Which sports generate the most in athlete payouts?
By Mo Hussain, Contributor
The biggest takeaway from how these athletes make their money is how they used their trade or their platform (which is their sport) and leveraged it to massive brand deals and investments.
Professional athletes at the top of their craft are notorious for how much money they make. Forbes compiled a list of the top 50 highest-paid athletes in May and calculated that nearly $2.8 billion was generated among those athletes. What’s very interesting to take note of is which sports had the most athletes, and how those athletes made their money. Here’s a list of the sports with the most athletes on the Forbes list:
AUTO-RACING
Two auto-racers were on the Forbes list, generating a combined $124.5 million. 36-year-old Lewis Hamilton earned an estimated $82 million, while 24-year old Max Verstappen earned $42.5 million. Notably, these two made 89 percent of their combined earnings on the racetrack, rather than off it. That metric may seem like common sense, but as you’ll see later in this list, not every athlete can say they made the majority of their money actually playing.
COMBAT SPORTS
Even though there’s a lot of discussion about how most fighters need to get paid more, those at the top of the fight game aren’t complaining.
UFC fighter Conor McGregor and boxer Canelo Alvarez were the only fighters on the Forbes list, earning a combined $214 million. Alvarez earned 94 percent of his $34 million earnings in the boxing ring. Conor McGregor on the other hand made most of his money selling whiskey.
The 33-year old earned an estimated $180 million, making him the highest-paid athlete on the list. The majority of those earnings came through cashing out of his stake in whiskey brand “Proper Twelve,” where he earned an estimated $150 million. Selling his stake in that brand accounted for 83 percent of his total earnings
GOLF
Now people can have a debate about whether golf is as much of a sport as the others on this list. But what they can’t debate is how lucrative the sport is for those at the top. Three golfers were on the Forbes list, and they made a combined $145.5 million. Over 82 percent of those combined earnings came off the golf course.
Tiger Woods raked in $60 million from projects like his first public golf course, his partnership with TaylorMade and cutting a deal with 2k games for its PGA video game. Woods only earned an estimated $200k on the golf course.
Phil Mickelson earned $40 of his $41 million off the golf course with sponsors like Rolex, VistaJet, and Callaway Golf. Dustin Johnson was the only other golfer on the list, and he made the majority of his money playing golf. Johnson earned a total of $44.5 million, with 55 percent of those earnings coming on the golf course. Fifteen million dollars came from winning the FedEx Cup.
TENNIS
The sport with the biggest disparity in most of the earnings coming outside of playing the sport is tennis. Four tennis players made the Forbes list, earning a combined $226 million. Only $11 million of that sum was made on the tennis court.
Roger Federer only earned an estimated $30k on the tennis court, but $90 million in sponsorships including riding off a ten-year $300 million deal with Uniqlo. Naomi Osaka earned $60 million, making her the highest-paid female athlete ever. More than 90 percent of her earnings came off the tennis court.
Serena Williams earned 96 percent of her $41.5 million earnings off the court as well with nearly 20 corporate partners. The only other tennis player on the list was Novak Djokovic, who earned a total of $34.5 million. Only $4.5 million of that was earned on the tennis court.
SOCCER
The most popular sport in the world saw eight of its athletes make $508 million. 74 percent of those earnings were related to on-the-field action.
Lionel Messi was the highest-earning soccer player and second highest-earning athlete. He earned an estimated $130 million, with $97 million of that coming from his lucrative contract with Barcelona (before departing to Paris Saint-Germain). His off-the-field endeavours including sponsorships with Adidas, Gatorade, and Pepsi earning him an estimated $33 million.
Not far behind was former El Clasico rival, Cristiano Ronaldo who earned $120 million. He earned $50 million of that through off-the-field endeavours such as his CR7 brand and deals with Nike, Herbalife, and other companies.
Neymar also made the Forbes list, earning an estimated total of $95 million through his contract extension with football club Paris Saint-Germain, his decision to sign with Puma, and collaboration with Epic Games on a custom Fortnite skin.
The other soccer players on that list include:
- Kylian Mbappe earning an estimated $40 million
- Mohamed Salah earning an estimated $37.5 million
- Paul Pogba earning an estimated $35.5 million
- Robert Lewandowksi earning an estimated $34 million
- Andres Iniesta earning an estimated $34 million
BASKETBALL
Basketball is the closest sport where the on the court and off the court earnings are pretty much split down the middle. Thirteen basketball players were on the Forbes list earning a combined $683.5 million, with 56 percent of that made on the court.
LeBron James ranked number one among ballplayers with an estimated $96.5 million earned. An estimated $65 million of that came off-the-court. This includes deals like his lifetime contract with Nike, his stake in Blaze Pizza, his production company Springhill Entertainment, Beats, Calm, 2K Sports, GMC, and more.
Kevin Durant earned an estimated 58 percent of his $75 million earnings through his off the court endeavours including his sponsorship with Nike and his investment portfolio which has more than 40 companies including Postmates.
Stephen Curry earned a similar amount with 54 percent of his estimated $74 million earnings made off the court. This includes sponsors like Under Armour, Google, CarMax, and his equity stake in beverage company OXIGEN.
Some of the other names on the list include:
- Russell Westbrook, earning an estimated $59 million
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, earning an estimated $47 million
- Chris Paul, earning an estimated $40 million
- Jimmy Butler, earning an estimated $38.5 million
- Anthony Davis, earning an estimated $36 million
FOOTBALL
The sport with the most athletes on the Forbes list and the most money earned, is America’s game, Football. Even though the game isn’t big outside of North America, there were 18 players on the list earning an estimated $881 million. 85 percent of that sum was earned on the field rather than off it.
The top football player on the Forbes list was Dak Prescott who earned $107.5 million. Dak Prescott signed a $160 million deal for four years in March and got a $66 million bonus alongside it.
The only guys who made a good chunk of their money off the field were Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes. Brady made 40 percent of his $76 million earnings off the field through Under Armour, T-mobile, Fanatics, and other brands
Patrick Mahomes earned an estimated total of $54.5 million. In addition to riding his massive 10-year $500 million contract on the field, he earned an estimated $22 million off the field. This includes deals with Adidas, EA, State Farm, and Procter and Gamble.
Other football players on the Forbes list include:
- David Bakhtiari, earning an estimated $47.5 million
- Jalen Ramsey, earning an estimated $43.5 million
- Myles Garrett, earning an estimated $43 million
- DeAndre Hopkins, earning an estimated $39 million
- Aaron Donald, earning an estimated $36 million
The biggest takeaway from how these athletes make their money is how they used their trade or their platform (which is their sport) and leveraged it to massive brand deals and investments.
