Disney Officials Propose Shifting Aloha Bowl to Edison Field

The Aloha Bowl could surface at Edison Field this Christmas, returning a bowl game to Anaheim for the first time since the demise of the Freedom Bowl.

The game, long plagued by poor attendance because of the high cost for fans to follow their team to Hawaii, originally was moved from Honolulu to San Francisco and scheduled for Dec. 30. But the Christmas Day game traditionally delivered solid ratings for ABC, and the network declined to approve the date change.

Bowl organizers renewed their search for a new home after the San Francisco Giants, owners of Pacific Bell Park, then decided against hosting a Christmas Day game, fearing lackluster attendance and high labor costs. Disney officials, intrigued in part by the possibility of additional tourists for its two Anaheim theme parks, met recently with bowl organizers and made a formal proposal for the game to move to Edison Field, home of the Angels.

“We could do a great job, and it would be fun to bring a college bowl game back here,” said Kevin Uhlich, vice president of Disney’s Anaheim Sports division.

The game matches the fourth- or fifth-place team from the Pacific 10 Conference against a school from the Big East. Uhlich said Disney had yet to hear back from bowl organizers, but Pac-10 assistant commissioner Jim Muldoon said organizers told conference officials this week no cities besides Anaheim were under consideration and that a decision could come next week.

Bowl organizers could not be reached for comment Friday.

The game would not be called the Aloha Bowl, although Uhlich said the Disney proposal covered only the use of Edison Field and did not address possible Disney sponsorship of the game.