Saturday, May 17, 2014

Bud Selig replacement search finally begins. Will the money be comparable?

Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is commissioner of the Major Baseball League (MBL).  Prior to that and for a few years Selig was concurrently owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team of the MBL.  The worth of that team increased dramatically after Selig became commissioner, complete with a new ball park, which has a retractable roof, something missing from the two new parks in New York because it's too expensive.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/richest-baseball/bud-selig-net-worth/

Bud Selig ... has a net worth of $400 million. Bud Selig earned his net worth through his years in baseball as the owner of the Milwaukee Braves, Executive Counsel and Commissioner ... He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1934.
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The New York Times
Goodell’s Pay of $44.2 Million in 2012 Puts Him in the Big Leagues
By KEN BELSON FEB. 14, 2014

N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell was paid $44.2 million in 2012, making him among the best-paid executives in the country and perhaps the highest-paid leader of a nonprofit organization...

Perhaps most important to the (NFL) league’s owners, 23 of the 32 franchises are worth more than $1 billion, and every club is profitable, according to Forbes...

Without his one-time deferred bonus and pension payment from 2011, Goodell’s compensation was $35.1 million in 2012, about as much compensation as Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, received, said Marc Ganis, a consultant to several N.F.L. teams who is familiar with the compensation figures.

“They believe the N.F.L. is the best-run league and has the brightest future, so they rewarded him based on his results,” Ganis said of Goodell, adding, “These numbers put Roger in the same ballpark as Bud.”

Selig made $17.5 million in 2006, the last year for which public filings are available. M.L.B. has given up its nonprofit status, and a spokesman for the league declined to comment on Selig’s current compensation...

The N.B.A. is not a nonprofit organization, so it does not have public filings. News media outlets have speculated that David Stern, who recently retired as commissioner, was paid as much as $23 million.

Gary Bettman, the N.H.L. commissioner, made $8.3 million in the fiscal year that ended in June 2012.
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Selig announced on September 26, 2013, that he would retire in January 2015.  It took eight months to form a search committee.

The New York Times
M.L.B. Panel Beginning Search for Selig’s Successor
By RICHARD SANDOMIR MAY 15, 2014

Bud Selig
The St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr., the chairman of the committee ... DeWitt, who was asked by Selig to head the search, added that Selig had done “a wonderful job.”  ...

He (Selig) would not comment on whether any owners had asked him to stay...

The panel ... will not, for now, hire an executive recruiting firm...

Selig led the commissioner search committee that resulted in the hiring in 1984 of Peter V. Ueberroth to replace Bowie Kuhn, a process that took about 15 months...

Another search committee in 1994 ...  to fill the commissioner’s position left empty by the ouster of Fay Vincent in September 1992 ... 

As the chairman of baseball’s executive council, Selig, then the Milwaukee Brewers’ owner, had become acting commissioner soon after Vincent was forced out...

Yet another search committee, established in early 1997, deliberated for 18 months ... Selig ... was nonetheless elected unanimously...

Selig is believed to favor Rob Manfred, baseball’s chief operating officer...

other members of the committee ... Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, a longtime baseball power broker...

... Selig’s desire to retire from baseball when his term ends Jan. 24.
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Bud Selig: longest serving member of the Hall of Fame Board of Directors.  Monday, January 13, 2014

Allan Huber "Bud" Selig has been a director since 1976.  1976!  Selig has also been commissioner of the Major Baseball League since 1992...

Here is the lineup ...

Jane Forbes Clark
Joe Morgan
Kevin S. Moore

Paul Beeston
William O. DeWitt Jr
William L. Gladstone
David D. Glass
Phil Niekro
Jerry Reinsdorf
Brooks Robinson
Frank Robinson
Dr. Harvey W. Schiller
Tom Seaver
Allan H. (Bud) Selig
Edward W. Stack ...

But Bud Selig?  A director since 1976?  Who the heck knew that?  ...

I wonder how many commissioners have been directors, especially while they were commissioner.  Fay Vincent was commissioner 1989-1992 but he's not a director.  Of course, Selig and Reinsdorf, two current directors, led the group of owners who voted no confidence in Vincent forcing his resignation.  Selig then replaced Vincent and became acting commissioner.  He's still acting.

Conspicuous by their absence are any union leaders or writers.  The writers vote on the players for induction.  Maybe also being a director would be considered a conflict of interest.  Funny how that works.
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In 1970 Selig purchased the bankrupt Seattle Pilots franchise and moved the team to Milwaukee renaming them the Brewers.  Quiet, unassuming Bud Selig has been wielding considerable power in baseball for almost 50 years, intentionally or not.  Now it looks like his successor will be very much like him.

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