Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott may be on the way out
In a Public Relations nightmare, an email from Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, sent to Pac-12 staffers, about continued pay cuts, went public. It’s another black eye for the embattled commissioner, who may be out of a job before his contract expires in 2020.
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott laid another egg this week. He sent out an email to staffers informing them that anyone making over $100K per year would have their mandated pay reduction kept in place for the next 12 months (somewhere between 5-10 percent, depending on the pay). The Commish also revealed that he accepted a 12 percent pay cut.
If only the story were that simple. The Pac-12 offices, as well as the Pac-12 Network, are in San Francisco. It’s a city Kiplingers, among other publications, lists as the second-most expensive city in America. While $100K sounds like good money, it doesn’t go very far in an area where the cost index is astronomical.
For perspective, as residents in the greater Seattle area know, Bellevue, WA, is not exactly a cheap place to live. Compared to San Francisco, its a walk in the park. The City by the Bay has a 68 percent higher cost of living than Bellevue. If that person decided to live outside the city, say in San Mateo, that’s only 37 percent more than Bellevue, and they would have to commute. So cutting a staffer making $100K to $95K, working in the Bay Area, is a big deal.
Scott has an annual salary of $5.3M. His 12 percent cut takes him down to a paltry $4.66M. While some of the staff are struggling to make ends meet, he took what amounts to a token pay cut.
Disgruntled staff
Memos like the one Scott sent on Wednesday are not for public knowledge. The fact that this email leaked to the media is also a problem. It shows there is a growing contempt for Scott among the Pac-12 conference employees. How long can that working environment continue until something else boils over into the public domain?
Add this to another reason why Larry Scott should be on his way out.
His pay cut for the league should have been much more compared to those who live in a very, very expensive city.https://t.co/b5hnq5EBlt pic.twitter.com/b43qWwaitW
— Jeremy Mauss (@JeremyMauss) July 6, 2020