Fiesta Bowl Investigation: Organizers Meet With BCS; NCAA Subcommittee Next

Fiesta Bowl officials have cleared one obstacle in the gauntlet they're running to try and keep the now-legendarily corrupt game in the BCS rotation: Organizers met in Chicago over the weekend with a BCS task force to show penitence and apparently made a positive impression on the chair, Graham Spanier. A decision on the game's future could be just a few weeks away, and the options sound ... well, like nothing much:

Spanier said there was a range of possibilities, including expulsion to staying in the BCS for the Fiesta Bowl. He also said there were "some things in between," but he declined to elaborate. [...] It is unclear if the BCS has the legal authority to terminate the Fiesta Bowl's contract, which runs for three more years, and whether there is a "morals clause" to punish the bowl. And it is unclear if the BCS can intervene and break the Fiesta Bowl's contract with the Big 12 Conference.

So by "cleared," we really mean "Fiesta Bowl reps survived the meeting without bribing anybody, we think," but there's more tap-dancing to do: This ordeal is not to be confused with a second scheduled meeting with the NCAA licensing subcommittee in New Orleans at the end of the month. And you're going to be shocked, just shocked at the conflicts of interest already emerging there:

Nine of the 11 members of an NCAA panel that will help decide the Fiesta Bowl's fate attended a bowl-sponsored retreat that included free meals, resort rooms and golf outings. The nine names all showed up on a 2008 "Fiesta Frolic" attendee list obtained by Playoff PAC.

Sound familiar, does it? Bill Hancock, another task force, tout de suite!