The Fiesta Bowl will pay a $1 million fine and remain a part of the Bowl Championship Series.
The BCS released a statement on Wednesday confirming that the presidents and commissioners who oversee the BCS "unanimously approved a special task force recommendation to enact a series of sanctions designed to create stronger oversight and better management of the Fiesta Bowl." The task force was convinced that the Fiesta Bowl is being proactive in their response to the actions taken by former CEO and president John Junker, including illegal reimbursements and inappropriate spending. The Fiesta Bowl was in danger of being removed from the BCS, although that seemed like a long shot from the beginning.
"The message is they had cleaned house and addressed their problems, but our group doesn't believe they went far enough," Bill Hancock, executive director of the BCS, said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. Hancock added that the $1 million fine was meant to reflect the "serious nature of the matter." The fine money will be donated to an Arizona youth charity.
With the Fiesta Bowl remaining a part of the BCS equation and being fined $1 million, criticism to the handling of the situation has been prevalent.
Playoff PAC founder Matthew Sanderson responded to the Fiesta Bowl fine with skepticism to how the BCS responded.
"This BCS Task Force has never actually been about addressing misconduct," Sanderson said via the Playoff PAC website. " It's about hastily sweeping a horrible headline under the rug during the off-season. How can the BCS reach a final conclusion when the Arizona Attorney General is still in the middle of his investigation? How can the BCS 'punish' the Fiesta Bowl and willfully ignore documented irregularities at other BCS Bowls? This whole process has been flawed, and that will be apparent whenever the next new facts about the BCS's Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl are revealed."
Playoff PAC notes that the Fiesta Bowl's assets last year totaled $23.1 million.
"They fired John Junker and paid a million-dollar fine — I'd say the Fiesta Bowl probably came out ahead," Sanderson said in an Associated Press report. "I'd say it was a profit-making move for the Fiesta Bowl."
Hancock believes the actions are appropriate. "We think that the reforms that they have instituted and the ones we have instituted together will set them on the right path," Hancock said. But he knows the Fiesta Bowl has work to do. "They have to regain the trust of the community," he said.
National columnist for Associated Press Tim Dahlberg writes that the BCS put on a show with being outraged over the discovery of improper actions by Junker on behalf of the Fiesta Bowl.
"As hand slapping goes, this was a million-dollar waste of time," Dahlberg said. "That's not surprising when you consider how much money there is to be made on the backs of athletes whose only reward is a week in the desert and maybe a Sony PlayStation or a leather recliner for the dorm room. The television contract with ESPN alone pays an average of some $31 million a year to each BCS bowl, and alumni spend many millions more for seats to the games."
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