Fiesta Bowl executive put on leave.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/ne...-donations

Interesting development. I wonder why...

Here's a link from The Sporting News that's 28 minutes old now...

The site wouldn't allow me to save the link, but it's there now.

Interesting stuff.

That's a nice way around campaign finance laws.

I've always wanted the Cotton Bowl to re-join the BCS. Maybe this could be leveraged somehow to oust the Fiesta?

Good find DFW. Fiesta Bowl isn't going anywhere but I could see the Cotton Bowl slipping in. Then maybe we can negotiate an automatic berth to one of the BCS bowls.

CC, if the people with political pull associated with the Fiesta Bowl end up being ousted, who's going to step in to prevent them from losing their political sway over the BCS system? Jerry Jones is already exploring every avenue, and he's not exactly without influential friends...

I know a lot of fans think that the Fiesta Bowl is the "noveau riche" bowl game and is always the most vulnerable, but let's be clear here: the Fiesta Bowl is the richest bowl committee besides the Rose Bowl by a substantial margin, and for that reason, its BCS bowl status is actually the most secure. The fact that it's so rich is part of the reason why it got into trouble with this scandal since it has so much cash to throw around. It's also why the Fiesta jumped the Cotton in the bowl pecking order when the Bowl Alliance was created in the 1990s - it was so well-funded that they couldn't be denied anymore. Not only does the Fiesta Bowl committee have the BCS payout, but it also has enough to pay for the Insight Bowl which has moved up to the 4th highest payout among non-BCS bowls (after the Capital One, Outback and Cotton). When it comes to financial stability, the Orange and Sugar are in much less stable positions. Add on top of that the fact that the Fiesta has the best stadium by far of the current BCS bowls and any thoughts of the Fiesta ever dropping out of the rotation are misguided.

Now, I do think the Cotton will eventually get to BCS status, but it will be because a plus-one format has been created (which necessitates a 5th BCS bowl). The Cotton won't be kicking anyone out - the BCS bowls are every bit as clubbish as the AQ conferences themselves.

I think the Cotton gets in as soon as the other bowls (through the media) are pressured into holding the national championship closer to New Year's Day.

Something that existing rights holders and other bowls will not be thrilled about. ESPN has extended bowl season with several games between the BCS bowls and the championship game. Many of the bowls love the exclusivity the extended season has provided in terms of TV coverage.

Don't shoot the messenger on this one...

I know the Fiesta Bowl is loaded. But this kind of publicity could get Washington interested, and politicians with an axe to grind against the BCS process could see this as an excellent opportunity to explore in depth into exactly what transpires with the ranks of college football, and the power brokers acting behind the scenes...

(02-15-2011 10:03 AM)mattsarz Wrote:  I think the Cotton gets in as soon as the other bowls (through the media) are pressured into holding the national championship closer to New Year's Day.

Something that existing rights holders and other bowls will not be thrilled about. ESPN has extended bowl season with several games between the BCS bowls and the championship game. Many of the bowls love the exclusivity the extended season has provided in terms of TV coverage.

Don't shoot the messenger on this one...

Interesting. Do you actually believe the "media" has that type of influence, particularly when the most relevant media voice is the very ESPN entity that has extended the bowl season? That's what makes me very skeptical that it would work out the way that your source believes. Frankly, if I'm a conference commissioner, I could give a crap about what columnists say. As long as the business people at ESPN and/or Fox are willing to pay up for exclusive time slots, who else in the media matters?

I honestly see the national championship game going in the other direction with a plus-one system, where that game would be played on or around Martin Luther King Day.

Frank, once that happens, all the arguments ever used over the years to prevent a playoff will officially cease to hold any meaning...

I didn't know this, but it figures:

"To acquire advance tickets to the Jan. 10 BCS championship game in Glendale, the nice Fiesta Bowl folks made people also purchase tickets to the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl in Glendale and the Insight Bowl. The price: A mere $670 per person."

No wonder the Fiesta had enough dough to throw around at politicians (the same politicians that make things very easy for them in Phoenix).

(02-15-2011 10:22 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  I didn't know this, but it figures:

"To acquire advance tickets to the Jan. 10 BCS championship game in Glendale, the nice Fiesta Bowl folks made people also purchase tickets to the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl in Glendale and the Insight Bowl. The price: A mere $670 per person."

No wonder the Fiesta had enough dough to throw around at politicians (the same politicians that make things very easy for them in Phoenix).

Was aware of that. Several UConn fans here mentioned that they were holding out buying through UConn and instead were going to the secondary market, targeting the tickets bought by the Auburn & Oregon fans.

