Jan crawford on the case before the Supreme Court today. Captioning sponsored by cbs this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. Pelley good evening. This is our western edition. The new commissioner of the National Basketball association chose the nuclear option. Today, adam silver banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life and urged the rest of the nba owners to force him to sell his team. It is punishment for racist comments the 80yearold sterling admits that he made, comments condemned by president obama as incredibly offensive. Here is commissioner silver this afternoon in new york. Mr. Sterling may not attend any n. B. A. Games or practices. He may not be present at any clippers facility, and he may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. Pelley and commissioner silver said this about the ownership of sterlings half billion dollar team. I will urge the board of governors to exercise its authority to force a sale of the
Hear. We have the whole thing covered for you right here at the top of the hour with cnn sports anchor, rachel nichols. She is inside that room. We will check in with her momentarily. Of course, once the News Conference begins, i will stop talking, we will take that live, in full. A little bit of back story. Donald sterling has kept a fairly low profile since this audiotape emerged. But see this video . He, along with his wife i should say his estranged wife, were caught leaving a Los Angeles Area strount jurestaura this past sunday night. The paparazzi shouting questions at him. He himself didnt answer any questions about the audiotape, which he allegedly made. These racist remarks about africanamericans. But the comment attributed to him has ignited a firestorm in the professional sports community. Take a listen. Dont come to my games. Dont bring black people, dont come. Do you know you have a team thats black . I support them and ive given them food and clothes and cars and houses.
Diego to los angeles in the early 80s. Were hearing if thats going to happen right now, adam silver is literally minutes away from making this announcement at a press conference in i believe its in new york. Yes, this is happening at nba headquarters in new york city. According to you, you believe that there will be an indefinite suspension and a 5 million fine. Its my understanding that Donald Sterling is worth 1. 9 billion. So this really wont hurt him, will it . Well, not really in his bank account. But his reputation has been obliterated. And the fact that the nba gets to keep him away from the league, some will say its a victory. Others say its not strong enough. But adam silver is acting with the most power he can. This is the fullest extent of his power to suspend him indefinite lit and try to pressure him out of the league, to leave the team and to sell it to somebody else. Were told that his family members immediately family members wont be affected by the suspension. They wil
Punished for something that sterling would argue happened in private. Right. A lot of questions. How do you do that without hurting the team, which is in the middle of a championship run, they think, had he hoep hope. Its a great time for the nba, and there are stars on this team. Blake griffin, chris paul. Its a really unusual situation thats unprecedented. Nbc news has confirmed that Donald Sterling has been fined 5 million and has been suspended indefinitely. This is according a senior nba official. It looks as if they are going to take, as you were describing, a very stiff penalty against mr. Sterling. Well, the nba has never even suspended an owner for anything else. They fined them for yelling at the refs, things like that. This is really unprecedented when this happens. Clearly theyre saying to him we dont want you here, and the hope, i guess, is that he will in some way reach some kind of agreement to get rid of ownership of the team. Now, how does that happen . Unclear. I thin
From any association with the Clippers Organization or the nba. Mr. Sterling may not attend any nba games or practices. He may not be present at any clippers facility, and he may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. He will also be barred from attending nba board of governors meetings or participating in any other league activity. I am also fining 2. 5 million, the maximum amount allowed under the nba constitution. As for mr. Sterlings ownership in the clipper, i will urge the board of governors to exercise its authority to force a sale of the team and will do everything in my power to ensure that that happens. A ma skrorty of the teams have come out in support of these tough demands. The views expressed by mr. Sterling are deeply offensive and harmful. I am personally distraught that the view expressed by mr. Sterling came from within an institution that has historically taken such a leadership role in manners of race relations. Coaches, fa