shooting for success
Fresh out of law school, Stern worked at the New York firm Proksauer Rose, where he served as outside counsel to the NBA. He left the firm in 1978 to join the NBA as general counsel, and was named the league’s executive vice president in 1980.
Rising through the ranks, Stern was unanimously elected as the fourth commissioner and began his term on February 1, 1984 — the same year Michael Jordan turned pro. At the start of Stern’s tenure, the league was close to bankruptcy. Not only was the NBA losing its fans, it was also tainted by management-labor wars, drug use, and overall conflict.
To say that Stern turned the NBA around would be an understatement. Since 1984, the NBA’s revenue has increased by 500% — quite a difference from the time when at least 17 teams were suffering from financial losses. Drug use in the NBA was rampant. No problem, David’s stern approach toward drugs helped rid the NBA of that problem by offering treatment to players who came forward with their addiction (without penalty), and zero tolerance toward those who didn’t fess up. Stern’s work with the NBA also led to the emergence of the salary cap and the creation of NBA Entertainment.
The NBA became more unified, and fans started watching games thanks to stars like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and some Chicago Bulls player, Michael Jordan. Today, ratings for NBC’s NBA games draw in large audiences, a far cry from the days when games aired at 11:30pm (a Lakers vs. 76ers 1980 final championship series nonetheless, which today would sweep in the ratings).
The days of Stern as NBA commissioner have also helped make the NBA All-Star Game a success, a huge improvement from the days when it wasn’t taken seriously.
a string of accomplishments
David Stern is considered the best commissioner in sports — he and the NBA even survived a lockout and the retirement of Michael Jordan. Stern’s major accomplishments include: the addition of NBA franchises; the opening of international offices in Barcelona, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Mexico City, Miami, Paris, Singapore, Taiwan, Tokyo, and Toronto; the creation of the WNBA — the Women’s National Basketball Association — in 1997, which expanded to 10 teams in 1998 and is recognized as one of the most successful launches in sports league history; the creation of the National Basketball Development League; the 1999 launch of NBA.com TV, a 24-hour digital network; and the NBA and WNBA websites, that average nearly 600,000 visitors a day.
Stern is also committed to numerous public service causes that NBA players participate in, such as literacy, child abuse prevention, hunger relief, and the Special Olympics, and he organized the NBA’s TeamUp program, which promotes community service.
Despite Stern’s busy schedule, he has made time to serve on the boards of Columbia University, Beth Israel Medical Center, the Rutgers University Foundation, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, and the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, among others.