How a Move to the Ballpark Can Help the Hula Bowl

The Hula Bowl has had a quietly tumultuous offseason. After a broadcast snafu threw off viewers across the country, the age-old all-star game looks to be in danger once again. John Vogel reported the game lost all of its staff to the NFL Network-backed American Bowl in nearby Lakeland, Florida, including the head coaches of both of its teams, former Ravens head coach Brian Billick and former Falcons head coach Mike Smith.

Now, the bowl game has stadium woes on its list of concerns. The Orlando Business Journal reported that the bowl game was moving out of UCF’s Acrisure Bounce House to a smaller stadium in the region. While the report mentioned Stetson’s Spec Martin Stadium as the favorite, it also listed Orlando City SC’s Inter & Co. Stadium and more intriguingly, the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as an option. While Spec Martin Stadium makes the most sense, the Hula Bowl can stand out in the all-star game landscape by going a different direction.

The Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex offers a unique atmosphere as a baseball-specific stadium. The Hula Bowl was an afterthought at UCF’s stadium and its size made the all-star game’s small crowds look bad on a national scale. The Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex has a more ideal capacity of 7,500 seats. Furthermore, it would provide a unique environment for a game desperately needing it.

The Hula Bowl lost much of its appeal after moving from Hawai’I after Aloha Stadium closed in 2020. A move to Orlando neutralized much of its appeal and it became just another all-star game at a college venue like its counterparts in the Tropical Bowl and HBCU Legacy Bowl. The Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports can change this.

The venue can recapture some of the wonder the East-West Shrine Bowl had when it hosted the East-West Shrine Game from 2012-2020. Ballpark football is a spectacle and the Hula Bowl can set itself apart from its competitors just by moving to the venue. Furthermore, since the Atlanta Braves moved their Spring Training to CoolToday Park in North Port, Florida, the Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports does not host many events.

The Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex has ideal dimensions for football. A comparison to the Chicago White Sox’s Rate Field shows how a football game could work at the ballpark. When Rate Field hosted the 2016 Toledo-Northern Illinois game, the stadium used a third base to right center field orientation. The right field wall was 335 feet to home plate, while the right center field wall was 375 feet.

The Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports has similar dimensions with the right field wall being 335 feet from home plate and right center field being 385 feet. A third base to right center field orientation works well for football since most of The Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports’ seats are on the baselines and behind home plate.

The Hula Bowl can continue its descent into being “just another all-star game” or can lean into the spirit of uniqueness that made it a fixture of college football calendar for decades. The Hula Bowl may not be in Hawai’I anymore but it can still stand out by moving to a ballpark. Moving the game to a mostly unused ballpark is an easy decision the Hula Bowl must make.