Fiesta Bowl Got Lucky, Stays In BCS Mix

The Fiesta Bowl stays in the BCS mix but not doing business on the up and up is going to cost them $1 million.

The University presidents and conference commissioners that over the Bowl Championship Series approved the recommendations of a special task force chaired by Penn State University President Graham Spanier to enact a series of sanctions designed to create stronger oversight and better management of the Fiesta Bowl, including a $1 million sanction.

The BCS released this statement from that special task force. “The board of directors of the Fiesta Bowl failed in its responsibility to properly oversee the management and administration of the Bowl. The task force is deeply troubled by the evidence set forth in the [Fiesta Bowl’s] Special Committee’s report. That evidence strongly suggests that the Bowl’s executive staff frequently acted with scant regard for ethics and proper conduct. Further, it is the opinion of the task force that the Bowl’s board of directors over the years was negligent in its oversight responsibilities.”

While the Fiesta Bowl has cleared the BCS hurdle there's still the NCAA who is reviewing the Fiesta Bowl's licensing.

The BCS task force said the way the Fiesta Bowl has taken steps in the right direction saved it from the BCS axe.

"These are strong actions in keeping with the nature of what was revealed in their report." BCS executive director Bill Hancock said. "These actions were not taken to satisfy or not satisfy any critics. They were taken because they were the appropriate actions, in light of the findings."

So the Fiesta Bowl survived this from the BCS. It still doesn't solve what has got to be the worst post-season in all of sports.

Oh sure new oversights will be mandated for the bowl system and I'm sure the term "zero tolerance" will be thrown around. That doesn't mean a damn thing. Bowls exist to make a crap load of money from sponsors and re-distribute that wealth to the conferences and if your in the BCS, the payday is significant.

Don't worry, bowl directors are taken care of too.

I've been on the fence toward a playoff system and still not completely sold for reasons I might get into someday but the BCS is really turning into a big pile of BS.

Here's the report in full, thanks azcentral.com

Here's ESPN's Dari Knowkah discussing with Joe Schad...