WASHINGTON - at the price of a 1 1 million fine, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will keep its place in the Bowl Championship series.
The BCS presidential Oversight Committee imposed the sentence on Wednesday following a scandal in the game of Arizona which included contributions from apparently illegal campaign staff and luxurious spending by the former Director General, on the parties and a night in a strip bar.
Under the decision, the Fiesta Bowl can remain part of the system to determine the national champion football University, even if in addition to the fine, he must also meet certain requirements BCS as the strengthening of the Commission of the Fiesta Bowl and imposing a greater surveillance on Bowl frameworks.
"The message is that they had cleaned house and addressed their problems, but our group does not believe that they went far enough," Bill Hancock, Executive Director of the BCS, said in a telephone interview. He added that the fine $ 1 million was intended to reflect the "serious nature of the case."
The BCS seeks money to be donated to charities in the service of young people in Arizona.
In a statement, Fiesta Bowl President Duane Woods said: "the Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors understands and accepts the sanctions imposed by the BCS. We believe that these difficult but fair measures are consistent with our commitment to reform the governance of the Fiesta Bowl and regain confidence. The fine is considerable, but we are pleased that the BCS realized that the funds benefit youth in Arizona. ?
The bowl should not have much difficulty in coming up with the money. In a filing with the IRS this year, the Fiesta Bowl listed more than 15 million in net assets.
A recent internal report detailed about the Fiesta Bowl $45,000 in reimbursements to employees for political contributions, an apparent violation of federal and state laws. It also revealed inappropriate expenses, such as the $33,000 for an evening of anniversary of Pebble Beach, California, for then-CEO and President John Junker; $13,000 for the wedding and the honeymoon period of the aid; and a tab strip club $1,200 for Junker and the other two. JUNKER was fired.
SIRC Wednesday accepted the recommendations in a report by a BCS working group, which said it was "deeply troubled" by actions of the Fiesta Bowl. These actions, the Working Group stated, suggest strongly "than executive staff of Bowl often acted." look of ethics and conduct In addition, it is the opinion of the working group that the Council of the bowl of Directors over the years has been negligent in its oversight responsibilities. ?
The Working Group and the Monitoring Committee shall be chaired by the President of Penn State Graham Spanier.
The Fiesta Bowl, played at the University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona, is one of the four bowls rotate hosting the game of national title BCS, the Orange, sugar and Rose bowls.
Even with the decision on Wednesday, the Fiesta Bowl is not entirely clear yet. An NCAA panel will decide whether to continue the bowl of licence. That the Committee had recently delayed the decision, saying that he wanted to gather more information and to review the findings of the BCS working group. The NCAA also said it will re-examine its role in the bowls more generally license and put a hold of three years on any new games playoffs due to problems of the Fiesta Bowl.
Spokesman Bob Williams's NCAA called the actions of BCS on the Fiesta Bowl "serious and constructive", adding that the NCAA Panel will meet the week next to consider the licensing of the Fiesta Bowl and Insight Bowla minor playoffs game run by the same organization.
Matthew Sanderson, founder of the playoffs SAA, advocating the passage to a playoff system to determine a champion of football national college, noted that Junker $et, in addition to the execution of extravagant spending.
"They fired John Junker and paid a million dollars of fine - I would say that the Fiesta Bowl was probably left before", he said. "I would say that it is a gesture of lucrative for the Fiesta Bowl."
Sanderson has accused officials BCS of a "rush to judgment." It was an effort to get a very bad title of the road as soon as possible, during the shoulder season. They should have taken a harder look at it. ?
In a tax complaint filed last year, playoffs CAP has alleged that the Fiesta, Orange and sugar bowls violated their tax-exempt status tax by inappropriate spending and other activities. Sanderson, stated that the BCS undermined his credibility by looking at does not the other bowls.
The struggles in the Fiesta Bowl were being closely monitored by the bowl of cotton, which is widely regarded as next in line to move the BCS and moved from its obsolete old house in the stadium of 1.3 billion outside Dallas Cowboys. In a statement, Cotton Bowl President Rick Baker said that his Bowl respects the decision on Wednesday.
The internal report on the Fiesta Bowl was conducted by an outside law firm, but Hancock has rejected the idea that the other bowls that make up the BCS should be subject to the same scrutiny.
"There is no indication of any similar irregularities in other bowls", he told reporters in a conference call. "It is unfair to paint of innocent people in the same basket". The BCS plans to come up with standards of "good governance", will require that its bowls to respond.
The BCS working group stated that the Fiesta Bowl has taken several steps in the right direction, since the internal report came out, like change the process for reimbursement of expenses for senior executives and to establish criteria to serve on the Board.
Among other things, the BCS said that the Fiesta Bowl to remove members of the jury who were found to have engaged in conduct inappropriate; include at least two members of the "collegiate community" of the Council, the members of the faculty or sports administration; conduct an annual internal audit and share the results with the Executive Director of BCS; replace its audit firm (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) or provide a new partner of monitoring; and consult the BCS on the hiring of a new Executive Director.
"We believe that the reforms they have put in place and those which we are instituting all will put on the right track", said Hancock. But he noted that the Bowl still has a long way to go.
"They have to regain the trust of the community", he said.
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