(02-15-2011 10:14 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(02-15-2011 10:03 AM)mattsarz Wrote:  I think the Cotton gets in as soon as the other bowls (through the media) are pressured into holding the national championship closer to New Year's Day.

Something that existing rights holders and other bowls will not be thrilled about. ESPN has extended bowl season with several games between the BCS bowls and the championship game. Many of the bowls love the exclusivity the extended season has provided in terms of TV coverage.

Don't shoot the messenger on this one...

Interesting. Do you actually believe the "media" has that type of influence, particularly when the most relevant media voice is the very ESPN entity that has extended the bowl season? That's what makes me very skeptical that it would work out the way that your source believes. Frankly, if I'm a conference commissioner, I could give a crap about what columnists say. As long as the business people at ESPN and/or Fox are willing to pay up for exclusive time slots, who else in the media matters?

I honestly see the national championship game going in the other direction with a plus-one system, where that game would be played on or around Martin Luther King Day.

No source here, just my head.

Outside of ESPN, who can hype & hype, other entities have complained that the roughly 40 days, not to mention the New Years Day games, then some lesser games in the middle (including games that the Big East participates in), just lengthens the it to the point where the quality of play in the championship isn't always ideal as teams tend to knock off the rust for a quarter.

(02-15-2011 10:17 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  Frank, once that happens, all the arguments ever used over the years to prevent a playoff will officially cease to hold any meaning...

Oh, those arguments have NEVER had meaning. The arguments that the BCS conferences have stated to the public against a playoff (i.e. missed class time, length of the season, tradition, et.c) are completely B.S.

However, there is one very good reason (and when I say "good", I mean that it makes rational economic sense when you're running the BCS conferences) why the BCS is against a playoff: how the revenue from that playoff is split. That is and always will be the only issue. If you could form a playoff system that guarantees that the AQ conferences maintain the exact same revenue and access advantages over the non-AQ conferences as the current BCS system, then you would see a playoff system created pretty quickly. The "problem" (and when I say "problem", I mean that if you're actually running a BCS conference you'd never rationally agree to it) is that most playoff systems suggesst greater access to the non-AQ conferences and more equal revenue distribution. Regardless of whether fans think it's "fair" or not, there is absolutely no reason why any leaders of the BCS schools would ever willingly agree to give up their advantages. Find a way to preserve those advantages, and you'll see a playoff system.

(02-15-2011 10:35 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  However, there is one very good reason (and when I say "good", I mean that it makes rational economic sense when you're running the BCS conferences) why the BCS is against a playoff: how the revenue from that playoff is split.

Yep. Probably the best comparison is with the NCAA basketball tournament. The BCS-AQ conferences generally get about 47% to 50% of the overall revenue from the Big Dance, the other 200+ schools share the rest.

But during bowl season, the BCS-AQ schools have averaged around 94% of all revenue (it falls to about 88% if two non-AQ schools get BCS bids, like in 2009).

That's a big difference, and the BCS-AQ conferences have no interest in losing all that money by moving towards a true NCAA-sponsored playoff.

(02-15-2011 10:35 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(02-15-2011 10:17 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  Frank, once that happens, all the arguments ever used over the years to prevent a playoff will officially cease to hold any meaning...

Oh, those arguments have NEVER had meaning. The arguments that the BCS conferences have stated to the public against a playoff (i.e. missed class time, length of the season, tradition, et.c) are completely B.S.

However, there is one very good reason (and when I say "good", I mean that it makes rational economic sense when you're running the BCS conferences) why the BCS is against a playoff: how the revenue from that playoff is split. That is and always will be the only issue. If you could form a playoff system that guarantees that the AQ conferences maintain the exact same revenue and access advantages over the non-AQ conferences as the current BCS system, then you would see a playoff system created pretty quickly. The "problem" (and when I say "problem", I mean that if you're actually running a BCS conference you'd never rationally agree to it) is that most playoff systems suggesst greater access to the non-AQ conferences and more equal revenue distribution. Regardless of whether fans think it's "fair" or not, there is absolutely no reason why any leaders of the BCS schools would ever willingly agree to give up their advantages. Find a way to preserve those advantages, and you'll see a playoff system.

Frank, it's not so much of a fight over how the money is divided (although that is a small part of it), as it is a fight over who is in charge of doing the dividing. That's what it's always been about, no matter what anybody says. The people in charge of splitting up the money get a hefty chunk of change for that privilege, and they'll fight like rabid dogs to keep control of that money...