PGA

Little of sports leaders' compensation is paid in salary, but instead in incentives, bonuses and benefits packages.

And under Monahan in 2020, the PGA was one of the first to return after society all but shut down in March of that year. When Korn Ferry wrote its report in 2018, the sports CEO pay structure was stacked up against their peers atop the media conglomerates and found largely the structures were similar. “The commissioner’s compensation is determined by the Management Development and Compensation Committee of the PGA TOUR Policy Board,” Price wrote in an email. Similarly, just under $620,000 of Price’s package is salary, with the remaining bonus and retirement benefits. According to the tax return, revenues slipped from $1.54 billion to $1.16 billion. Monahan is paid less in total than the big sports league commissioners, though as a percentage of revenue he is likely at the top. A review of the tour’s tax return filed for 2020 shows Monahan is actually credited with earning $14.1 million, by far the largest package he has received in his tenure — Dustin Johnson was the only golfer on tour who made more that year. Media reports about MLB commissioner Rob Manfred taking a pay cut in 2020 pegged his pay at $11 million, though a source said he is now earning at least twice that. But what they did not say is that little of their compensation is paid in salary, but instead in incentives, bonuses and benefits packages like retirement accounts. In the early days of the pandemic, leaders of major sports organizations from the NFL and MLB to the PGA Tour announced they would take pay cuts. Goodell’s first deal in 2006 was structured this way, Hughes said, and the packages have just become more incentive-laden since (in 2017, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones rallied against his commissioner’s next contract, which made the current deal even more incentive-reliant). Other PGA Tour executives earned healthy seven figures in 2020, including Ron Price, chief operating officer, who is listed on the tax form as earning $8.6 million.