Report: Shams Charania Making Far Less Money Than Adrian Wojnarowski
10/08/2024 03:25 PM
The departure of longtime ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski left the network scrambling to find an insider as well-connected as Woj is. ESPN was happy to give the position over to longtime NBA insider Shams Charania - but not Woj's salary, apparently.
On Monday, ESPN officially announced that Charania would replace Woj as their new NBA insider. Woj had departed in order to become the General Manager of the St. Bonaventure men's basketball program. But one insider indicated strongly that Charania will not be making as much money as his predecessor despite filling the same position.
According to sports business insider John Ourand of Puck, Woj was previously making $7 million per year at ESPN. But Charania is not expected to make nearly that much and Ourand wrote that he will instead be earning "less than half of Woj's" salary with the network.
The Varsity
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) October 8, 2024
1) Where's Brian Rolapp?
2) How did ESPN decide on Shams?
3) Diamond Sports layoffs.
4) MLS sets attendance record.
5) Google's decade-long march to sports rights.https://t.co/dY3bRhSBHa
Granted, "less than half" of $7 million is still a pretty good chunk of change for Charania and potentially more than he was making for some of the other outlets he's been plying his trade at in recent years.
But people are already speculating that the decision to pay Charania less probably has less to do with his talent and more to do with his experience working at the company. Reports have suggested that he wasn't even ESPN's first choice as they initially wanted someone in-house like Jeff Passan or even Adam Schefter to take the role, rather than making an outside hire.
It will now be up to Charania to prove through his work over the next few years that he is as valuable as Woj was.
Related: Adrian Wojnarowski Has Classy Reaction To Shams Charania Replacing Him At ESPN
