John Junker Fired: Fiesta Bowl CEO Axed Amid Controversy

[Brian in Mesa]

John Junker Fired: Fiesta Bowl CEO Axed Amid Controversy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/29/john-junker-fired-fiesta-bowl-ceo_n_842156.html

The Fiesta Bowl will be asked to justify its inclusion in the BCS after organizers for the Arizona game fired president and CEO John Junker for "an apparent scheme" to reimburse employees for political contributions and "an apparent conspiracy" to cover it up.

The Fiesta Bowl released a scathing internal report Tuesday.

The reimbursements, listed as at least $46,539, are an apparent violation of state campaign finance laws and the charter that allows the Fiesta Bowl its nonprofit status. The Arizona attorney general's office is conducting a probe of the matter.

The BCS reacted swiftly, saying it would undertake an investigation of its own to "consider whether the Fiesta Bowl should remain a BCS bowl game or other appropriate sanctions."

The Fiesta board of directors voted unanimously to fire Junker "for his improper and inappropriate activities documented" in the report.

 

[RedViper]

I've thought these guys were kind of shady for awhile. A few years ago during one of the campaigns to bring the Superbowl to the Valley someone with the NFL complained that some fiesta bowl person called and threatened to sue the NFL if the Fiesta Bowl didn't get compensated with some perks. Essentially they slimed the whole process which is all it takes to push the balance over to some other city. Its a shame for the Valley but I think these clowns reaped what they sowed. Of course it could be true they are no less corrupt than any of the other BCS bowl and Jerry Jones made sure the light got cast this way. It seems certain the BCS is gone from the Valley or soon will be.

 

[Southpaw]

If the Fiesta is pulled from the rotation, which bowl is the replacement? I would think the choice would come from the West. How about the Holiday Bowl?

 

[Arizona's Finest]

If the Fiesta is pulled from the rotation, which bowl is the replacement? I would think the choice would come from the West. How about the Holiday Bowl?

Try Jerrys World and the Cotton Bowl.

In fact I would bet Jones instigated this whole thing in one form or another. Was only a matter of time once Cowboys Stadium was built that this would happen. Jerry Jones is the devil.

Man I hate that team.

 

[Southpaw]

Cotton Bowl in Cowboy World. Yup. That'll happen. Maybe they will rename it Oil Bowl.

 

[82CardsGrad]

The only possible savior for the Fiesta Bowl to remain in the BCS rotation is that they are only 1 year into a 4 year contract... I'm sure there is some language that could potentially allow the BCS to terminate the agreement if certain conditions were to arise, but, short of that, the Fiesta Bowl is doomed and the Cotton Bowl is all be a lock...

What will be interesting is to see if any other BCS bowl comes under investigation. I doubt it as it seems Jerry Jones has his victory sewed up with the Fiesta debacle... However, I'm pretty sure an investigation into the other BCS bowls would find similar infractions. Major bummer... Phoenix truly can't get a break.

 

[Dback Jon]

The only possible savior for the Fiesta Bowl to remain in the BCS rotation is that they are only 1 year into a 4 year contract... I'm sure there is some language that could potentially allow the BCS to terminate the agreement if certain conditions were to arise, but, short of that, the Fiesta Bowl is doomed and the Cotton Bowl is all be a lock...

What will be interesting is to see if any other BCS bowl comes under investigation. I doubt it as it seems Jerry Jones has his victory sewed up with the Fiesta debacle... However, I'm pretty sure an investigation into the other BCS bowls would find similar infractions. Major bummer... Phoenix truly can't get a break.

I bet you could find that corruption at every bowl.

 

[HooverDam]

This is freakin' depressing. It seems like PHX/AZ is entering a dark ages of late with all the awful PR our state has received over the last few years.

I hope Colangelo can somehow get involved with this whole situation, like ole Ben Kenobi, he's our only hope.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Yeah, this sucks for the state. I doubt others will be invesigated, even though they should be. If you don't want people spending tens of thousands of dollars on strip clubs, private parties and other things, then put something in place to monitor the situation. I am certain the BCS will "make an example" of the Fiesta Bowl.

 

[Dback Jon]

BCS conducts shallow probe as party rages on
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=dw-wetzel_bcs_fiesta_bowl_ceo_money_scheme033011

The Bowl Championship Series is so troubled by the graft exposed in Tuesday’s Fiesta Bowl corruption report that it appointed a special “task force.” Among the members is an athletics director who accepted a free Caribbean cruise from the Orange Bowl just last summer.

Yes, there’s nothing like having a guy – in this case, Southern Mississippi’s Richard Giannini – who takes lavish gifts from one bowl game to judge another bowl game for giving out lavish gifts.

 

[Dback Jon]

Same article:

The BCS wants the problem to be seen as isolated. The task force has been empowered to “evaluate the bowl’s findings and its recommendations,” according to Penn State president Graham Spanier.

There is no mention of doing what common sense would suggest: asking what the heck the other bowls are doing and then examining their finances too. After all, the federal tax filings of some other major bowls show similar non-itemized expenditures, executive salaries and profit margins.

Spanier must belong to the popular Big Ten chapter of the Little Sisters of the Naïve if he thinks that, while milking a multimillion dollar cash cow, the only bowl executives who considered laying the corporate AMEX down at the gentlemen’s club or accepting a $27,000-per-year car allowance or throwing four-day $33,000 birthday parties were Junker and his crew.

