Wealthiest Athletes

Posted on by Emily in General

Wealthiest Athletes

Between sky high salaries and multi-million dollar endorsements, it’s no wonder that many professional athletes are some of the wealthiest people in the world.

For those interested in just how wealthy some of the world’s wealthiest athletes are, good old Forbes put together a list of the pros who earned the most between May 2010 – May 2011. 

Tiger Woods - $75 million - Golf

Despite the negative impact of his scandal, Woods still holds huge endorsements and still earns a fair wedge from the sport itself.

Kobe Bryant - $53 million - Basketball

Kobe commands the biggest salary in basketball at around $24.8 million and has a growing endorsement package which includes being the face for Mercedes-Benz’s Smart Car in China.

LeBron James - $48 million - Basketball

LeBron is possibly the most controversial player  in the NBA, and like Michael Jordon has made a killing from having the no1 selling basketball shoe amongst many other profitable ventures.

Roger Federer - $47 million - Tennis

Roger holds 10 major deals that bring him one of the most varied portfolios in the world of sports.

Phil Mickelson - $46.5 million - Golf

Despite being diagnosed with psoriatic arthriti he says his gold career will not be affected in the long term. However the illness actually brought him a new endoresment as a spokesperson for the makers of Enbrel, the drug he uses!

David Beckham - $40 million – Football (Soccer)

David Beckham’s sporting ability has sadly become secondary to his good looks and being the face of anyone who can wave enough cash has made him highly profitable year on year. Of course he does a lot of good things too such as opening soccer academies.

No. 7 Cristiano Ronaldo - $38 million - Soccer

26 million fans on Facebook! Ronaldo is a popular man. I am currently in Egypt and I can tell you almost every young man wants to be him so that kind of presence and brand obviously contribute to his world wide earning success.

Alex Rodriguez - $35 million - Baseball

Baseball players tend to hold the biggest actual contracts in sports and A-Rod is one of the top. However he became an unsecured creditor from the bankruptcy filing of the Texas Rangers! They shouldn’t have signed him for a staggering $252 million back in 2000!

Michael Schumacher - $34 million – F1 Racing

I am not sure he should have returned only placing no9 overall last season. However his bank manager may disagree with me as he came back as the highest earner, through endoresments, in the sport of F1.

Lionel Messi - $32.3 million – Football (Soccer)

With $16 million a year in wages and a ton of endorsements Lionel is doing just fine! Also being a little less high profile than the likes of Beckham and Ronaldo may make the lower earnings more than worthwhile!

The list isn’t hugely different from the Highest Paid Athletes of 2010. These guys all need to be careful though not to end up like some of the richest athletes that went broke!

Wealthiest Athletes

If you read regularly you’ll know it’s not big money that impresses me but of course it is amazing to see how much these guys (sadly no girls there yet) can earn and I think it’s more an indication that following your dreams can lead to huge success. Every one of these players has reached the pinnacle of their sport at some point and even the best in the world at some point. Not many of them are likely from privileged backgrounds or even had a plan other than play sports. Now for you and I our sports champion days may be more than over but for any kids we know that want it bad enough they should be encouraged.

As I mentioned before sports is a bigger industry than just these in the top flight and full time sports careers are not as crazy an idea as they seem. You may not earn the biggest bucks in the business but surely acheiveing a career in a sport you love is still success.

Wealthiest Athletes

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