Oregon, Hawaii rescheduling 2024 football season opener for future year

Oregon will not play 13 regular season games in 2024.

UO and Hawaii continue to discuss rescheduling what was to be their season opener on Aug. 24, but the game will not be played this season, according to UH, which has removed Oregon from its schedule online.

“Both teams are working on rescheduling the game for a future year,” a Hawaii athletics spokesperson told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

It’s not immediately clear when the 2024 game will be rescheduled, though the move was not unexpected as the sides have been engaged in discussions about rescheduling since UO began its efforts to schedule a nonconference game at Oregon State to continue the in-state rivalry uninterrupted. Hawaii was to pay Oregon $500,000 for the game and it would cost either side $1 million to cancel.

A UO athletics spokesperson reiterated a statement from Dec. 27 that, “We are still in conversations with Hawaii in an attempt to find a new date for the scheduled game in 2024.”

During an appearance on Hawaii sports radio network last week, UH athletic director Craig Angelos cited Oregon’s scheduling adjustments in order to add Oregon State back as a factor in why the Week 0 game is being rescheduled.

“We’re at that (rescheduling) stage right now, working with them to see where we need to go with that,” Angelos said. “… I think the fans would love to see Oregon. I’m sure Dillon (Gabriel) would love to come home. I was getting on a plane to go to a game in the fall and I was right behind his aunt in the line; she had her Oklahoma shirt on that said Gabriel. I’m sure he would have a lot of fans that would want to come out here and we’d love to have it here.

“But if you think about the financial piece, you’re not talking about a big difference from crowd size since the most we can sell is 13,000 in a 15,000-seat stadium.”

Oregon and Hawaii originally agreed in 2014 to a three-game series in 2020, 2023 and 2024, but cancellations amid the pandemic forced the sides to reschedule of the 2020 game for Sept. 13, 2031. The Ducks beat the Warriors 55-10 this season.

Hawaii anticipates moving from the 15,194-seat Clarence T.C. Ching Complex to the new Aloha Stadium during the 2028 season. Oregon’s nonconference schedule is already full that year and it presently has two nonconference home games scheduled in 2029, when it would be in line to play five road games in Big Ten play. UO does not have any nonconference games scheduled for 2030 or 2032 and is hosting Texas Tech in 2033.

Prior to the Fiesta Bowl, Oregon coach Dan Lanning said he had not thought about the game at Hawaii possibly being rescheduled and if so, when it should be.

“We can worry about 2024 when we get there,” Lanning said on Dec. 30. “I guess we’ll be there quickly but we’re not there yet.”

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