Fiesta Bowl in deep doo doo....

[phislammajamma]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/sports/ncaafootball/30fiesta.html?hp

March 29, 2011
Fiesta Bowl Spending and Donations Questioned
By KATIE THOMAS
Top executives at the Fiesta Bowl, the host of one of the nation’s pre-eminent college football games, funneled campaign contributions to local politicians, flew other Arizona elected officials around the country at the bowl’s expense, racked up a $1,000 bill at a strip club, and even spent $30,000 on a birthday party for the chief executive, according to an investigative report commissioned by the bowl’s board of directors.

The most serious revelations involve nearly a dozen employees who told investigators that the chief executive and others working for the bowl encouraged them to make political contributions, then reimbursed them with phony bonus payments. Some said they then were pressured to lie about the practice.

The investigators do not make conclusions about whether bowl executives or others broke the law, but at least one expert in nonprofit organizations said the findings could lead to criminal charges. At minimum, the investigation is likely to threaten the tax-exempt status of the bowl, which, like most other prominent organizations in college sports, is formally registered as a charity.

Some aspects of the campaign contribution scheme were reported by The Arizona Republic in 2009, prompting an initial inquiry by the board of directors as well as an investigation by Arizona’s state attorney general. The attorney general’s investigation remains open.

John Junker, chief executive of the Fiesta Bowl, refused to speak with the most recent set of investigators about the campaign reimbursements, and was placed on administrative leave in February. The Fiesta Bowl announced his firing Tuesday in a press release, and said it would implement a series of reforms aimed at improving oversight and transparency.

The report’s findings are expected to be released this week. A copy of the report was obtained by The New York Times, and many of the people cited in it either would not comment or did not return messages seeking comment.

The findings are all but certain to further arm critics of college football’s bowl system, which many argue has become overly commercialized, and thus more vulnerable to corruption.

The Fiesta Bowl, the newest of the four B.C.S. bowls, was founded in 1971 and has played host to national championship games. It took in millions in revenues in 2009, most of it earned through ticket sales and corporate sponsorships, according to federal tax records.

The Fiesta Bowl executives did not limit their political activity to campaign contributions, according to the report. The Fiesta Bowl sometimes paid to cater political fund-raisers, including one in 2007 for Representative Jim Weiers, who was then the speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, and one at the Fiesta Bowl Museum in 2009 for Jim Lane, the mayor of Scottsdale. Junker apparently knew that hosting such events was forbidden because he warned his assistant against sending out invitations using a Fiesta Bowl e-mail address, the report said.

The report highlighted several trips to Chicago, Boston and elsewhere that the Fiesta Bowl hosted for several Arizona politicians and their families. Anthony Aguilar, the Fiesta Bowl’s director of community and corporate relations, told investigators that the trips were meant to be educational and to show legislators the importance of college football and the Fiesta Bowl to the Arizona economy.

One of the beneficiaries of the trips was Russell Pearce, the State Senate president, a Republican who has gained a national profile over the past year for writing Arizona’s controversial immigration law. Pearce and his wife traveled to Chicago in 2005 to attend a Northwestern-Michigan game and stayed at the Ritz-Carlton. He and his wife also traveled to Boston on a similar trip with his son in 2008, according to the report.

Pearce did not return calls for comment.

Angela Holt, one of the bowl’s financial officers, told investigators she found no documentation to show the politicians reimbursed the bowl for the cost of the trips.

The report does not say what exactly the bowl might have been seeking with its favors to the elected officials, beyond good will among people of local prominence.

Junker and other top executives often used bowl money to spend lavishly, investigators found. In 2008, the Fiesta Bowl paid the $1,200 bill at a Phoenix strip club attended by Junker; Shawn Schoeffler, the former vice president for media relations; and Aaron Brown, a Maricopa County sheriff’s lieutenant who owns a company that provides security to the Fiesta Bowl.

According to the report, Junker explained to investigators: “We are in the business where big strong athletes are known to attend these types of establishments. It was important for us to visit, and we certainly conducted business.”

Schoeffler was reimbursed for six other visits to the same strip club, even though the Fiesta Bowl employee manual prohibits reimbursements for strip club entertainment.

