UH will ask sponsors to help with the $1.2 mil in travel subsidies it will have starting in 2012

HSA Note: "The University of Hawaii is asking sponsors to help underwrite the estimated $1.2 million in travel subsidies it has pledged to provide for Mountain West Conference and Big West Conference opponents in 2012, President MRC Greenwood said Wednesday. Some of that assistance could apparently come from a portion of a naming rights agreement being negotiated with Hawaiian Airlines for the field at Aloha Stadium, people familiar with the plans suggested."


About how they are asking an airlines (Hawaiian Airlines) to help with their travel subsidies to the MWC and Big West, UH President MRC Greenwood said:
"We've made a commitment to be in the Mountain West and to do that we have to be there. Does that mean we're going to work with every vendor that we can to get the best possible options? Yes. Does that mean we might be asking our (sponsors) to give us miles? Yeah, we might be doing that. We might be doing anything we can to reduce the cost of travel." (HSA)


HSA Note: "Since UH is the marquee tenant for the facility and the major lure for a naming rights deal, the stadium authority has been pushing for the school to share in any agreement in some form."


About how they are seeing what other organizations such as the Hawaii Tourism Authority can do for UH, Greenwood said:
"We've been talking to the (Hawaii Tourism Authority) and have been talking to other organizations to see what they can do to help our teams. Every time somebody tells me that they are a big fan, I say, 'How are you proving that?'" (HSA)


About getting help for the travel subsidies from the state, Greenwood said:
"I know there has been interest at many levels of the state to try and help us with that. (The travel burden) is obviously something we have to face. We're 2,500 miles from the nearest land mass and as much as we like to sell paradise, they still have to buy the tickets." (HSA)


About the concern over travel budgets she heard during her first meetings with the MWC Board of Directors, Greenwood said:
"All the rest of the presidents are saying the same thing, 'My travel budget is...' " (HSA)


When it was suggested that UH's travel subsidies will be a big help for those MWC schools, Greenwood said:
"I guess they see it that way. After we beat them they may think of it (differently). They may wish they didn't make that deal, you know." (HSA)


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