The Fiesta Bowl and the John Junker Firing

Well now, that was interesting. John Junker, the head honcho of the Fiesta Bowl who brought a third-banana bowl from an excuse to give Arizona State a bowl game to one of the premier bowl games in college football, just got fired. I have not yet read the report, but I assume that it confirms most to all of the allegations being made about him and his rather loose use of cash to grease political palms. Oh, sorry, make campaign contributions, those aren't bribes at all. Wink, wink.

If I remember correctly, the Fiesta Bowl, because it is a non-profit organization, is not allowed to make campaign contributions. In fact, no non-profit organization can be involved in any way in politics. For example, a church once got into trouble with the federal government because the minister told his congregation who they should vote for when the vote for president. I don't know how it turned out, but there was talk that the church might lose its non-profit status because it made a political statement. That is a federal law, which means that there is no fucking around with it.

Personally, I don't particularly give two turds about the firing of a guy who was breaking federal campaign finance law. He did a lot for the Fiesta Bowl, but that doesn't give him a pass to break the law. What I do care about is college football.

BCS officials are sitting down with Fiesta Bowl officials to figure out if they are going to stay in the BCS. That's a big deal. The Fiesta Bowl has elbowed its way into the top tier of bowl games, and now its standing is threatened by the actions of its former chief. And after the bowl game has been shepherded through the decades by one man, that leaves a substantial leadership gap at the top right when they most need someone with a strong hand on the rudder.

I assume that the usual gang of idiots is saying that this will cause the BCS to collapse and a playoff to be instituted immediately. The steps in between the two things will, as usual, require a great deal of wishful thinking on the part of the aforementioned idiots, which means that the only people who are likely to accept the scenario are people who are also looking for a reason to believe that the BCS is going to disappear through the power of ineffectual whining.

Of all the BCS bowls, the Fiesta's standing among the giants is the most tenuous. The Rose Bowl has been a big deal since 1916, when it started being played annually. The Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl have been played since the 1930's. The Fiesta Bowl only appeared on the scene in 1971 and has only been a truly major bowl since the 1980's. In college football time, that's barely a burp. The loss of the Fiesta Bowl from the BCS would be big, but it would not be as much of a seismic event as losing one of the other three.

Repercussions

Back in reality, I really don't know what to expect from this situation. The BCS generally doesn't make moves quickly, so I think things will be up in the air for some time. But I think the federal government may have more to say about this than the BCS, and they may say it sooner. If the Fiesta Bowl loses its standing as a non-profit, then I'm not sure how that works for their bowl accreditation. I assume that NCAA rules require bowls to be non-profits to be accredited, so the bowl game itself could disappear in a legal ruling. That would leave a vacuum at the top of the bowls.

If that happens, the Cotton Bowl would likely swoop in and take the fourth opening. The Cotton Bowl has been trying to get itself into the BCS for some time. I have been on the record as favoring the Cotton Bowl for a spot in the BCS since about 2004 or so, as it would be the last link from the current BCS to the past of college football. I would prefer it enter through its own merits, rather than as a side effect of the misfortune of another bowl, but that may be the way that things play out.

It is also possible that the BCS may put the Fiesta Bowl on temporary hiatus while they sort out their legal issues, but I kind of doubt that. I think the BCS would like to make a decision before the season. They don't want the spector of possible federal action hanging over the season, since the loss of the Fiesta Bowl mid-season would put things into an absolute tizzy just at the moment when the focus should be on the season, not disruption in the structure of the postseason.