Top 5 Highest Paid Athletes In 2014
Giancarlo Stanton inked a contract with the Miami Marlins big enough to make Alex Rodriguez blush. A-Rod's 10-year, $275 million contract in 2008 actually pays more per year ($29.2 million/year avg) but Giancarlo ($25 million/year avg) has more options and security with a 13-year deal, including being able to leave for an even bigger contract like A-Rod did when he left Texas for a $2.3 Million raise per year (on average). Lots of people have done plenty of comparing between A-Rod's deal and Stanton's over the last few days so we'll leave it there.
But since we're on the topic... Let's take a look at the world's Top 5 Highest Paid Athletes in 2014 to put things in perspective. If there is such thing as perspective with numbers this astronomical.
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5. Kobe Bryant
Total Earnings: $61.5 million
Salary/winnings: $30.5 million
Endorsements: $31 million
$30.5 in salary alone will put you at the top of most lists. Equal that paycheck with endorsement deals from Nike, Turkish Air, Lenovo and more and you're really talking some serious coin.
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4. Lionel Messi
Total Earnings: $64.7 million
Salary/winnings: $41.7 million
Endorsements: $23 million
He's one of the biggest names in sports. He's Barcelona's top goal scorer. He just signed his 7th contract in 11 years that gives him $50 million a year until 2019.
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3. LeBron James
Total Earnings: $72.3 million
Salary/winnings: $19.3 million
Endorsements: $53 million
Not only does LeBron get paid to play ball, his endorsements set him apart. His Nike shoes made $300 million. He had a minor stake in Beats by Dre headphones which was recently sold to Apple for a cool $3 billion. Oh and that's not to mention his deals with McDonald's, Upper Deck and Coca-Cola.
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2. Cristiano Ronaldo
Total Earnings: $80 million
Salary/winnings: $52 million
Endorsements: $28 million
Real Madrid signed Ronaldo to a 5-year, $206 million contract after he was named Football's most valuable player in the world in 2013.
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1. Floyd Mayweather
Total Earnings: $105 million
Salary/winnings: $105 million
Endorsements: $0
You can figure in the enormous, record-setting earnings of his fights versus Canelo Alvarez into the equation. He does have sponsors for his fights, but the fact that this guy doesn't even need endorsements to top the list... that's staggering.
Figures via Forbes.
