Unless there’s evidence that it’s a money thing, let’s not start that rumor. Lord knows there’s already enough misguided “Dundon cheap” narrative out there without this adding on to it.
It's a reasonable assumption though, even if it may or may not be the case.
1) Dundon didn't want to pay top dollar in the first place when he initially interviewed guys and finally settled on Waddell. He said something to the effect that there are more than 30 guys that can do this job (which is essentially saying he doesn't need to pay top dollar).
2) He did the same thing with announcers and scouts, getting rid of higher priced guys and bringing in lower priced people that he felt could do the job just as well.
3) When Waddell came up for renewal the first time, Dundon said he doesn't believe in contracts and basically forced Waddell's hand to go out and interview for other jobs before matching.
4) Waddell's contract is expiring and up until recently, there's been no indication of any internal strife or that he was leaving.
5) Waddell is 65 years old and a GM job requires an exorbitant amount of time. I'm suspect he doesn't "need" the money, but at that age, if someone is going to require you to put in that amount of time, stress, etc... the have to make it worth your while. I'd get tired of having to go do a bunch of interviews just to get a contract with the team I'm already the GM of.
6) Dundon has said repeatedly that he wants to spend money on players (on ice product). I'm sure there are some guys like Rod (also maybe like Tulsky?) that he's going to pay to keep as he views them as irreplaceable.
It could be something totally different for sure, but it smells like salary to me. It's all speculation though.
I'm not blaming Dundon here, it's his business and he's been successful running it how he has.