If you are the University of Hawai'i, it is probably not a good sign when traffic on Kahuapaani Street, a road adjacent to Aloha Stadium that can be slow-flowing on football game day, is breezing along so fast there is a police officer with a radar gun on the side.

Nor is it promising when fans from Utah State, which is at the bottom of the Western Athletic Conference in attendance, see the early turnout at the stadium and say their team should feel comfortable.

While the Warriors' offense, defense and special teams returned in a highlight-reel, 50-23 victory Saturday night, the fans did not. The announced turnstile crowd, 22,456, was the smallest since the penultimate game of the 0-12 1998 season.

Nor was it a one-game blotch. Rather, it is part of what should be a disturbing trend that has seen the attendance drop each game since the opener, to the point where four of the five lowest Aloha Stadium turnouts in the seven seasons of the June Jones era have come this season.

This in a season in which — win or lose — the 4-6 Warriors have not lacked for excitement on either side of the ball and some promotional tickets have been discounted. With Wisconsin and San Diego State remaining, UH is averaging 28,970 through the turnstiles, down an average of 4,313 per game from the same point last year. No numbers have been made available for pay-per-view sales, which could make up some of the dropoff.

"Fans have their reasons," said John McNamara, UH associate athletic director. "The team has to play to the best of its ability and we have to keep doing what we can to incentive-ize the fans. But, again, it is what every college program in the country deals with when you're in a situation and the team is maybe not performing to what the fans feel it should; then they are going to react the way they're going to react."

Though UH says it has yet to gauge the financial impact, they can't be comforting numbers.

"It is really hard to say, but obviously the budget is contingent upon ticket sales throughout the entire year so obviously it is hard to calculate if there has been any impact at all," McNamara said.

The school expected to take something of a hit in sales this year with another increase in premium seating. And it has shown in season-ticket sales (20,449), which are said to be the lowest in a decade, and in overall attendance.

The concern, however, should be deeper. For football is the engine that pulls the multi-sport train that is UH athletics. Its revenues are what the athletic department is heavily counting upon to help turn a profit this fiscal year after at least three consecutive years of red ink. Next year the department is pledged to not only turn a profit, but pay off the $1 million loan it was granted by the Manoa chancellor's office.

The scary part is if the numbers have fallen off so far this season, when the home schedule was billed as one of UH's best, what happens next year when there is no USC, Fresno State or Boise State?

You figure some fans bit the bullet on premium charges this year because of the two-time defending national champion Trojans. But how many might be back next year for Purdue, Idaho and Louisiana Tech?

In a season where the promotional slogan has been, "nothin' like being there," clearly too many are finding somethin'. And that's grounds for concern beyond the current season.

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