WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- The Fiesta Bowl has been fined $1 million but can remain part of the college football Bowl Championship Series, BCS officials said Wednesday.
A BCS committee made up of university presidents and conference commissioners issued the ruling after determining Fiesta Bowl employees had used bowl funds to pay for lavish personal expenses and made questionable political contributions, The New York Times reported.
The scandal led to the resignation of top Fiesta Bowl officials and the firing of its chief executive.
The BSC committee also imposed tougher audits and new rules for membership on the Fiesta Bowl's board, as well as recommended that all BCS bowls be made to follow new, uniform governance standards.
"Without those reforms, the task force almost certainly would have recommended ending the BCS group's relationship with the bowl," Bill Hancock, the executive director of the BCS, told the Times.
"We have learned some painful lessons and have already implemented many of the changes that will prevent this type of malfeasance from happening in the future," Fiesta Bowl officials said in a statement.
