Pacquiao among the world?s highest paid athletes
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 05 Jun 2011
Despite the marriage-wrecking scandal that happened nearly two years ago and destroyed his playing career, golfing icon Tiger Woods still remains the highest paid athlete the past year, according to the newest ranking released by the prestigious Forbes Magazine. Woods? earnings dropped by $50 million brought about by sponsorship withdrawals as an offshoot of the scandal and by the economic downturn, yet his earnings the past 12 months reached $75 million, easily outdistancing second-running Kobe Bryant of the dethroned NBA, Los Angeles Lakers, who made $53 million.
Thanks mainly to the two hefty, five-year $40 million sponsorships Woods signed with Nike in 1998, Nike Electronic Arts released its first ?Tiger Woods PGA Tour? videogame in 1998, Forbes reported.
Bryant leads 15 basketball players that made the list, more than any other sport. Bryant added Turkish Airlines and Mercedes-Benz?s Smart Car to his endorsement portfolio this year. His $24.8 million salary with the Lakers is $4 million more than any other NBA player. No. 3 on the list is Miami Heat forward LeBron James, who earned $48 million.
Filipino boxing idol and boxing?s pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao is ranked tied for the 24th and 25th places with soccer fame Kaka, each making 25 million.
The financial magazine reported that the eight ?division boxing champion made $6 million pay-per-view buys in his last six fights, beefed up by signing as three-year endorsement portfolio with Hewlette-Packard.
Pacquiao out-earned soccer player Ronaldhino, NBA campaigner Amare Stoudemire, tennis ace Maria Sharapova who rounded out the top 30 earners.
Women are under-represented among the top-earning athletes as Sharapova emerged the only athlete in the distaff side to make it to the top 50 for the second straight year. She ranks 29th with earnings of $24.2 million, largely from her lucrative Nike deal, which pays her royalties on her lines of tennis apparel and Cole Haan shoes.
Completing the top 10 list of highest paid athletes are tennis? Roger Federer, 4th; golf?s Phil Mickelson, 5th; soccer?s David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo, 6th and seventh; Alex Rodriguez of baseball,8th; racing ace Michael Schumacher, 9th; and Lionel Messi, also of soccer, 10th.
Federer is listed to have the most impressive endorsement portfolio in sports with 10, including those with Nike, Credit Suisse, Rolex and Wilson, where most of his $47million income comes from. Mickelson, in spite of having been diagnosed to have been suffering from psoriatic arthritis, still able to earn $46 million. Becham earned $40 million in the same period, Ronaldo $38 million, Rodriguez $35 million, Schumacher $34 million and Messi $32.3 million. The magazine?s figures were based on salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months ending May 1. Taxes or agents? fees were not deducted.
Also in the Forbes list from 11th to 20th are Car racer Fernando Alonzo, Rafael Nadal of tennis, Valentino Rosi also of racing, Tom Brady of football, Lewis Hamilton of racing, Derek Jeter of baseball, Dale Earnhardt of racing and NBA superstars Yao Ming, Dwight Howard and Dwayne Wade.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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