You know the footballers’ bank accounts? The ones we see growing out of all proportion every year with envy and even a little indignation? Here, forget them, because in the world of sport there are also those who earn much more than them. Sport has become a business that counts extraordinary figures and a large part of the world of advertising takes care of making the money go around.
Let’s take a look at the highest paid sportsmen of 2018 and to what extent salaries and sponsorships help to impinge on their income, with the infographic produced by Codicebonus.
CLASSIFICATION
The title of the richest athlete in the world this year is taken home by Floyd Mayweather, the man who has been rewriting the history of boxing for twenty years now. His nickname, Money Mayweather, doesn’t leave much room for imagination: the American boxer is famous not only for his career in the ring, but also for his dizzying earnings.
But this time to reach this goal a great contribution came from his famous meeting last year with Conor McGregor (also in the ranking), also known as Money Fight. This event with an amazing media reach, earned him $275 million in one fell swoop!
Immediately after in the ranking we find football with two giants of the ball.
Lionel Messi: Argentine blood does not lie, in fact “la Pulga” (the flea, the nickname given to the footballer because of his stature) is considered one of the greatest footballers of all time and heir to Maradona, his compatriot.
In 2018 he earned 111 million dollars and second place in our ranking.
The top 3 closes with Cristiano Ronaldo and his 108 million, 61 of which deriving from his own club, Juventus, and the remaining 47 from sponsorship with Nike, Herbalife and EA Sports.
An important presence is represented by basketball, which occupies two positions in the ranking, and in both cases the revenues from sponsorship exceed those of salaries. LeBron James: an American basketball player who plays with the Los Angeles Lakers, is considered one of the most eclectic players in the history of the NBA. His bank account is around $85.5 million, of which $52 million comes from sponsorships with Coca Cola, Nike and Intel to name but a few.
Stephen Curry, on the other hand, slightly lower in the ranking, takes home almost 77 million.
The last positions see the emergence of American football, with Matt Ryan (No. 9) and Matthew Stafford (No. 10). The first, quarterback in Atlanta Falcons, has an income of 67.3 million with a five-year contract with the club of 150 million dollars, while Stafford, quarterback of the Detroit Lions, has signed a contract with the team until 2022 of 135 million dollars.
WHAT ARE THE SPORTS WITH THE LARGEST TURNOVER?
Interesting as unexpected is the figure that reports golf as the discipline with the most significant business: 70 billion dollars. Second place is taken by football: with almost 25 billion it takes away tennis and football that occupy the next positions with turnover exceeding 7 billion.
The hockey business is also remarkable, in seventh place with 2.6 billion dollars.
Formula 1 ranks among the last positions in the ranking with a high turnover but not enough to be in the top 5: 1.3 billion. The same is not true for the salaries of the drivers who, in fact, can earn up to 50 million.
Cycling and boxing, at the bottom of the classification, do not exceed 9 figures but still boast turnover ranging from 185 to 236 million dollars.