UH hopes for better fan experience at Warriors football home opener

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The University of Hawaii said it’s “all systems go” for tomorrow’s Warrior football season opener. They’ve made some changes to make the fan experience better.

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Final preparations are underway for what some call the biggest day of the year.

“There’s a day I look forward to every year, it’s the start of football season,” said Eric Matthews, director of marketing & fan experience for UH Athletics. “How can you not be excited?”

“Gotta start the year strong,” said Kiana Teran, UH freshman. “First game. Everyone needs to be hype in the stands. It’s gonna be a good time.”

Hawaii kicks off its 2024 campaign at Ching field tomorrow hosting Delaware state.

“I’m hoping that we have a good turnout and a lot of students come,” said Braelynn Jenkins, UH freshman. “I think that’s really important that we show our school spirit from the student body.”

School officials hope families will come too.

The “Kickoff at the Les” pre-party starts at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon. It’ll feature food booths, a keiki fun zone, merch, beer garden and live music.

“It’s the place to be,” said Matthews. “We saw it last year. At the beginning of the season, got a little slow, but when people started really figuring it out, and coming out there, that place was bumping.”

Parking opens at 2 p.m. Saturday. You need to buy your parking pass tonight to park on lower campus. Only upper campus parking is available to buy on game day.

“Don’t come here thinking, ‘oh there’s gonna be traffic, there’s gonna be lines,'” said Matthews. “We’re working on getting a lot of that cut down and we made a lot of progress with it.”

One big change from last year – beer sales. Previously, vendors would have to pour the beer into cups which caused long wait times. Now vendors will hand out cans, and there’ll also be hawkers in the stands. So you’ll get to have your beer delivered to you without having to leave your seat.

“I feel like it’s gonna be really loud,” said Teran. “It’s gonna be really fun. I feel like everyone’s gonna be super excited. First game of the season, I feel like everyone gonna be excited to be here.”

“I mean win or lose, I’ll be here to support,” said Jenkins.

“It’s one of the cheapest tickets in all of college football,” said Matthews. “We want you here. So my prediction for the game? You? You? Having fun.”

Kick off set for 6 p.m. Saturday night.