Al Michaels Was PISSED When Bob Costas Got Paid More for 'BASEketball'

Al Michaels is making the media rounds to promote his new memoir, You Can’t Make This Up. On Wednesday, he made an appearance on Howard Stern. After discussing topics like the Miracle on Ice, Pete Rose, and OJ Simpson, Howard brought up an anecdote from the book about how Michaels was incensed when he found out Bob Costas was getting paid over three times more ($50,000 vs. $15,000, the latter of which isn’t necessarily bad for a day’s work in 1998) for their tandem announcing roles in BASEketball. Michaels told the whole story around the 28-minute mark:

[I found that out] with about four hours to go in shooting. [I became] crazy. We started out with this thing, we had Zucker doing it. He had done Airplane. The South Park guys created this. So Costas and I were having fun the first hour, then it started degenerating a little bit. Then we go to lunch and they’re behind schedule, and they try to humor us by showing us the dailies. It’s getting progressively worse, and Bob and I are saying, “This is the end of our careers.”

So then Bob says, “Well at least it’s a good payday,” so I said, “Excuse me?”

We flip a coin, I lose, I tell him, he tells me, and now I’m freaking apoplectic because I’ve fallen off the turnip truck. These MF’ers duped me. They lied to me. I live in LA, I know all these studio people. How did I get duped? I know better than this. I go back in, I call the agent to make the deal, I said I’m off the set, [he makes me stay], I finally finish. I can’t wait to get a top entertainment lawyer. … They can’t end the movie without the scenes we shot. I know that. I’ve got them over the barrel now.

Michaels’ rep demanded $75,000 — the $50k Costas got, and $25k for aggravation — the studio countered with $20k, and Michaels held out.

They settled on $60k — more than Costas was paid — and we got to see Michaels ogle cheerleaders.

[H/T Cartmaniak]