NHL commissioner Gary Bettman earns more money than he used to, at a whopping $7.23 million. But that’s still a paltry sum compared to some other professional sports commissioners.
The NHL’s most recent tax filing, from July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009, shows a 64 percent increase in compensation for the league’s senior executives, to $9.9 million, according to sportsbusinessjournal.com.
Bettman is the highest-paid executive in the league, and his total compensation increased 1.7 percent from the previous year. His pay package is divided as follows: base compensation ($5,529,491 million), other compensation ($956,515), deferred compensation ($700,000) and benefits ($44,777).
Bettman’s pay has continuously increased, and has nearly doubled compared to what he was paid before the lockout.
Despite the raise, some other sports commissioners still make much more. Major League Baseball’s Bud Selig earns $18.35 million, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell makes $10.9 million, and the NBA’s David Stern doesn’t publicly report his compensation, but it is thought to be more than $10 million.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly is the second-highest-paid executive in the NHL, reportedly earning 6.7 percent more than the previous year, at $1.9 million.
During the 2008-09 fiscal year, the league spent $75.7 million, the largest portions of which were executive compensation ($9.9 million) and employee salaries ($20.4 million). While legal fees are generally a small piece of the pie, they skyrocketed during 2008-09 by 48.6 percent, to $3.84 million, for reasons unknown.
Since 2005-06, total league expenses have gone up by $17.7 million, while executive compensation has increased by $3.8 million.
