Fiesta Bowl Scandal

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The Fiesta Bowl, the newest of the four B.C.S. bowls, was founded in 1971 and has played host to national championship games. It took in millions in revenues in 2009, most of it earned through ticket sales and corporate sponsorships, according to federal tax records.

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Top executives at the Fiesta Bowl, the host of one of the nation’s pre-eminent college football games, funneled campaign contributions to local politicians, flew other Arizona elected officials around the country at the bowl’s expense, racked up a $1,000 bill at a strip club, and even spent $30,000 on a birthday party for the chief executive, according to an investigative report commissioned by the bowl’s board of directors.

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The most serious revelations involve nearly a dozen employees who told investigators that the chief executive and others working for the bowl encouraged them to make political contributions, then reimbursed them with phony bonus payments. Some said they then were pressured to lie about the practice.

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The investigators do not make conclusions about whether bowl executives or others broke the law, but at least one expert in nonprofit organizations said the findings could lead to criminal charges. At minimum, the investigation is likely to threaten the tax-exempt status of the bowl, which, like most other prominent organizations in college sports, is formally registered as a charity.

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