“I don’t know what else to say other than to recite what I told the owners yesterday in executive session,” Stern, 70, said at a news conference. “I told them that it’s been a great run, it will continue for another 15 months, that the league is in, I think, terrific condition.”
Glen Taylor, the chairman of the Board of Governors, said that the board unanimously authorized negotiations with the deputy commissioner Adam Silver to succeed Stern.
Stern has been openly discussing the prospect of retirement for the last year, and he has been publicly and privately pushing Silver as his successor. Stern said he knew six months ago that he would lay out his timeline and succession plan at this week’s board of governors meeting.
The choice of Feb. 1, 2014 was done for symmetry. It will mark the precise 30-year anniversary of Stern’s first day as commissioner. Stern joked that it would be one year for every franchise in the league.
Stern called Silver, who has been his deputy for six years, a “world class executive.”
“I’m really very pleased that there was a unanimous vote” to make Silver the next commissioner, he said.
Source:
http://13lei.net/2012/10/26/david-sterns-announces-plans-to-step-down-as-n-b-a-commissioner-in-2014/