Some of the expenses appeared to be personal in nature. Last year, Junker’s daughter, Lucy, was seeking admission to the honors program at the University of Texas. The Fiesta Bowl paid $75 to send flowers to the head of the honors admissions program. Lucy Junker was accepted into the program, according to the report.

It also appears to have paid $13,000 in connection with the wedding of Junker’s assistant, Kelly Keogh, covering her airfare and hotel on her honeymoon to British Columbia. It also paid to fly Junker, his wife, son and at least six Fiesta Bowl employees to her wedding in Kansas City, Mo.

One of the most extreme examples was a 50th birthday celebration given by the Fiesta Bowl for Junker in Pebble Beach, Calif., in 2005. Investigators found the bowl spent more than $33,000 on the party, including airfare for Junker and other top executives, car rentals, meals and lodging. A lawyer for Junker said investigators never asked his client about the party or the flowers. Junker said others gave him the party and he believed the board of directors had approved the expense. As for the flowers, he said the bowl’s reimbursement must have been a mix-up.

The board of directors initiated the investigation last fall and charged it with investigating allegations of wrongdoing nearly a year after the initial Arizona Republic articles.

The bowl followed up the newspaper’s articles with a brief investigation that concluded there was no credible evidence that the allegations were true. But the board of directors then ordered a new investigation, and hired Christopher W. Madel, a lawyer with Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi in Minneapolis, to oversee it.

The report to be issued this week uncovered many new details about the campaign contribution practice. Most of the contributions were to Arizona state lawmakers and local city councilmen, although Junker and his wife, Susan, were reimbursed for two contributions totaling $4,200 to Senator John McCain of Arizona in 2007, investigators found.

The report outlined several ways in which executives at the bowl attempted to disguise the reimbursements. Natalie Wisneski, the Fiesta Bowl’s chief operating officer, told investigators that Junker would instruct her to also give bonuses to employees who had not donated. For those who had made contributions, Junker asked her to give them a false explanation for why they were receiving a bonus, “but I couldn’t face it,” she said in an interview excerpted in the report. “I had a hard time doing it.”

Several of the employees who admitted to being repaid said they did not know the practice could be illegal until they read the Arizona Republic article. Peggy Eyanson, the director of business operations, told investigators that when she learned that employees could face prison time, she felt “scared, upset and sick to my stomach.”

Investigators also raised questions about an initial inquiry that was conducted by the Fiesta Bowl in December 2009. The board hired Grant Woods, a former Arizona attorney general, to conduct the investigation, but asked that it be completed quickly, before the Fiesta Bowl took place in January. Woods hired as his assistant Gary Husk, a lobbyist who had been working for the bowl and who, investigators now say, had played a key role in collecting political contributions from employees.

Six Fiesta Bowl employees later told investigators that Husk approached them before they were to be interviewed by investigators and discussed the issue of campaign contributions with them. Wisneski, for example, told investigators that Husk invited her to his house and coached her on how to answer the questions that Woods would ask.

Husk denied discussing the repayment issue with the employees and also said he never steered employees away from Woods, according to the report. In a telephone interview, Husk’s lawyer, A. Bates Butler, repeated the denials and said his client “was not aware of any reimbursements.”

Woods has since said he believes he was misled during his initial investigation.

In a statement, he said: “The Fiesta Bowl Committee’s investigation this time was comprehensive and I fully expect that they will fire anyone who has lied to or misled them or me. I will continue to work with them under our attorney-client relationship and am confident that they will quickly restore order and move on to even more success in the future.”

[cccasooner2]

I see no wrongs. :rolleyes:

[madillsoonerfan5353]

Maybe the BCS will drop them and pick up the Cotton Bowl?

:gary:

[ocsooner]

Maybe the BCS will drop them and pick up the Cotton Bowl?

:gary:

Yea, cause with Jerry in there, you know it's clean...

[JLEW1818]

Cotton Bowl would be way better than Fiesta.... Fiesta blows

[KantoSooner]

They should have ditched being a non-profit and become a labor union instead. None of this would have raised any issue whatsoever.

[Mad Dog Madsen]

Yea, cause with Jerry in there, you know it's clean...

