Say aloha to the Spartans. MSU and University of Hawaii athletics officials signed a contract Monday to play three football games against each other starting in 2004.
The Spartans will play at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu on Dec. 4, 2004, and Nov. 24, 2007. The Rainbow Warriors will play at Spartan Stadium on Sept. 10, 2005.
MSU Athletics Director Ron Mason could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson said it's good the university is going out of its normal boundaries.
"Hawaii is one of the top 25 in the nation," Ferguson said.
Hawaii and MSU have had three previous meetings. In a home-and-home series, the Spartans won 58-19 in 1947 in Honolulu and 68-21 the next year in East Lansing.
The two teams met again in the 1989 Aloha Bowl, with the Spartans beating the Rainbow Warriors 33-13.
MSU freshman tailback Jaren Hayes said he looks forward to the matchups.
"I've never been to Hawaii - that's pretty cool, man," Hayes said. "I like that a lot."
Hawaii athletics spokeswoman Lois Manin said the university is fortunate to get a big-name school such as MSU to play its team.
"It's getting tougher to get schools to come over here," Manin said. "We're trying to toughen up our schedule and add value to our season ticket."
MSU isn't the only big-name school Hawaii has recruited to face off against.
Hawaii, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, will play Alabama for the first time next Saturday. The football squad also is scheduled to play the University of Southern California, Northwestern University and University of Wisconsin in next five years.
"We want to play high-caliber teams to see how we match up," Manin said.
Hawaii Athletics Director Herman Frazier initiated negotiations between MSU and Hawaii.
"The university has been doing this for a long time," Frazier said. "We've always hosted many different teams, and we've played different venues as well."
Financial burdens are not a major concern, Frazier said. Traveling expenses are the responsibility of the away team.
"We do it five times a year, and we have the WAC schools come over here," Frazier said. "It all depends on the deal the team has with the airlines."
He said Hawaii will continue to pursue more games with MSU and other schools.
"We play decent schools in the WAC schedule, but with the type of student-athletes we have, we think it's important to play different schools," he said.
Staff writer Romando J. Dixson contributed to this report.
Aaron Foley can be reached at foleyaar@msu.edu.
