The Haka Bowl has never actually been played, but it may already be headed the way of the Freedom Bowl and the dinosaur.
Then again, the Haka Bowl may go on as scheduled Dec. 26 in New Zealand.The fledgling bowl, which is supposed to match a team from the WAC with a Pac-10 member, missed a Tuesday afternoon deadline to prove to the NCAA it has the $3 million it has guaranteed to payout.
But bowl spokesman Jeff Moeller said, "We're still alive and kicking."
Wednesday morning the Haka Bowl was seeking an extension from the NCAA's special events committee in coming up with the required line of credit. It is the bowl's contention that they have the required financial commitment from sponsors, but that the actual cash is not there presently.
An NCAA spokeswoman, contacted Wednesday morning, said the NCAA would issue a statement on the status of the Haka Bowl later in the day Wednesday. There was no official comment from the NCAA as of press time, however.
If the Haka Bowl goes out of business, it would leave the 16-team WAC with only two bowl berths - either the Cotton or Holiday bowl for the league champion and the Copper Bowl for one other team.
"Obviously, (if the Haka Bowl folds) it hurts us," said WAC associate commissioner Jeff Hurd. "We deserve more than two bowls teams - we have three teams in
the Top 25 right now - but the only other bowl still open is the Independence. The frustrating thing is that it's completely beyond our control."
The Haka Bowl was the brainchild of former USC and San Francisco 49ers linebacker Riki Ellison, a native of New Zealand. Ellison had arranged for Air New Zealand to be the game's title sponsor.
Utah and BYU were considered two of the WAC's best candidates for the new bowl. Ellison personally scouted both teams Sept. 28 when he watched the Cougars beat SMU in the afternoon and Utah down Kansas that night.