David Stern calls salary accusations “ridiculous” – NBA Update
David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, has come out in the open and said that figures being quoted as his salary in the media are off the mark and dismissed as “ridiculous” claims that owners don’t know how much he makes.
The whole fiasco regarding Stern’s salary started when the NBA commissioner tried to pull off a PR stunt by declaring that isn’t going to take a salary during the lockout. NBA sources wanted to project this as a positive and something
that the fans would appreciate. However the idea that Stern is making a sacrifice by not taking a salary seemed naïve to many considering that no one else related to the NBA, staff, players and owners, were going to make money in the lockout.
So Stern not taking a pay wasn’t a big deal. What went really wrong for Stern was that various media reports started to surface regarding his still unknown salary. The highest estimate put him at $23 million per annum. This did
not go well with either the fans or the players, only very few of whom make that kind money.
The NBA immediately sprung into action and refuted the claims of a $23 million salary to try and control the damage. It is still though widely believed that Stern still makes more than the other two major sports commissioner.
Now the commissioner has come out himself to set the record state,
"In fact I'm going to get thrown out of the commissioner's union for being on the low end," Stern said. "But guess what? I've been doing this for so long. I've made a very good living. And in, I guess it was 2008 when we started
laying off people because of our business performance, I went to the owners and said I'm going to take a pay cut. I think it's a good idea and I'm going to freeze my salary.”
Stern also went on to discuss that there is an audit and compensation committee of the NBA which decides over these matters and if any owner wants to find out his salary they can,
“Every owner can know it if they choose to because we review all salaries with the audit and compensation committee at least twice a year. But you see what's going on out there and it says, 'Nobody knows what Stern makes!' and
it's just totally ridiculous."
It’s interesting to note that throughout David Stern’s remarks he never mentions any figures. It also appears that the Commissioner admitted that only a select few know what he earns but added that others can get to know if they
want to.
Whether these comments appease NBA fans or players is yet to be seen. The salary of any and all NBA players is open to the general public but Stern once again failed to disclose his own.
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