ESPN College Football

HONOLULU -- The Hawaii Bowl on Tuesday signed a four-year extension with Conference USA and the Western Athletic Conference.

The deal, which runs through the 2009 season, includes a scenario allowing the sixth-place team from the Pac-10 to play in next year's game, officials said.

"The Pac-10 looks forward to participating in the Hawaii Bowl," conference commissioner Tom Hansen said. "Hawaii is a wonderful destination for our student-athletes and our fans and Hawaii has an affinity with the West Coast that makes this a great fit for the Pac-10."

This year's Hawaii Bowl will be played on Christmas Eve for the second straight year and will be televised on ESPN.

"In my estimation, this is the best of both worlds given the competitive and exciting outcome of previous games. Plus our local fans will be thrilled to have the Pac-10 play in the game," Hawaii Bowl executive director Jim Donovan said in a statement.

Hawaii has played in all three Hawaii Bowl games. The Warriors fell to Tulane 36-28 in the inaugural game before defeating Houston 54-48 in triple overtime in 2003 and Alabama-Birmingham 59-40 last year.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press