Bettman's salary hits $7-million

by James Mirtle on Jul 13, 2009 12:20 PM CDT Comment 19 comments

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman received a 27 percent raise during the 2007-08 season, pushing his salary with benefits to $7.1 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, according to league tax filings.

The salary is the highest Bettman has earned in his 16 years as commissioner and a major increase from his pre-lockout salary of $3.77 million. League tax filings, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, show Bettman received $4,197,694 in compensation from the NHL and an additional $2,911,550 in compensation and benefits from the NHL's business arm, NHL Enterprises.

— Tripp Mickle, SportsBusiness Journal

Consider this a rare glimpse into one aspect of the personal life of the commish.

Bettman, 57, lives in Saddle River, N.J., located a convenient half hour from both the Rangers' and Devils' home rinks, and only about an hour from the Islanders old barn. All of his children have grown up and are either attending or have attended Cornell, where Bettman went and was a season ticket holder for the Big Red. He was an Isles fan when they entered the league. (Bill Daly liked the Rangers, btw.)

As Greg Wyshynski notes, it's quite likely Bettman's enormous raise since the lockout was due entirely to bringing in the salary cap, which along with growing the game was his sole mandate since being brought into the fold 16 years ago.

Given where salaries would be at this point without a cap, there's no doubt NHL owners feel it's money well earned.

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I wonder if he had to collateralize his salary to secure the line of credit for the Yotes. Probably not.

The population of Pominville keeps rising!

by Blackcapricorn on Jul 13, 2009 12:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I am in a really bitter mood about him today, excuse my posting.

The population of Pominville keeps rising!

by Blackcapricorn on Jul 13, 2009 12:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pope Gary the First?

Folks who are thinking Bettman will be replaced/isn’t well regarded by his employers should look at this as proof (Like it or not) that its his job for life!

I find sometimes it's easy to be myself
sometimes I find it's better to be somebody else

by Fauxrumors on Jul 13, 2009 12:37 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The owners love him.

It’s the fans that hate him.

"Without good hard work, it is impossible to reach the pinnacle of success." - Anatoli Tarasov

by PRC on Jul 13, 2009 4:04 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bettman’s house and tax assessments

/stalker

Glen Sather is a Hockey Genius.

http://glensathersucks.com/
http://twitter.com/ThGeneralissimo

by poploser on Jul 13, 2009 12:38 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

If that’s NOT a gaited community Gary might have unwanted visitors come next CBA LOL Like him or hate him, that’s scary.

I find sometimes it's easy to be myself
sometimes I find it's better to be somebody else

by Fauxrumors on Jul 13, 2009 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wrong Career Path?

Congratulations, Gary. You’re now making what David Stern made in 1996.

Here are the salaries for all the other grand poobahs of sports-1. Selig-$18.35 million 2. Goodall-$11 million (has announced that he is taking a 20 to 25% cut this year) 3. Stern-$10 million (estimated)

by Big Picture Guy on Jul 13, 2009 12:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Gary would still be waiting if he had stayed in the NBA as an assistant to Stern. And it wasn’t until a couple years ago that a commissioner’s job opened up in the 3 sports that pay higher than the NHL (when Goodall took over from Tagliabue in the NFL; both Stern and Selig were already in place when Bettman took the commish’s job). Gary made the right call in taking the NHL job when he was 41. There just aren’t many of these jobs available.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Jul 13, 2009 1:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think its hard to argue that he isnt getting well-compensated compared to his peers. If Bettman is making $7 M and the NHL’s revenues are $2.5 B,so Bettman’s getting .28% of revenues as compensation. The NFL guy is getting $11M and the NFL’s revenues are $6.5B, which is .16%. Basically Bettman’s getting about 2x as much as his counterpart in the most successful sports business in North America.

Glen Sather is a Hockey Genius.

http://glensathersucks.com/
http://twitter.com/ThGeneralissimo

by poploser on Jul 13, 2009 1:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t think this line of reasoning holds up: Paul Tagliabue was making between between $10 and $11 million when he retired after 16 years in 2006. It would have been unusual (and probably insulting to Tagliabue) to start Goodell off with a much larger contract than the one Tagliabue finished with. Also Goodell’s salary entitled him to an automatic pay raise this year which he won’t be collecting since he voluntarily froze his salary. Bettman may be overpaid, I just don’t think the two situations are comparable.

by Big Picture Guy on Jul 13, 2009 1:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

In 2007, 26 skaters collected more than Bettman.
http://puckreport.blogspot.com/2009/02/commissioner-compensation.html

Last year only nine players made more.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Where-does-Bettman-s-salary-rank-among-sports-bo?urn=nhl,176200

With salary’s capped Bettman’s relative pay continues to rise.

by puckreport on Jul 13, 2009 1:15 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

With salary’s capped Bettman’s relative pay continues to rise.

When compared with the highest-earning players. How does he stack up compared to the total amount paid out or the median player salary?

by David M. Getz on Jul 14, 2009 9:36 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow. Bettman's underpaid.

Gretzky is getting $8-9 million to invite people out to play golf and generally coach the Coyotes into oblivion. And that’s only one franchise. :P

You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.

by zyllyx on Jul 13, 2009 2:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

“Did someone say getting paid millions to play golf and generally mismanage a team?”

/Glen Sather.

Glen Sather is a Hockey Genius.

http://glensathersucks.com/
http://twitter.com/ThGeneralissimo

by poploser on Jul 13, 2009 2:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t have the facts, though I’m quite sure Sather is already paid millions while filling out these functions quite well (golf and mismanagement).

by Habs on Jul 13, 2009 5:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

A 27% salary increase. Obscene. Time for the fans to turn on the owners.

by hockeycountry on Jul 13, 2009 8:05 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Buttaman is way over paid.

by Eric B on Jul 13, 2009 9:59 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Given where salaries would be at this point without a cap, there’s no doubt NHL owners feel its money well earned.

This applies way beyond hockey, but I always get a queasy feeling when a boss gets a big raise because he managed to make sure that his employees are paid less. I understand the logic of it from the company’s standpoint, but it violates a lot of things I thought of as important when I was a boss. If you wonder why people tend to lack much loyalty to their employers, this is a pretty good example.

by J. Michael Neal on Jul 13, 2009 10:35 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The interesting thing is to me, in how many corporations the bosses are so interchangeable. Before my father retired a few years ago, there were three people (none of whom were managerial, all were technical) that if a plane went down with all of them on it, an entire division would be shut down because they were the three with the experience to keep it running. Meanwhile, if several of the bosses went down in a plan crash, they would be replaced by another group of white men in dark suits and no one would even notice the difference. And yet the replaceable drones were the more highly paid.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." -- Philo of Alexandria

by Baroque on Jul 14, 2009 3:42 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs