The Top 11 Richest & Wealthiest Athletes

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The Top 11 Richest Athletes in the World

Athletes and sports stars are paid extremely well because we love to watch them. They get paid for entertaining millions of people around the world and for making money, not only for the teams and owners, but also for the cities, states, and even countries. They are people who are looked up to and people who large percentages of the population identify with and choose to represent them. When you buy the jersey of an athlete and you wear it, you are using him to identify with the traits that you look up to in him – his talent, his sportsmanship, his personality and what he stands for as a pubic figure. That is why athletes must behave differently from regular people when they are in the spotlight. The amount of money they earn depends not only on how well they play, but the image they promote. The more positive image they promote, the more sponsors will look to hire them in order to represent their brand and product.

We see that while people who participate in individual sports such as tennis, golf and racing tend to make more money from the earnings tied directly to their performance and dominance in their sports, while athletes who play team sports tend to have the biggest earnings from endorsements and sponsorships. Let’s take a look at some of the wealthiest athletes in the world and find out how and why they are making all of this money.

These lists show how much these athletes have made in total, which means salaries, prize winnings and various endorsements and the values are estimated for the most part. In America, outside of severally very well paid golfers, the most popular athletes play either in the NFL or the NBA, while on the world list, soccer players are easily the best paid athletes. Boxers and racer car drivers tend to make the most money on prize winnings and salaries per even along. Unsurprisingly, there are not any female athletes in this list, since women’s sports are not nearly as popular and therefore profitable, but tennis star Maria Sharapova might be somewhere on the list if we were listing the top 25 richest athletes, since she makes about $20 million from her tennis playing and endorsements.

Tiger Woods (Golf)

Tiger Woods has been the richest athlete in the world for five consecutive years now. He made about $23 million from gold tournaments and well over $100 million from endorsements. However, this might be the last time that Woods remains the richest athlete of the year, since there have been many endorsers and sponsors canceling deals with him after his very high profile sex scandal. While the whole world was talking about how Woods committed many acts of adultery, many of his endorsers were backing out and rethinking their decisions to endorse a person that has garnered such a bad reputation because of his personal life.

According to reports, his money from endorsements decreased in 2010, compared to 2009, by $22 million. Compared to two years ago, Tiger’s earning have decreased by about 30 percent and might continue to plummet, even though he is still playing very well on the golf course. In 2009 Tiger woods became a billionaire, the firs and only athlete to ever achieve that landmark.

In 2009, before the scandal, Woods was worth $895 million and reached the billion mark from his tournament winning and endorsements that year. According to reports, the only athletes that came anywhere close to Tiger are basketball great Michael Jordan and racecar driver Michael Schumacher, who have topped at about $800 million dollars.

Phil Mickelson (Golf)

Another golfer, Mickelson has been at the top of his game recently and has been consistently one of the best golfers for over five years now. His winnings were actually not that impressive this year, only about $9 million, but it earned an amazing $62 million in endorsements. Mickelson and Woods are the only golfers that have continuously been winning a major tournament almost every year, which of course means that he is a great golfer, but his endorsements are literally through the roof. He has been endorsed by huge companies such as Ford, Exxon Mobile and Bearing Point. He also signed a ten-year agreement with golf equipment company Calloway which brings him $10 million every year.

Kobe Bryant (Basketball)

Kobe just signed a three-year contract extension worth $83.5 million, which makes him the highest paid player in the NBA. Not only that, but he has one five titles with the Lakers and thanks to these achievements, he is the only basketball player other than Michael Jordan who has made over #30 million a year from his salary alone. Proving the theory that everyone likes a winner, Bryant’s basketball jersey is the best selling jersey in Europe, Asia and America. He is also generous to his teammates and understands that basketball is a team sport. After one of the times he was crowned the leagues most valuable player, he bought all of his teammates $9,000 dollar watches to demonstrate his appreciation of what they do for him. He is, of course, endorsed by Nike, and this year he tacked on another lucrative endorsement with Turkish Airlines.

David Beckham (Soccer)

Even though he is no longer at the top of his game and he is not playing in the best leagues, or even Europe for that matter, Beckham still manages to make more money than all of the world’s best current soccer players. He started playing in America in 2008, but he did not play much because he was hurt. However, he is still making most of his money from sponsors, including huge companies like Pepsi, Motorola and Adidas. He is also sponsored by Giorgio Armani. He remained the most paid soccer player despite the fact that he was hurt and did not participate in soccer’s main event in 2010, the World Cup in South Africa. Even when he is not playing for the LA Galaxy, he is making money on his good looks alone, along with his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria, who helps to keep him a viable and popular persona for many major, million dollar endorsements to come.