The other BCS games? Nope, no need to even ask. Second-tier bowls which pay their executives even more than Junker’s nearly $600,000? Nothing to see here, folks.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Elephant in the room: Nobody wants to hold big games in Glendale.

Anyone else notice we keep being passed over for the Final Four and Super Bowl as well? The location sucks for travelers. Guaranteed that played a role in the outing of the Fiesta when the other bowl games came away without a scratch. Dallas in and us out gets the game where the money people want it.

 

[Southpaw]

I bet you could find that corruption at every bowl.

Any wonder there is so much resistance for a National playoff system for football when these bowls are run like private empires?

BTW, this would leave the Rose Bowl as the only non NFL stadium venue in the mix, until the Vikings move to L A.

 

[SweetD]

All I have to say Junker is not the only one who needs to be looked at... FYI the CFO was also the CFO for Insight who.... has the Insight.com bowl which is also part of the Fiesta Bowl. Looks like some of the same practices the Fiesta Bowl was doing also was going on at Insight.

 

[HooverDam]

Elephant in the room: Nobody wants to hold big games in Glendale.

Anyone else notice we keep being passed over for the Final Four and Super Bowl as well? The location sucks for travelers. Guaranteed that played a role in the outing of the Fiesta when the other bowl games came away without a scratch. Dallas in and us out gets the game where the money people want it.

Which is another reason we need to focus on getting LRT out to the Glendale sports/Westgate area. Sadly Mayor Scruggs is an idiot and Phoenix is focusing on a silly plan to run rail down the I-10 median.

 

[Lefty]

Junker is a big scumbag who I hope spends a long time in jail.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

I wouldn't say glendale has been passed over for any major event

In it's very short existence it has held some basketball games (including the 2nd round), 2 college national championships, a superbowl and some mega-concerts .... all of them have gone off very well ....... the 2nd round will be in the Phoenix metro again next year at US Airways center - I doubt location is the reason for this

It's not like the meadowlands is some great location or arlington or jacksonville or miami or any of these other places that have stadiums that IMO are just as difficult (if not more difficult) to get to but continue to get events

However, this is bad news for the metro on a whole and the local bowls in particular .... the only real hope is that there is some kind of knowledge from the fiesta crowd about the other bowls that will remain quiet if things blow over

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I wouldn't say glendale has been passed over for any major event

In it's very short existence it has held some basketball games (including the 2nd round), 2 college national championships, a superbowl and some mega-concerts .... all of them have gone off very well ....... the 2nd round will be in the Phoenix metro again next year at US Airways center - I doubt location is the reason for this

The atrocious attendance for the regionals is why we'll never get a Final Four, part of that is due to location. It held these things because the NFL promises a Super Bowl if you build a new park. Since our only one we have been essentially taken out of the rotation. And if the Fiesta gets bounced...

 

[MigratingOsprey]

A very tiny part is due to location and phoenix hasn't been taken out of any rotation - to say so is silly ..... to say it's because of location is even more baseless, especially when you look at the locations and ease of geting to/from stadiums that are supposedly "in rotation"

78,000 people came to the national championship game this year - ticket resale prices were insane .... i don't think location hurt

same with wrestlemania -well over 70,000 for wrestling

for a single event a stadium that is 20 miles from the airport, 17 miles from downtown and around 30 miles from Old Town & Tempe isn't going to throw a lot of people off - especially when it's all fast moving highway with a ton of hotels, resorts, great weather, an easy in/out airport, etc

 

[Southpaw]

I bet you could find that corruption at every bowl.

Hmmmm. You might be onto something. Here's a place to start poking around.


Link

Updated: April 8, 2011, 9:56 AM ET
Orange Bowl CEO got $150K raise in '09


Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The committee that runs the Orange Bowl bumped up its CEO's pay by nearly $150,000 in 2009, boosting his compensation to more than $500,000, according to a recently filed tax return.

Orange Bowl spokesman Larry Wahl said in an email that the increase was mostly supplemental compensation given to CEO Eric Poms for "the added work and effort involved" in hosting two Bowl Championship Series games in 2009, including the national championship, in South Florida.

The Orange Bowl is one of four premier college football games that also hosts the BCS title game once every four seasons, along with the Sugar, Rose and Fiesta Bowls. The Fiesta Bowl fired CEO John Junker last week over extravagant and improper spending uncovered by an internal report.

As a public charity, the Orange Bowl must list its highest compensated employees on its 990 tax returns, which are publicly available. Those returns show that Poms raked in $507,000 in 2009, a 42 percent increase over the previous year's take of $358,000.

Bowl officials wouldn't provide Poms' salary for last year, when the Orange Bowl did not host the BCS title game. Wahl said Poms' "total compensation for 2010 has dropped below the double-hosting level in 2009 and the exact amount will be reported when our next 990 is filed as required by the IRS."

The bowl also gave big boosts to three other top executives, ranging from 24 percent to 38 percent, according to an Associated Press analysis of tax returns.

Poms' pay still lagged behind Junker's $674,000, and Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan's $645,000. But it far exceeded the $282,000 paid to then-Rose Bowl executive director Mitch Dorger.

The annual compensation for Dorger's replacement, Scott McKibben, has not yet been reported on a tax return, but McKibben told the AP that his base salary is $425,000, and could be higher based on a bonus program. He added that the Rose Bowl also provides additional compensation to employees in the years it hosts national championship games.


Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press