You could see this baby coming a mile away.
As fans gather in Houston this weekend to celebrate college basketball’s finest hour, college football is reeling from the aftershocks of a scandal involving the Fiesta Bowl, which has renewed questions about who should control big-time postseason football.
The N.C.A.A. operates every postseason championship except the lucrative bowl system. For nearly 100 years, the bowls have been a network of privately run fiefs working with conferences, universities, corporations and individuals to create appealing, often irrelevant matchups.
The Fiesta Bowl scandal is the latest example that the N.C.A.A. needs to take stronger control over that cottage industry, one that often operates outside its reach…
“Often operates”? More like completely.
Let’s get the easy part out of the way first: John Junker is your typical corporate sleazebag. If he did something criminal, I hope somebody goes after him for it, if for no other reason than to discourage others from pulling similar crap in the future. And if there’s some way to make Fiesta Bowl management pay a price for their lax supervision of Junker, ditto.
But speaking of lax supervision, urging that control of the bowls be brought under the aegis of the NCAA is… well, the dateline of Rhoden’s article is April 1, so maybe he’s kidding. If he’s not, he’s got a remarkably short memory. Or perhaps he sees a certain symmetric beauty in letting the same organization that allowed the Tatgate Five to play in the Sugar Bowl set all the rules on the business side of the postseason.
I don’t think I’m going very far out on a limb here to suggest that there might be a better way to address the problem.
And by the way, it’s a rule that any time Dennis Dodd signs on to a train of thought it becomes a meme on the spot. Or at least it should be.
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The fact that the Fiesta was even allowed to be a BCS bowl in the first place is a joke. All this situation does is create a scenario where the Cotton regains its rightful place as one of the 4/5 most meaningful bowls. I’d like to say that the Gator or Peach/Chick should have a shot but I can’t justify it.
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I don’t think it was a joke at all. The Arizona desert is, imo, the finest winter climate in the world. I understand it wasn’t the traditional home of bowls in the 50s, but the choice between Phoenix in January versus Dallas was a no-brainer for decision makers in the 90s.
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Similar to when people want the government to take something over when their tract record of running what they already have is at best a train wreck. The NCAA can’t even handle Auburn or Ohio State.
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They had to come up with a new meme since the whole “playoffs give us the best champion” argument went out the window this year.
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Look no further than the New York Times masthead for your explanation. Things need to be run by intellectuals like the NCAA (and us in New York) instead of those grubby profit motivated inferiors.
Hustlers like John Junker exist everywhere, not just in corporations and bowl games.
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What I don’t want to see is likely to take place. The Bowls are not-for -profits and that means they are under the feeding and care of the IRS. If the Great One wants a payoff then the IRS can give it to him with a few quick audits and the revocation of exempt status. Say hello to Bob Jones University. When the administrators are using the exempt organization for their own piggy bank the IRS can kill them.
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You bring up the most extreme remedy. I think the IRS would go for penalties first, which are nquite lucrative, then maybe sacrifice one serious offender as a show of force.
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The bowls are 501c3?? Since when?
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The bowls are non-profit but not charitable. All charities are non-profit but not all non-profits are charities. Sec. 501(c)(3) is for charities. The bowls qualify, if at all, under some other division of Sec. 501(c).
Sorta reminds me of something from logic: all painters are drunks but not all drunks are painters.
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As a painter’s brother, I can attest to this. True beyond doubt.
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My daddy used to have a guy letter his race cars who was always so drunk he had to sit down to work. I marveled at how precise his work turned out, when he could barely talk.
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they’re potheads, not drunks….btw.
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NCAA and Control are two words that just don’t go together. Should the NCAA take control of the bowl system. Maybe. But they can’t even get out of their own way.
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