"Who has the most to gain?"
I'm not sure which team or individual does, but I can say pretty confidently that MSU and Bond don't have anything to gain by bringing this up. We've already played Auburn this year. I doubt anyone on the staff harbors any realistic hopes that we're going to Atlanta, since we're in 4th place in the west at this point. Bond doesn't get any money from making these claims. If it was a long-term benefit type of thing (like maybe, we would get a few recruits we wouldn't have if Auburn is on probation next year), then why not wait until after the season? My point is, what good does this do MSU, really?
There are only a couple of teams that stand to measurably gain by this story breaking now... One of which I'm sure you can guess.
However, the truth here is close to what Whistler said above -- the story was going to break with or without a statement from JB, and basically he/we had one chance to get his story out ahead of the New York Times, and yesterday was it.