Caption – Golf is one of the richest sports out there and there’s no surprise who’s the richest star of the sport
If there’s one thing we all know, it’s that the sports stars of today are some of the luckiest people alive. Sure, they put in a lot of extremely hard work to get where they are, but they are doing something they love and getting paid ridiculous amounts of money to do so. They are blessed to have been born in an era where commercial interests in sports have pushed athletes salaries and competition prize pools into the stratosphere.
So, with all of this in mind, we’ve decided to take a quick look at the world’s richest sports and the stars that make the most money from their game. Prepare to be green with envy.
Football
The NFL is the dream meal ticket for a ballplayer. Even the lowest-paid player in the league, Tyrone Swoops, earns $378,000 per year. That’s a lot to you and me, but pocket change to those at the top end of the scale.
And at the very top of that pay scale sits the legendary Eli Manning. In his career, the quarterback — who is probably the third-best QB in his family — earned a staggering $252.3million. In one season alone he earned $37 million, including a signing bonus of $31million. And that’s before we talk about endorsements and all of his commercial interests.
Poker
Picking out the top earner in poker is a tough one, as one big win at a tournament can see a player leapfrog those above him overnight. But if we take into account their commercial endeavors too, then Phil Ivey is certainly one of the richest poker players in the US. He has a net worth of somewhere in the region of US$100 million. And if we’re honest, that would certainly make him one of the richest on the planet in the game.
Ivey is a living poker legend with no less than 10 World Series of Poker bracelets. It’s no wonder he’s often called the ‘Tiger Woods of poker’.
Golf
Speaking of Tiger Woods, we come to the game of golf. While Phil Ivey may have the nickname, his earnings pale in comparison to the real Tiger Woods. He’s has had a rough time of it these past few years, but after he got his personal life back together, we’re seeing more of the old Tiger once again.
And his bank balance shows it. Tiger is thought to be worth around $800million, but what’s truly incredible is the fact that Tiger’s net worth is twice that of the next richest golfer, Phil Mickelson. Wow.
Tennis
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Serena Williams would be the top earner here, but she’s not. In fact, although her commercial interests may yet make her the richest tennis player on the planet at some point, the current wealthiest pro is Roger Federer. The Swiss tennis machine is worth an estimated $900million and could be on his way to a billion this year.
Incredibly, he’s not actually the richest tennis pro if we take former pros and their earnings post-tennis into account. That accolade goes to Ion Tiriac. Who? Yep, we had to google him too. Tiriac was a tennis pro who’s biggest achievement on the court was winning the Bavarian Open and making the quarterfinals of the French Open. When he retired he formed a private bank in his native Romania, and is now worth an estimated $2billion!
Soccer
In Europe, they call it football and over there it’s one of the richest sports there is. While soccer players here in the US rarely break the $100,000 mark in a season, players in Europe’s big leagues make that in a week or sometimes less.
The title of highest-earning soccer player is contested each year by the same two players that are considered the best in the world — Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has an estimated net worth of $460million, while Messi is worth around $400million. But while they are the highest earners, they’re not the richest in terms of net worth. That title goes to Faiq Bolkiah, a little-known player who plays for Maritimo of Portugal. He also just happens to be a prince of the Bruneian Royal Family, with a net worth somewhere in the region of $20billion
Basketball
Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tim Duncan are just some top earners in the game of basketball, but none come anywhere close to the wealthiest player on the planet. That is none other than the one and only Michael Jordan.
Jordan earned some serious money on the court, but his commercial ventures and endorsements are what really sent his salary to the moon. Now, we all know Jordan is rich, but did you know he has amassed a fortune that is just a shade over $1.6billion? With that kind of money it’s no surprise that he’s getting into NASCAR racing now too.
Baseball
There are 42 players who have made more than $150million playing baseball. That’s a pretty high figure but not really very surprising. So who is the richest of them all? Derek Jeter, Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Beltran, and Albert Pujols are all up there. But the highest earner in baseball is none other than Alex Rodriguez, who has been paid over $455 million since taking up professional baseball.
However, if we’re being real sticklers over who is the wealthiest professional baseball player, then it’s actually a player who only made it to the minor leagues. Yes, we’re back to that man again Michael Jordan. Seriously, no one can compete with that $1.6billion fortune.
No, we’re not green with envy. You’re green with envy! Time to buy a lottery ticket because we’re not sure we’ve got the skills to make it on the court, pitch, or at the poker table.
