Fire Sports Commissioners Forgoing Salary for Show

Goodell should receive a $3.7 million check shortly.

NBA commissioner David Stern won't get paid during the NBA lockout, meaning he will lose an undetermined portion of his ludicrously lucrative annual salary, estimated at $15-$23 million. Stern is seemingly doing the right thing, but there's a chance this is just for show.

NBA players have begun to grumble that Stern won't lose any money under a new collective bargaining agreement, so perhaps he's throwing them a bone here. Philly 76ers C Spencer Hawes recently asked via Twitter why there have been "no rumblings about a pay cut for [Stern] while he asks every single player to do so."

Stern has yet to agree to take a permanent pay cut, but he seems to be following the lead of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who pledged to lower his salary to $1 for the duration of the NFL lockout. The thing is, it's now being reported that Goodell (estimated salary: $10 million per year) and player's union head DeMaurice Smith will collect all of the back pay they lost during the lockout.

We're not saying that those two didn't earn their money, but it makes Goodell's seeming sacrifice look a lot less sacrificial. Let's hope Stern doesn't do the same thing whenever the NBA lockout ends (sometime in 2013) and actually embraces the spirit of shared sacrifice during the work stoppage.