LMAO! ^^^THIS. :D

[sperry]

Cotton Bowl would be way better than Fiesta.... Fiesta blows



Especially considering that OU or UT will be playing in the game every year that they aren't in the BCS title game they really ought to consider it. OU fans aren't going to go to the Fiesta Bowl unless there is a really premiere matchup. Glendale is horrible, especially when compared to LA, NOLA, and Miami. Not that Dallas is any better, but at least it's close and would make a cheap trip.

[jumperstop]

Especially considering that OU or UT will be playing in the game every year that they aren't in the BCS title game they really ought to consider it. OU fans aren't going to go to the Fiesta Bowl unless there is a really premiere matchup. Glendale is horrible, especially when compared to LA, NOLA, and Miami. Not that Dallas is any better, but at least it's close and would make a cheap trip.

That's what I hate. How did we get stuck with the worst BCS tie-in of any conference? Why can't we play in a cool place or our backyard like every other major conference? We get suck in gay *** phoenix....

[sperry]

That's what I hate. How did we get stuck with the worst BCS tie-in of any conference? Why can't we play in a cool place or our backyard like every other major conference? We get suck in gay *** phoenix....



I agree. I would travel to any of the other 3 BCS destinations to see OU play in a non-national championship bowl, but not Glendale. Better to watch it from the friendly confines of my living room.

[The Maestro]

I like this excerpt from azcentral.com today...


Strip club

The report also describes expense reimbursements for staffers even in cases where there was little plausible explanation for their legitimacy.

On Sept. 12, 2008, for example, Junker, former bowl executive Shawn Schoeffler and Lt. Aaron Brown of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spent more than $1,200 of Fiesta Bowl money at Phoenix's Bourbon Street. The report indicates the money was spent on dances by strippers, food and drinks at the self-proclaimed "World Famous Strip Club."

The $1,241 charge on Junker's credit card included a hand-written note of explanation: "security site planning."

Asked about that expense, Junker told investigators he visited the strip joint with Brown, whose private company provided security for the bowl, and Schoeffler to check out a venue that might appeal to college football players.

"We are in the business where big strong athletes are known to attend these types of establishments," he noted. "It was important for us to visit and we certainly conducted business."


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/03/29/20110329fiesta-bowl-report-lavish-spending-activities.html#ixzz1I1PLqesV

[SoonerinSouthlake]

Sorry...but......Id bet my left one that this happens in EVERY bowl organization....hence the comments people make that "a playoff will never happen because the people making money wont let it happen" This is one of many, I suspect, of the situations where powerful people make sure they maintain the way they have power..

That being said...this investigation gained legs, in my opinion, because of a couple of main points:


One of the beneficiaries of the trips was Russell Pearce, the State Senate president, a Republican who has gained a national profile over the past year for writing Arizona’s controversial immigration law

Susan, were reimbursed for two contributions totaling $4,200 to Senator John McCain of Arizona in 2007, investigators found.


NOT saying the actions weren't wrong. They were! http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/452/otter2.jpg

JUst that this "shakedown" is politically motivated

and.....I do hope the move the BCS game to the Cotton just so I have easy access to watch the Sooners play regularly in January

[cjames317]

Does the conference have a contract with the Fiesta Bowl? Sure would like to see the Big 12 champ in the Cotton Bowl when its not playing for the national championship.

[the-rover]

Does the conference have a contract with the Fiesta Bowl? Sure would like to see the Big 12 champ in the Cotton Bowl when its not playing for the national championship.

It would be nice to have a chance to play a near home game for the BCS championship instead of playing an opponent in their home stadium.

[badger]

If the bowls don't start funneling more money back to the colleges and less on themselves, they are going to lose their non-profit status. They force schools to pony up tons of dough for ticket allotments to the point that most bowl trips cost more than they make, then reap tons of benefits themselves? Either get the money where it belongs - the schools - or you're just speeding up the drive for a playoff instead of bowls

[Leroy Lizard]

They should have ditched being a non-profit and become a labor union instead. None of this would have raised any issue whatsoever.

Players could have doubled as goon squad thugs.

