Bud Selig is going nowhere especially making $20+ million a year with a private jet in a legal monopoly

1/7/12, Bill Madden, "Perhaps that’s because there isn’t a single person in baseball who believes Selig, who turns 78 in July, is going anywhere any time soon − despite his avowed intention of returning to his alma mater, the U. of Wisconsin, to teach the history of sports.... In fact, even Selig’s closest friends find laughable the notion of him walking away from a job that pays upwards of $20 million per year, along with the

• perks of a private jet, to teach sports history.

“The fact is, even if Bud really wanted to retire, he can’t,” said one baseball exec who chuckled when I asked if there’d been any talk of a search committee being formed. “Right now, there isn’t anyone out there who could get the votes (necessary three-quarters of the owners). That’s the situation Bud has created.” Another former but still-plugged-in MLB exec similarly scoffed when it was suggested that another motivation for Selig to retire was his desire to get into the Hall of Fame while he can still smell the roses. “You’re telling me he’d walk away from $20 million a year because of the Hall of Fame?

• You’ve got to be kidding. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s got his people working behind the scenes to get that retirement stipulation for the Hall waived in his case.”

“This is a very divided group of new owners in the game, all of them with different agendas,” another MLB exec said. “They fall into line for Bud because he’s essentially one of them and has been on the job so long and has made a lot of money for them. But it’s really gonna be tough for the person who comes after him.” Or as Selig might say from the comfort of his French history class: Après moi, le déluge. In the meantime, in lieu of that announcement by MLB about the formation of a search committee for a new commissioner, expect Selig to announce shortly that he’s bending to pressure from the owners and signing on for a two-year extension that will enable him to shepherd the Mets, one of baseball’s signature franchises, out of the ruins of their financial morass, and also find some salvation for beleaguered Tampa Bay owner Stu Sternberg."...

• 1/7/12, "Bud Selig's contract as MLB commissioner may be expiring, but don't expect him to go anywhere," Bill Madden, NY Daily News

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon