Thomas Davis (left) of the Carolina Panthers, Jay Freely (centre) of the Arizona Cardinals and Charles Tillman of the Chicago Bears pose with the 2013 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award following a press conference at Super Bowl XLVIII week in New York, US, yesterday. This year’s Super Bowl will be played tomorrow.
NEW YORK: David Stern steps down today after 30 years as commissioner of the NBA, a reign that saw him transform the league from a downtrodden afterthought into a global sporting powerhouse.
The 71-year-old son of a New York deli owner revitalised the NBA with business and marketing moves that took full advantage of the skills of such stars as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James.
“This has been a great run,” Stern said. “I’ve had a lot of fun.”
A league that had some playoff games shown on tape delay when Stern began now telecasts the NBA Finals into 215 nations in 47 languages.
“We had to get the finals off tape delay,” Stern said. “We had not to cut out franchises. We had four getting ready to file bankruptcy.”
The once-weak NBA now generates $5.5bn in annual revenues, has a worldwide fan base, teams worth an average of $634m and players who average $4m in annual salary.
“I’m very happy with where we are,” Stern said. “I’m looking forward to perhaps travelling for the NBA on an international basis and enjoying watching its continued growth.”
Stern’s tenure, the longest among active US sport league bosses, will end today when Adam Silver, the long-time NBA deputy commissioner, takes over Stern’s job exactly 30 years to the day when Stern’s reign began.
“He has been the commissioner for the last 10 years. They just haven’t given him the check,” Stern said. “He is going to be great. Everything we have done for at least the last 22 years we have done together.”
Mark Tatum, the NBA executive vice president of global marketing partnership, will take Silver’s former job.
Stern was hired as the NBA’s general counsel in 1978, a year before Bird and “Magic” joined the league and the same year the NBA made its first step overseas when the Washington Bullets plated Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.
Stern became commissioner in 1984 and guided the league through good times such as the US Dream Team of NBA stars at the 1992 Olympics and the steady rise of team values as businesses as fan interest grew worldwide and business operations expanded to China, Europe and India.
“We had a few international players, a few international markets,” Stern said.
“This season we started with (a record) 92 non-US-born players on our rosters.”
The league expanded from 23 to 30 teams and the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls are all valued at $1bn or more.
Stern navigated the rough waters, including money disputes with players resulting in lockout-shortened seasons in 1999 and 2011-2012 but also bringing a salary cap and luxury tax rules that levelled expenses and brought a measure of parity to teams.
Stern helped solidify the NBA’s image after a brawl between Indiana and Detroit players spilled into the stands among spectators and bolstered the league’s credibility when referee Tim Donaghy was found to have made calls to alter outcomes to aid gamblers.
When Magic Johnson announced in 1991 that he had contracted the HIV virus, Stern sat beside him.
Stern banned players for life over drug issues in the 1980s, cleaning up the league’s reputation and even imposed a dress code to help turn NBA players into marketing icons. REUTERS