[Leroy Lizard]

That's what I hate. How did we get stuck with the worst BCS tie-in of any conference? Why can't we play in a cool place or our backyard like every other major conference? We get suck in gay *** phoenix....

Hey!!

[Leroy Lizard]

Sorry...but......Id bet my left one that this happens in EVERY bowl organization....hence the comments people make that "a playoff will never happen because the people making money wont let it happen" This is one of many, I suspect, of the situations where powerful people make sure they maintain the way they have power.

Except they don't really have that much power. They're not members of the NCAA. Sure they did some lobbying, but nothing that would have made a difference to an NCAA member, unless you think the mayor of Scottsdale has enormous pull in college athletics.

The bowl committee may be corrupt, but that has nothing to do with the playoff argument. It's just a bunch of executives playing with other people's money. The should be ashamed of themselves and they should face penalties if all this is true (and it doesn't look good for them).


One of the beneficiaries of the trips was Russell Pearce, the State Senate president, a Republican who has gained a national profile over the past year for writing Arizona’s controversial immigration law

In a controversy over illegal immigration and state politics, this would mean something. But playoffs? Not that I can see.

[OU_Sooners75]

wasnt this discussed before?

[Leroy Lizard]

Yep. My thoughts as well.

[bigfatjerk]

Fiesta Bowl was always an irrelevant bowl till the BCS era. I'm shocked it's still a BCS Bowl after almost 15 years.

[OU-HSV]

I just read this on espn..

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6270459

[silverwheels]

Good. **** the Fiesta Bowl.

[The Maestro]

Sorry, folks, but coming to Phoenix around New Year's and the first week of January is a helluva lot better than going to Dallas at the same time. Dallas is seriously cold. Sure, Phoenix was in a cold spell this year at that time, but nothing like Dallas normally is that time of year. Notice the major BCS bowls are set up in warm weather spots.

Honestly, I'd have no problem with the BCS title game switching back and forth from the Rose Bowl to the Orange Bowl and leaving out NoLa, AZ and Dallas if they are in the mix now with the Fiesta Bowl disaster. L.A. and Miami are much better spots than the other three.

[Leroy Lizard]

How can anyone prefer Dallas to Phoenix in the winter?

[SoonerLB]

How can anyone defend an archaic good ol' boy bowl system that does little towards the goal of determining a true National Champion?

[soonervegas]

Hmmm.....the Big 12 champ going to Dallas as opposed to Phoenix to play in a BCS bowl or possibly even a national title?

Is there even two sides to this discussion?

[FtwTxSooner]

I put getting a home field advantage for once in a championship game, well above any sort of warm weather comfort, golf outings, and an ideal vacation spot that another location may have to offer.

Otherwise, I don't want to hear any &#*@#ing and moaning if we have to play LSU in the Sugar Bowl again.

[Dio]

That's what I hate. How did we get stuck with the worst BCS tie-in of any conference? Why can't we play in a cool place or our backyard like every other major conference? We get suck in gay *** phoenix....

Here's how:

Former University of Oklahoma athletic director Donnie Duncan has been earning $4,000 a month from the Fiesta Bowl as a consultant for the past four years, according to the special report released Tuesday.

Duncan has been receiving the money since Nov. 15, 2006. The Fiesta Bowl also paid for travel and per diem costs for Duncan and complimentary hotel rooms to his family in the Phoenix area.

The Fiesta Bowl also contributed $16,000 to a college savings account for Duncan's two granddaughters.

Duncan told investigators the travel reimbursements were “coach class travel and generally cost conscious.”

The money for his grandchildren was intended as a bonus “for the work that I had done assisting with the BCS and I believe the Insight Bowl,” Duncan told investigators.

“In general, it was — ‘we're pleased with your work but we're honoring you by doing something on behalf of you for your grandchildren' and that is when it came about.”

Investigators said they found no evidence that Duncan asked for the bonus.

The payments to Duncan were detailed in a section of the report which questioned the “significant amount of money” paid by the Fiesta Bowl to various consultants and independent contractors.

Read more: http://newsok.com/donnie-duncan-has-received-4000-a-month-as-a-fiesta-bowl-consultant/article/3553676#ixzz1I6iVnz34

[Dio]

How can anyone prefer Dallas to Phoenix in the winter?

2 hour drive > 20 hour drive

[badger]

2 hour drive > 20 hour drive

And it's indoor now. Back 2001 (2002, I guess technically) that Arky game was really cold. The Cotton Bowl might be a better destination for northern conferences

[pphilfran]

When the current contract is up Jerry's World will be a 5th BCS game...if the Fiesta gets dumped then JW will take over immediately and become the 4th BCS destination...

[Leroy Lizard]

How can anyone defend an archaic good ol' boy bowl system that does little towards the goal of determining a true National Champion?

Go into the playoff thread and I'll show you how.

[Leroy Lizard]

I put getting a home field advantage for once in a championship game, well above any sort of warm weather comfort, golf outings, and an ideal vacation spot that another location may have to offer.

Otherwise, I don't want to hear any &#*@#ing and moaning if we have to play LSU in the Sugar Bowl again.

I would understand that argument more if you thought we were going to play ASU for the national title.

[Leroy Lizard]

2 hour drive > 20 hour drive

Bowl games are supposed to be vacations, not drives around the block.

[FtwTxSooner]

I would understand that argument more if you thought we were going to play ASU for the national title.

I'd understand your argument if LSU, Florida, USC, or any other school had no opportunity playing in front of a home crowd for a championship. Willingly conceding an opportunity for a home field advantage by trading it for even a neutral site is just plain stupid.

[Soonerfan88]

I'll take Fiesta over Cotton. I'm not as much for Phoenix/Fiesta Bowl as much as I am against Dallas/Jerryworld. I like the RRS weekend but that is enough Dallas travel for me and I certainly am not a fan of that thing called Jerryworld. It's not even in my top 10 stadium experiences and the only good reviews I've seen on it were from folks in suites.

I enjoy spending New Year in the Pheonix area and don't have any major complaints about the Fiesta experience except ticket prices, which is a problem everywhere.

[badger]

The Fiesta Bowl is gonna sink over this. The only reason they could sell tix was because of their BCS tie-in (and someone on here posted that others bought tix this year just so they could buy AU-UO championship tix to resell)

[yermom]

Phoenix isn't that great. it's not 800 mile difference great.

i hate Arlington and Jerry World, but playing our home BCS game in the Dallas area would make up for it. being an indoor game makes the difference. that Arkansas game was rough.

[Leroy Lizard]

Phoenix isn't that great. it's not 800 mile difference great.

i hate Arlington and Jerry World, but playing our home BCS game in the Dallas area would make up for it. being an indoor game makes the difference. that Arkansas game was rough.

In the winter it's much better.

Bowl games are supposed to be hosted in vacation spots as a reward for the players. It's an opportunity for them to go to a neat place and partake in fun activities.

But the fans only think of themselves.

[KantoSooner]

Then the championship game should be played every year in Honolulu. Really a fun stadium and you know what the weather will be. 88 and partly cloudy. Light breeze.

[yermom]

In the winter it's much better.

Bowl games are supposed to be hosted in vacation spots as a reward for the players. It's an opportunity for them to go to a neat place and partake in fun activities.

But the fans only think of themselves.

talk to me when there isn't a bowl game in Yankee Stadium ;)

i'd bet a lot of Big 12 players and families would prefer Dallas to Phoenix.

[Leroy Lizard]

Then the championship game should be played every year in Honolulu. Really a fun stadium and you know what the weather will be. 88 and partly cloudy. Light breeze.

Actually, the game could be blistering hot.

But Hawaii would be okay with me. But I'm not sure the schools could afford it.

[SoonerPride]

Actually, the game could be blistering hot.

But Hawaii would be okay with me. But I'm not sure the schools could afford it.

UCONN couldn't afford Phoenix. :eek:

[Leroy Lizard]

talk to me when there isn't a bowl game in Yankee Stadium ;)

i'd bet a lot of Big 12 players and families would prefer Dallas to Phoenix.

Probably not many. Given the opportunity to go to someplace they've never been before, players would probably prefer the more exotic location. But who can say for sure?

If all the players voted for Dallas, I would have no problem with playing the game there.

[badger]

Guess what's on the front of ESPN's college football page?
http://i55.tinypic.com/rwox01.png

nyuck nyuck nyuck. it's about that time during offseason when people complain about the band, right? :rolleyes:

[yermom]

Probably not many. Given the opportunity to go to someplace they've never been before, players would probably prefer the more exotic location. But who can say for sure?

If all the players voted for Dallas, I would have no problem with playing the game there.

don't get me wrong, i like the exotic locations, but i'd rather be in any of the other BCS locations than Phoenix, especially after being there 3 times in 5 years

if i'm going to be there with some frequency, close is nice.

if it's just for winning the Big 12, keep it close. if it's the national championship, exotic is cool. of course, being at home, basically, would be nice too.

[sooner_born_1960]

I just read that the BCS is going to look into kicking the Fiesta Bowl out.
They better do a similar audit on the other bowls before they do that. They might just find that the behavior is pretty common.

[LASooner]

Then the championship game should be played every year in Honolulu. Really a fun stadium and you know what the weather will be. 88 and partly cloudy. Light breeze.


+1

I'd go every year no matter who was playing.

[Leroy Lizard]

I just read that the BCS is going to look into kicking the Fiesta Bowl out.
They better do a similar audit on the other bowls before they do that. They might just find that the behavior is pretty common.

It looks like a few individuals associated with the Fiesta Bowl got out of control. I wouldn't assume this is a widespread problem. An audit of all bowls would probably be a good thing, though.

[ELP Sooner]

www.azcentral.com

loads of articles there...and it looks bad for the Fiesta.

[StoopTroup]

But I'm not sure the schools could afford it.

Well....maybe if they'd cut back on Tickets for Family and Miscellaneous expenses they could pull it off. :rolleyes:

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/08/bcs-national-championship-game-could-mean-big-s/



FLORIDA'S SPENDING

The University of Florida expects to spend $2.42 million on the BCS National Championship. Here's a look at where that money is going:

Salary supplements: $960,000 ($606,000 for the coaches — Urban Meyer collects $125,000 for getting to the game, plus another $100,000 if the Gators win, and assistants receive 25 percent of their salaries — and $354,000 for support staff such as trainers)

Transportation: $224,000 in transportation ($138,000 for charter flight from Gainesville to Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 2 and the return trip on Jan. 9)

Lodging: $247,000 ($103 a night per room at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood)

Meals, per diems and incidentals: $190,000

Band/cheerleaders expenses: $167,000

Tickets distributed to players and staff: $320,000

Miscellaneous expenses: $197,000 (including $10,000 for valet parking and another $10,000 for the players' hospitality room)

BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Who: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 2 Florida

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Where: Dolphin Stadium, Miami

Tickets: Sold out. Tickets from online brokers start around $460.

Television: FOX

[Leroy Lizard]

Well....maybe if they'd cut back on Tickets for Family and Miscellaneous expenses they could pull it off. :rolleyes:

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jan/08/bcs-national-championship-game-could-mean-big-s/

But I thought it was the greedy bowls' faults that schools lost money on these trips. :rolleyes:

[King Barry's Back]

Yeah, Dallas makes all kinds of sense for the Big XII.

When an old South Div team is in -- minimal travel costs, "home crowd," and it's going to be easy for any of them to sell out their tickets. Except for maybe Baylor. The one downside is all those teams play plenty of games, and their fans spend plenty of time, in/around Texas. This is probably offset by the disappointing PHX destination.

When/If a northern team makes it, which will be rare, Dallas is still about the most geographically suitable venue for them. And besides, for their fans, Dallas would probably be excitin' big city action. So they'll be thrilled to go.

Other than we already play in Dallas every year (I am still tired of Dallas and I haven't been to a football game in that city since the 2000 RRS), the Cotton Bowl's biggest problem has been kind of an out-of-date 1970s-era thinking on the part of their powers-that-be, with their nostalgic obsession with the old SWC.

Their executive suite seems to have jumped to the modern-era lately -- maybe pushed by Jerry Jones. But this change in thinking is similar to what happened at the exceedinly hide-bound Pac-10 Conference after they hired a new director.

I think the Cotton Bowl will put up an exciting product. I hope this works out for us.

[OU_Sooners75]

Sorry, folks, but coming to Phoenix around New Year's and the first week of January is a helluva lot better than going to Dallas at the same time. Dallas is seriously cold. Sure, Phoenix was in a cold spell this year at that time, but nothing like Dallas normally is that time of year. Notice the major BCS bowls are set up in warm weather spots.

Honestly, I'd have no problem with the BCS title game switching back and forth from the Rose Bowl to the Orange Bowl and leaving out NoLa, AZ and Dallas if they are in the mix now with the Fiesta Bowl disaster. L.A. and Miami are much better spots than the other three.

Ever been to Dallas in January?

It can get cold...but I lived in Phoenix as a kid until I was about 14. I can tell you right now, it can get cold there too!

Besides that...ever been to a Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City? Want to talk about ****ing COLD!!!!!

[Jacie]

But I thought it was the greedy bowls' faults that schools lost money on these trips. :rolleyes:

Too bad your sarcasm blinds you to how bad a deal the BCS has been for college football (but a great deal if you happened to be a bowl official). The amount of money on the income side for the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls is way out of proportion for what they pay the schools (what becomes of the rest, at least in one case, is now under investigation). The Fiesta Bowl scandal is just the tip of the iceberg. The BCS is nothing more than a scam by a few old men who have lined their pockets with the money you think the colleges have been getting this whole time. But no point in telling you any of this since you know everything . . .

[sperry]

In the winter it's much better.

Bowl games are supposed to be hosted in vacation spots as a reward for the players. It's an opportunity for them to go to a neat place and partake in fun activities.

But the fans only think of themselves.



Wonderful, but that's not relevant to a debate of the merits of Arlington vs. Glendale, because neither one is a vacation destination.

[The Maestro]

Ever been to Dallas in January?

It can get cold...but I lived in Phoenix as a kid until I was about 14. I can tell you right now, it can get cold there too!

Besides that...ever been to a Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City? Want to talk about ****ing COLD!!!!!

I was in Dallas last January. It sucked. Happen to see any Super Bowl coverage of the great weather in early February this year?

I haven't left the Phoenix metro for about 9 months now...and I haven't put on a coat yet.

Regardless, not up to decide...but can't believe someone would rather go to New Orleans than Phoenix.

As far as the corruption of the Fiesta Bowl, let's not get too high and mighty yet. I guarantee you the Orange, Rose and Sugar have some of the same things going on. Junker was running the Fiesta for years...think he didn't learn anything from his bowl brethren? I just hope this spreads through all the bowls and it destroys them, leading the NCAA to jump in, tell the BCS they have lost control and a playoff is imminent. Who knows...Junker could end up being the hero in all this for fans who want a playoff.

One last bit...found it odd that he used Fiesta Bowl money to reimburse his memberships at four golf courses...one of which was Karsten Creek. Dude was making over 670K and even would get reimbursement for ATM charges of 3 or 4 bucks...amazing!

[The Maestro]

Wonderful, but that's not relevant to a debate of the merits of Arlington vs. Glendale, because neither one is a vacation destination.

It doesn't really matter, but the Phoenix metro area in the winter time is very much a vacation destination. Maybe not to you and the Okie crew that prefer the baldknobbers in Missouruh, but that is their busiest time of the year for tourism.

[sperry]

It doesn't really matter, but the Phoenix metro area in the winter time is very much a vacation destination. Maybe not to you and the Okie crew that prefer the baldknobbers in Missouruh, but that is their busiest time of the year for tourism.



Having been to the first two Fiesta Bowls, let me tell you that anyone that would take their vacation there is an idiot.

[Leroy Lizard]

As far as the corruption of the Fiesta Bowl, let's not get too high and mighty yet. I guarantee you the Orange, Rose and Sugar have some of the same things going on. Junker was running the Fiesta for years...think he didn't learn anything from his bowl brethren?

I doubt Junker needed apprenticeship in the art of corruption. I am sure he was quite capable of doing that all by himself.

[Leroy Lizard]

Too bad your sarcasm blinds you to how bad a deal the BCS has been for college football (but a great deal if you happened to be a bowl official). The amount of money on the income side for the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta Bowls is way out of proportion for what they pay the schools (what becomes of the rest, at least in one case, is now under investigation).

