The California Golden Bears and Hawaii Rainbow Warriors will play in the 2025 Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl, it was officially announced Thursday.
News of the California-Hawai’i matchup in the Hawai’i Bowl was first reported by Brett McMurphy of On3 earlier on Thursday morning.
The Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl will be played on its traditional Christmas Eve spot for the second consecutive season. California and Hawaii will square off on Wednesday, December 24, 2025 at the Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex in Honolulu, Hawai’i. The game, the 22nd edition of the bowl, will kickoff at 8:00pm ET (3:00pm local time) and it will be televised nationally by ESPN.
“We are honored to welcome both of our 2025 SHERATON HAWAI‘I BOWL teams to Honolulu, where elite college football takes center stage alongside world-class hospitality,” said Daryl Garvin, Executive Director of the SHERATON HAWAI‘I BOWL. “Our bowl week showcases the aloha spirit that makes competing in Hawai‘i a truly memorable postseason experience.”
California and Hawaii first met on the gridiron in 1935 and have played five times overall. In their most recent matchup on Aug. 26, 2016, the Golden Bears defeated the Rainbow Warriors, 51-31, in Sydney, Australia. Cal currently leads the overall series, 3-2.
“We are excited to accept an invitation from the SHERATON HAWAI‘I BOWL and continue our season in Honolulu,” Cal football general manager Ron Rivera said. “This is a reward for the hard work our student-athletes put in during the season, and we are looking forward to competing against an excellent Hawai‘i team in front of a nationally televised audience.”
California, which has never played in the Hawai’i Bowl, will be making its 27th bowl game appearance and the Golden Bears have an overall bowl game record of 12-13-1.
The Golden Bears head into the Hawai’i Bowl after closing their regular-season with a 38-35 victory at home over No. 21 SMU. Cal finished the 2025 regular-season 7-5 overall and 4-4 in ACC play.
Hawai’i will enter the Hawai’i Bowl with an 8-4 overall record (5-3 Mountain West) after winning its regular-season finale at home against Wyoming, 27-7.
“There’s nothing more fitting than Hawai‘i in the SHERATON HAWAI‘I BOWL,” said Hawai’i head football coach Timmy Chang said. “I’ve been fortunate to play in the game during my playing career and it truly is one of the best bowl games in the country. It’s the only game on Christmas Eve and everyone is watching which will showcase not only our program but our university and the state of Hawai‘i. I can’t wait for our players to experience the game and the bowl week activities and what better opponent than the Cal Bears.”
The Rainbow Warriors will be making their record 10th overall appearance in the Hawai’i Bowl. Hawai’i last played in the Hawai’i Bowl in 2019 when it defeated BYU, 38-34.
The Hawai’i Bowl is the second of two bowl matchups officially set this season, the other being the Xbox Bowl in Frisco, Texas, which is a replacement for the Bahamas Bowl.
The 12-team College Football Playoff field and complete College Football Bowl Schedule will be finalized on Sunday, Dec. 7, beginning at noon ET on ESPN.
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I’m kind of surprised that through the years California & Hawaii have only met 5 times previously. Cal is one of the closer schools to Hawaii. Maybe C&H pure cane sugar can be one of the bowl co-sponsors.
This matchup seemed almost inevitable after Coach Rolo was made interim for Cal. Will be quite the reunion and should be a competitive game.
I like this game
I won’t watch
But I like it