The departure of Adrian Wojnarowski from ESPN was one of the biggest shocks in sports in 2024, but his pay cut as general manager of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program may be even more shocking.
In a new profile of Wojnarowski from the New York Times Magazine, writer Bruce Schoenfeld reported that Wojnarowski now makes just 1 percent of the salary he took in as a senior NBA insider for the worldwide leader.
That means Wojnarowski earns a paltry $75,000 at St. Bonaventure, where he seems to be working just as much and just as hard as he did digging up basketball scoops at ESPN.
While Wojnarowski’s announcement and the coverage of his departure focused on his personal health (including a prostate cancer diagnosis) and his desire to do more meaningful work, the new profile paints a more specific picture. Wojnarowski opened up on the importance of the men’s basketball program to the financial future of the university, and the pressure he faces to keep the team competitive — with a ticking clock.
Wojnarowski estimated that while his personal connections across the NBA — including Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri and New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau — can propel him to greater NIL and recruiting opportunities now, he gave himself just five years before that advantage runs out.
More from Schoenfeld at the NYT Magazine:
“When he is asked why he would walk away from $20 million still left on his ESPN contract to spend his days driving through the snow to half-empty arenas, this is what he tries to explain. A reporter his entire adult life, he has immersed himself in other people’s teams. St. Bonaventure basketball is his team. And as the ground continues to shift beneath college sports, perhaps only he can save it.”
Wojnarowski basically invented the modern sports insider, whose job is centered on delivering instantaneous news on television and social media. Walking away from the platform afforded by that job was no simple task, not to mention the heaping salary it earned him.
But for Wojnarowski, the ability to directly impact the university and community he loves by way of the sport he conquered was enough to do it.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.