Kimi Raikkonen (Formula 1 Racing)

Ferrari just gave this Finnish driver a three-year deal which has made him the highest paid racecar driver in the world, which was only bolstered by the championship he won last year. The 27 year-old took advantage of the retirement of Formula One great Michael Schumacher and left McLaren Mercedes in ordered to sign this huge deal with Ferrari. Along with all of his sponsorships and endorsements, Raikkonen made about $41 million this year alone.

LeBron James (Basketball)

Considered to be Kobe Bryant’s successor who has already become one of the most dominant players in the league, LeBron’s transfer to the Miami Heat and the creation of a new contender in the NBA was a huge media topic in which many were excited to see how he would perform in his new team surrounded by a strong cast of all-stars, but many also thought that he was being selfish and inconsiderate to his former team the Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite the fact that he is now hated in Cleveland, he is still incredibly popular as a basketball icon all over the world and took in a staggering $28 million this year from endorsements alone. Expect him to overtake Kobe next year and in coming years if the Heat manage to win a championship and build a dynasty in Miami like Bryant has built in Los Angeles.

Manny Pacquiao (Boxing)

Not only is the highest grossing boxer in the world not America, but he is not a heavyweight either. However, it is hard to argue that Manny is not the single best boxer in the world now, pound for pound, regardless of weight class, which is why he is raking in the big bucks, not only from sponsorships, but from his very well paid matches, in which he continues to destroy opponents, and after which eager challengers wait in line to fight him next. The Philippine boxer earned about $40 million this year alone.

Eli Manning (Football)

After signing a six-year contract extension worth a huge total of $97 million, the Giants franchise quarterback became the highest paid player in the entire NFL, even surpassing the wage of his older, more successful, and arguable much better brother Payton, who remains playing at a high level with the Indianapolis Colts. Eli is loved in New York and many are looking for him to lead the Giants to another Super Bowl and show that he is worth the money that the team has invested in him.

Lionel Messi (Soccer)

If it wasn’t for David Beckman’s huge amount of endorsements outside of the soccer world specifically, the young Argentinean star would easily be the highest paid soccer player in the world right now. Messi earned $39 million after totaling all of his salaries, endorsements, sponsorships and bonuses that he earned for winning six trophies while playing in Barcelona. It is said that Messi is making an amazing $600,000 a week. His stock also rose after the great performance he gave during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa representing his native Argentina. He holds endorsement deals with tons of heavy-weight companies, including, but not limited to Adidas, Lay’s, Konami, Audemars Piguet, Chery and AirEuropa.

Alex Rodriguez (Baseball)

Easily the wealthiest player in Major League Baseball, A-Rod continues to not only earn the big bucks, but also demonstrate that he deserves them. He earned $32 million from his salary alone in 2010, which is $6 million more than the second best paid baseball player Vernon Wells. A-Rod would probably be higher on the list if he made an additional effort to get more sponsorships and endorsements, because he rarely makes over $5 million from sponsorships in the course of a year. But he is all about baseball and continues to dazzle fans, becoming one of the most popular players in New York, playing for the most popular and successful team in the history of the sport, the Yankees. In 2010 Rodriguez had 30 home runs and 125 RBIs.

Fernando Alonso (Formula 1 Racing)

One of the most successful racers in the world, he has made money over the years racing for many teams, including Renault and McLaren. As long as he continues to win on the track, he will continue to be winning in the bank as well, since sponsors love the young Spaniard as do racing fans around the world. Alonso makes over $30 million from racing alone and has tons of sponsorships. He signed a deal with Spanish financial services provider Santander in 2010, which was one of the more lucrative endorsements of his career thus far. It is also interesting to note that Alonso’s thumbs have been insured by the company as part of his life and accident insurance package for an unbelievable $15 million.

Valentino Rossi (MotoGP Racing)

The most successful and highest earning motorcycle racer in the world is easily Rossi, who also earns tons of salary bonuses and endorsement money from companies such as Fiat and Yamaha, along with his racing winnings. He has been able to recover after a tax evasion probe in 2007 and has continued to be successful on the track and in making endorsement deals off the track despite the speculation that came with the probe.