Team USA Officials: Unpaid, Just Like Wade

Last week, Ray Allen and Dwyane Wade caused a bit of a stir when they expressed a desire for Team USA hoopsters to make money via jersey licensing or some other means. USA basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo was not inviting of the possibility, to which I responded: What does Colangelo make per his Olympic efforts? If he were pulling down a huge salary, there could be a whiff of hypocrisy. If Colangelo was working as a volunteer, it would make his position all the more legitimate. Well, according to USA basketball, Jerry Colangelo (and every top official, including coaches) does this for free. Positional legitimacy unto the chairman. 

In an email, Craig Miller of USA Basketball writes, specifically:

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"Jerry Colangelo, nor any member of the USA Basketball Board of Directors, nor any USA Basketball coach, receives any pay from USA Basketball for their work. The USA Basketball chairman, members of the board of directors, and our coaches are truly volunteer positions." 

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So where does the money go? Over the phone, Miller fleshed out the situation in greater detail. For one, those TV rights are not owned by Team USA, and so the money mostly gets siphoned elsewhere:

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"The USOC gets a chunk of (the TV money)." 

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All that money from jersey sales? It's a bit difficult, given the plastic state of the team: 

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"The (sale) window is very small. You don't have a season, we have weeks. We don't even know what our team is."

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And of course, there is the whole Olympic basketball structure underneath the Dream Team apparatus: 

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"Whatever money we derive from our sponsorships or licensing goes right back in these programs.  

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