Arizona Might Be Hit Twice : Fiesta Bowl: New Year’s Day game appears headed for San Diego. The 1993 Super Bowl could be moved, too.

Faced with the growing possibility of a team boycott, Fiesta Bowl officials unveiled a contingency plan Saturday that called for the New Year’s Day game to be moved from Arizona to Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

Don Meyers, Fiesta Bowl team selection chairman, said that given the present political climate in Arizona, that he fully expected the game to be relocated.

“I have a copy of the stadium contracts,” he said. “I would expect to finalize it (today).”

The announcement came four days after Arizona voters rejected a referendum that would have made civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a paid state holiday. The proposition was narrowly defeated.

Since then, the University of Virginia has expressed concern about sending its nationally ranked Cavaliers to the Fiesta Bowl, which is played at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium, outside Phoenix. Virginia (8-1) is the Fiesta’s first choice to play the Southeastern Conference runner-up. Another possibility, though remote, is Notre Dame.

Earlier last week, the National Football League said it might move the 1993 Super Bowl, which was originally awarded to Phoenix, to another location.

To ease Virginia’s fears, Fiesta Bowl officials pointed out that employees of the game have received King’s birthday off each of the last two years. They also argued that the bowl shouldn’t be punished because of the failed referendum.

On Saturday, the Fiesta Bowl went a step further, when it declared that the game was prepared to move elsewhere, if need be.

There also were indications that Fiesta officials are working desperately with state legislators to reach some sort of compromise or accord on the controversial issue involving the proposed King holiday.

“It’s going to take some demonstration on the part of the legislature or governor to show that there is a process in place,” Meyers said.

Asked if he expected a political resolution in time to keep the game in Phoenix, Meyers said he did not.

The economic ramifications of such a Fiesta move are major. At stake are millions of dollars worth of revenue generated by the game. A change in venues would deprive the Phoenix community of those dollars, estimated to be between $75 million to $150 million, depending if the game were for the national championship.

Also in question are the payouts given to each team. According to projections, a Fiesta Bowl invitee would receive in excess of $2.5 million. Still to be determined is if those figures would be adjusted should the game be played at the 61,000-seat Jack Murphy Stadium rather than the 74,865-seat Arizona State facility.

Meyers also said the Fiesta Bowl would lose about $750,000 because of relocation costs.

Virginia players reportedly scheduled a team meeting for today to address the bowl situation. An earlier report said that they voted to accept the Fiesta invitation. However, Cavalier athletic director Jim Copeland told the Associate Press, “I’m not sure we’ve resolved it yet.”

Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s only black governor, said Saturday that he had talked with school officials about the situation, but that the decision on whether to accept the bid or not rests with the university.