Want to watch Kahuku High running back Malosi Te'o collide with Punahou's defense?

Wonder what Iolani's Mike Hirokawa can do against Radford?

Well, buy a ticket because it is the only way to see either the Division I or II First Hawaiian Bank/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Football Championship games tonight at Aloha Stadium.

While University of Hawai'i football fans have for years now been presented options to being there in person — pay-per-view and delayed telecasts — the state football championships currently offer none of the above. And, it is very much by design.

While UH pushes the ticket-selling slogan of there's "nothin' like being there," the HHSAA means it when it comes to its big show. At a time when debate rages about how much the various options are contributing to the decline in UH's attendance, the HHSAA is trying to hold on to and build on the marquee event atmosphere of its championships.

Every year the HHSAA said it is presented with proposals to air its games in some fashion. And, except for the inaugural in 1999 when it was given what it termed a "substantial" but unspecified guarantee by Oceanic, it has eschewed live or pay-per-view telecasts. Not since 2001 has it even permitted two-day delayed telecast. This year executive director Keith Amemiya said there were proposals for video streaming and live TV that got looks but no approval.

Amemiya maintains he and the HHSAA aren't against TV in general — and would have looked at some form of it had a Neighbor Island team crashed the finals — but don't want the high schools' biggest event to suffer at the box office or in atmosphere.

"We feel that live TV has an impact on actual attendance and, because football is our No. 1 revenue generator, we can't afford to take a financial hit by allowing it to be shown live without some guarantees," Amemiya said. The $100,000 to $200,000 that the HHSAA annually nets on the championships, depending upon the matchups, account for 50 percent or more of HHSAA revenues and helps schools that share in it to underwrite transportation and equipment costs.

Part of the PPV attraction to UH is the belief that it can tap wallets of some people who can't or wouldn't go to the games. And, certainly the $812,310 UH received in rights fees for 2004 is considerable. But the HHSAA being more of a one-shot event is concerned about anything that might keep its potential fan base away from the stadium.

"The atmosphere, the feeling of this being a big event, is a very big point with us," Amemiya said. "Although making money is certainly important, we also feel that it is important to our student-athletes to play in front of as large a crowd as possible as well because this is an event they are going to remember for the rest of their lives."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.