LIHUE, Kauai (KHON2) — Football games during the evening will once again take place in Kauai after over a decade.
The County of Kauai announced that nighttime high school football games will resume this year during the Seabird Fledgling Season from Sept. 15 to Dec. 15.
This is due to new safeguards that are now in place from county and state officials, community partners and environmental agencies.
“This agreement shows that we can support our interscholastic athletes while protecting our natural heritage at the same time,” said Mayor Kawakami. “Mahalo to all our federal, state, county, and community partners. Special thanks go to Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Executive Director Jason Yoshida and Kaua‘i Complex Superintendent Leila Maeda-Kobayashi, whose collaboration and dedication helped ensure that our keiki athletes can continue to compete under the lights while critical protections remain in place for endangered and threatened seabird species.”
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Each weekend of high school football is evaluated through a tiered system of low, medium and high risk for bird fallout.
Under the County’s plan, night games are now allowed for all low and medium risk nights. No games will be allowed to be played during high risk.
For the 2025 season, a total of 10 games will be played at night, and three during the day.
All of the football games will have trained seabird monitors present during the fallout period.
The nocturnal birds use the moon and stars to guide their flight, but artificial light can disorient them and cause them to crash to the ground.
Officials urge people to help protect these birds during this time by eliminating artificial lighting outdoors at night if possible.