The NBA might be in the entertainment business, but it’s still a business.
With its product suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak, the NBA is doing the same thing as other businesses: making cuts.
The league is reducing base salaries by 20% for “approximately 100” of its top-earning executives across the world, according to ESPN. That includes NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, neither of whose salaries have been reported.
“These are unprecedented times and, like other companies across all industries, we need to take short-term steps to deal with the harsh economic impact on our business and organization,” NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement.
The NBA is not the only league to reduce salaries in leadership roles.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan opted to forego his salary altogether, while several of the tour’s other executives have taken pay cuts and employees have seen their pay frozen to last year’s pay rate. Both NASCAR and the NHL have also cut their leadership salaries by 25%.
This news comes one day after 76ers ownership nearly forced “at-will” employees with salaries greater than $50,000 to take a 20% pay reduction, only to reverse course after they were shamed on social media, and after their star player offered to pay staffers some of the difference out of his own pockets.
There have not been any layoffs at the NBA yet, and only top executive and senior leadership have seen pay cuts, according to ESPN. The league also recently extended its credit limit to from $650 million to $1.2 billion.
This is the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the league.
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