According to a report today from local outlet KHON2, Hawaii football has a stadium problem on their hands.
The report shares that Aloha Stadium, which was built in the mid-1970's and has been steadily deteriorating in recent years, has been deemed unsafe to hold crowds and is expected to soon be condemned. Hawaii has played their games in Aloha Stadium for nearly 50 years, and it has also been home to the high school state title games and is a primary concert venue as well.
With a maximum capacity of 50,000, there's simply no other venue on the island of Oahu that comes close to that.
The good news is that Hawaii had planned on a new Aloha Stadium to be built. The bad news is that was not expected to be done until 2023. That stadium will reportedly hold 35,000 max.
The kicker in this whole deal is that in order to maintain FBS status, teams must average 15,000 fans in the stands every two years. The next biggest venue that the school could look to host football games the next few years would be Clarence T.C. Ching Stadium on the UH-Manoa campus, and that only holds 5,000 - well below the 15,000 that Hawaii would need to average in order to maintain FBS status.
There's likely a waiver of some kind that Hawaii will be able to apply for, considering their circumstances and geographic challenges, but the NCAA has also shown a history of being a pretty unforgiving organization at times as well.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.