NCAA VP/Baseball & Football Dennis Poppe yesterday said that Fiesta Bowl officials "will meet April 28 in New Orleans with an NCAA subcommittee that will determine whether the bowl keeps its operating license," according to Craig Harris of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. Poppe said that "options facing the committee include allowing the Fiesta Bowl to keep its license, postponing a decision to a later date or revoking the license, which would stop the bowl game." He added that a "decision also could be made on the future of the Insight Bowl, which the Fiesta Bowl operates." The meeting is "in response to a 276-page report, commissioned by a Fiesta Bowl Special Committee and released last week, that details a culture of excessive spending on bowl employees, politicians and business associates." Poppe said that the Fiesta Bowl, "along with all other bowls, last year received a four-year operating license from the NCAA." He noted that the NCAA "has revoked licenses in the past for the Seattle Bowl and Silicon Valley Football Classic because of poor attendance and financial problems." Neither the Fiesta Bowl nor the Insight Bowl "has those problems," and Poppe said that there is "no 'morals or conduct code' that could allow the NCAA to revoke a bowl operating license." However, he said a license can be revoked "in the best interest of college athletics." Harris notes along with the NCAA meeting, the Fiesta Bowl "likely will be meeting with a seven-member Bowl Championship Series task force regarding the alleged misconduct and possible illegal activity disclosed in the special report" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/6).
PILING ON: The AP's Frederic Frommer reported the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington "wants the Federal Election Commission to launch an investigation into the Fiesta Bowl for reimbursing its employees for campaign donations." The group filed a complaint yesterday urging the FEC "to declare that the Arizona-based college football game violated federal election laws and to impose sanctions." The CREW complaint also alleges that the bowl "violated federal election laws by using its facilities to host fundraisers for candidates for federal office" (AP, 4/5).
