More than 20 million combined "net reach" viewers saw the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl and the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic events from Hawai'i on ESPN outlets last week, a spokesman said.

"That's a lot of eyeballs watching Hawai'i events, especially with the weather in the Midwest and East Coast and people getting ideas about heading to paradise," said David Matlin, executive director of the bowl game and basketball tournament. The numbers include replays but not international telecasts.

Ten basketball games and the bowl game added up to more than 20 hours of programming on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU between Dec. 22 and 25.

The events are owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television. The inaugural eight-team Diamond Head Classic was hosted by the University of Hawai'i, whose men's basketball team had three TV appearances.

More than 2.3 million households watched Southern Methodist University's demolition of Nevada in the Hawai'i Bowl on ESPN, officials said. SMU won the Christmas Eve game, 45-10.

Considering the Mustangs jumped out to a 31-0 halftime lead, "I'm very happy with that (audience)," Matlin said. "We feel like we were trending toward some very good numbers until the game got out of hand. No question about it (the blowout) cost us some ratings."

As it was, the game ranked the fifth highest of the eight Hawai'i Bowls, according to numbers provided by ERT. The most-watched of the Hawai'i Bowls remains last year's UH-Notre Dame game which was seen in approximately 3 million households.

The Hawai'i Bowl, which matches representatives from the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA, is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 24 in 2010, sandwiched again around the Diamond Head Classic, which is scheduled to run Dec. 22, 23 and 25.

Baylor, Butler, Florida State, Mississippi State, San Diego and Utah will join Hawai'i in the field. The eighth spot, possibly a Pac-10 team, will be announced later. Butler, Florida State, Mississippi State and Utah all played in the NCAA Tournament last season.

UH will represent the WAC in the Hawai'i Bowl if the Warriors win at least seven of their 13 games to become bowl eligible.