were discouraged by the crowds and the rain.

He said he had checked with Oceanic two days before the Prep Bowl and found there were only 600 subscriptions sold.

Toyama said Oceanic's promotion on several local TV stations of the game's telecast also increased interest in the event.

"The statewide exposure was tremendous and you can't put a price on that," he said.