FIESTA BOWL SCANDAL MAY HAVE MINIMAL EFFECT

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona benefits from the Fiesta Bowl and related sports and community events to the tune of $250 million a year, and that increases to $400 million in the years the state hosts the college football championship game, a university economist said.

Dennis Hoffman, professor in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, said his team will complete its report on this year's Fiesta Bowl and Bowl Championship Series game within a week and turn it over to bowl officials. It is expected to show an impact in the same range as four years ago, which was $400 million, Hoffman said in an interview for Arizona Week.

This spring, the Fiesta Bowl board of directors fired executive director John Junker after an audit report showed misspending on entertainment, including in one case at a Phoenix strip club, attempts at political influence and a $30,000 birthday party Junker threw for himself.

The bowl this week hired University of Arizona President Robert Shelton as executive director, saying he is the right person to bring back credibility, respectability and accountability to the bowl.

Will the scandal hurt the economic power of the Fiesta Bowl? Hoffman was asked.

"Bad PR is bad PR, and it certainly leaves an imprint at some level," he said. "How to measure that is certainly challenging."

Hoffman said that with Shelton coming on board, the Fiesta Bowl ought to regain stature as it cleans up its books and reestablishes fiscal responsibility.