That's the schools' fault if a campus full of Ph.D.s can't figure out how to negotiate.

There is no "fair" here. This is a business transaction. The bowls offered a certain of money to the schools to host the game, and the schools accepted.

[Mississippi Sooner]

Having been to the first two Fiesta Bowls, let me tell you that anyone that would take their vacation there is an idiot.

The Phoenix area has changed a lot since the early 70s. :P

Yeah, I'm just being a jerk.

[The Maestro]

Having been to the first two Fiesta Bowls, let me tell you that anyone that would take their vacation there is an idiot.

Again, enjoy the baldknobbers. Good golf, great resorts and fine dining may not be as good as an all you can eat sloppy joe buffet for you.

[The Maestro]

I doubt Junker needed apprenticeship in the art of corruption. I am sure he was quite capable of doing that all by himself.

True...I still can't believe the COO made about 375K and did not even have a college degree. Of course, just writing off everything off makes balance sheets pretty easy. Here's their method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZRqH7sRyA

[sperry]

Again, enjoy the baldknobbers. Good golf, great resorts and fine dining may not be as good as an all you can eat sloppy joe buffet for you.


Ah, Arizona, that bastion of high culture :rolleyes: .


If I want the things that you mentioned, I can find them plenty of other places that also offer things that Arizona doesn't. Basically, Arizona is just another place where old people go to die, but at least Florida is on the coast.

[Seamus]

Basically, Arizona is just another place where old people go to die, but at least Florida is on the coast.

Hmmm. Dry heat ... wet heat? ... Dry heat ... wet heat? ...

[cjames317]

... Given the opportunity to go to someplace they've never been before, players would probably prefer the more exotic location. But who can say for sure? If all the players voted for Dallas, I would have no problem with playing the game there.

On bowl trips, the coaches don't turn the players loose like they used to. Activities are pretty regimented, with planned group outings/dinners, so I doubt there's much difference between Phoenix or DFW for the players. The Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl? Those are still destinations.

[cccasooner2]

Here's another one from yesterday.

Coco Loco.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_bcs_fiesta_bowl_ceo_money_scheme033011

[prrriiide]

Did anyone else catch this little nugget? IMO, it's proof positive Junker is a lying sack of sow feces:


At the time of Junker's termination, the bowl was paying nearly $19,000 a year for Junker's memberships at four golf clubs, two of which are out of state: the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, near Portland, Ore., and Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla. Why Oregon? The rising fortunes of the football programs at Oregon and Oregon State, Junker explained to investigators. (The report also notes that he has family in the state.) Why Stillwater? The report paraphrases Junker's reply: Because it was a "visible but reasonably inexpensive way to support Oklahoma State University, a critical supporter of the Fiesta Bowl in the Big 12 conference."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/03/30/fiesta-bowl-junker-bcs/index.html#ixzz1IE886Dbj


http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/982I6vVB/1050124.jpg

Because LosuR has been to oh-so-many Fiesta Bowls!!! ROTFLMAO!!!

They've been to ONE: 1974 where a 7-5 aggy team manhandled a 7-4-1 BYU by 10 points, 16-6 in a clash of the titans for the ages. :rolleyes:

BWAHHHH-HAAAA-HAAAAA

[Leroy Lizard]

Did anyone else catch this little nugget? IMO, it's proof positive Junker is a lying sack of sow feces:



Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/03/30/fiesta-bowl-junker-bcs/index.html#ixzz1IE886Dbj


http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/982I6vVB/1050124.jpg

Because LosuR has been to oh-so-many Fiesta Bowls!!! ROTFLMAO!!!

They've been to ONE: 1974 where a 7-5 aggy team manhandled a 7-4-1 BYU by 10 points, 16-6 in a clash of the titans for the ages. :rolleyes:

BWAHHHH-HAAAA-HAAAAA


I'm still trying to figure out how paying for a golf membership supports a university.

[cccasooner2]

Excesses are over. :)

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-fiestabowl-shelton

[sooner59]

I started reading this and was startled. I though Leroy was back.