The world of sports entertainment is as far reaching as it is, well, enjoyable. Sports are the backbone off of which we build our days around in the United States. While it is football season we are already planning ahead to the basketball. When basketball is heading toward the playoffs fans start to ponder about Opening Day and the first pitch of the MLB season. With how dominating sports has become in our world of entertainment it only makes sense that plenty of sports figures are raking in some serious cash. Some of these athletes leverage their salaries along with savvy stock investment and options trading advice in order to make their millions growth while others just rack up cash in their field. Listed below are 11 of the richest athletes on Earth.
Michael Jordan -$1.1 billion.
Michael Jordan is The Great One. Jordan is the competitor by which all other competitors are evaluated. He is the greatest to ever play in the NBA and his accomplishments would take entirely too much time to list. Instead we’ll point out that he is the only sports figure on our list to eclipse the billion dollar earning mark and he has worked tirelessly in order to get to this place. Jordan is a brand and that brand is worth money. You can find Jordan’s logo on shoes, video games, clothing and so much more. His success financially is something truly wonderful to behold, almost like nailing that first quote auto insurance you need. We aren’t sure that Jordan even needs insurance anymore, though, just look at that bank account.
Michael Jordan
Peyton Manning – $228 million.
Before Peyton Manning retired in 2016 he was considered one of the greatest active quarterbacks of all time. Now we can amend that statement and simply say: Peyton Manning is one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of cleats in the NFL. Manning closed off his storybook career with a Super Bowl championship as a Denver Bronco and now the NFL legend will get to retire off into the sunset to never worry about human things like a mortgage or auto insurance quotes. Manning is one of the most successful marketing pros in all of professional sports and he has turned lucrative endorsement deals into huge financial boons. Manning is a franchise owner of the pizza chain Papa Johns and he is a recurring presence on television. Manning is worth an estimated $228 million with earnings dating all the way back to 1998.
Peyton Manning
Kobe Bryant – $360 million.
Known simply as Kobe, Kobe Bryant is one of the living basketball legends that helped move the NBA into a new era after Michael Jordan left the game of basketball. Bryant is unquestionably one of the greatest players to ever grace the hardwood and he is one of the few players to spend his entire career with one franchise, playing 20 years for the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe is an 18x All Star, a 12x All-Defensive Player, a 5x Champion, an MVP, and a lock for the Hall of Fame. Bryant has always been great with the media and his persona only helped to cultivate an off the court presence that made endorsements easy to come by. An estimate of Kobe’s networth is around $360 million but we expect that number to boost once Bryant gets involved with analyst work on various sports networks. In any case, Bryant won’t need to mince words when he looks for a car insurance quote or an online auto insurance quote — he can afford the nice stuff now.
Kobe Bryant
Derek Jeter – $185 million.
If you are one of the Fenway Faithful then the name ‘Derek Jeter’ conjures up horror stories. If you grew up repping New York pinstripes then Derek Jeter is a hero, a legend, and an icon of baseball history. No matter what your fandom requires you to believe about Jeter there are a few cold harded stats to consider: Jeter is a 14 time All Star, a 5 time world World Series champion, a 5 time Gold Glover, and an 11 year captain of the New York Yankees. Jeter is one of baseballs greatest and he is 6th all time in career hits. Not only was Jeter a legend off of the field but he was a maven off of it, leveraging his spot in a huge market to turn his gigantic salary into even larger sums. Estimates put Derek Jeter’s net worth at around $200 million.
Derek Jeter
Cristiano Ronaldo – $230 million.
Soccer doesn’t really get the props it deserves in the United States but a glance at some of the paychecks being cut to the best players on the pitch could probably change your mind. Cristiano Ronaldo has turned into the face of the sport and his contract with Real Madrid certainly pays him that way. From 2013 to 2014 alone we saw Ronaldo earn $80 just from his contract alone. Add in to the fact that he is endorsing companies like Nike, Tag Heuer, and Motorla and it makes sense that his paychecks are only getting bigger. However, it was just this past year or two that Cristiano Ronaldo leapt ahead of legend Lionel Messi. Right now Ronaldo is the highest paid soccer player in the world with an estimated net worth nearing $230 million.
Cristiano Ronaldo
George Foreman – $250 million.
George Foreman is one of the most successful cross platform athletes of all time thanks to his ability to market himself outside of his own sport of boxing. As a heavyweight boxer George Foreman was one of the most dangerous men you could come across in the ring. Over the span of his professional career Foreman racked up a 76 – 5 record with 68 of those wins coming by way of knockout. Once outside of the ring Foreman branched out and got into product endorsements with the George Foreman Grill being his top seller. So far Foreman has sold over 100 million grills around the world which put a real boost into his career earnings. Not bad for someone who retired at the age of 48, right?
George Foreman
Alex Rodriguez – $300 million.
Alex Rodriguez is one of the most divisive players to ever lace up a pair of cleats in the MLB. Rodriguez is unquestionably one of the most talented players to ever pick up a bat or glove but he is also one of the most scrutinized thanks to testing positive multiple times for PEDs. Add in to the fact that Rodriguez moved from a small town team in the Texas Rangers to the big city New York Yankees for a fat paycheck and the scrutiny starts to make sense. Rodriguez has been in the Majors for 20 years and he is a 14x All Star, 3x MVP and the current record holder for total career grand slams. Rodriguez also has 692 total home runs which puts him spitting distance away from the most all time.
Alex Rodriguez
LeBron James – $425 million.
LeBron James graduated high school with ‘The King’ tattooed on his back. It was pretty clear early on that James was going to do something special in the NBA. After getting selected 1st overall in the NBA Draft James would immediately sign a $90 million deal with Nike. As it turns out, that huge paycheck would only be the beginning. LeBron is worth nearly half a billion dollars and he has earned every cent of that money. James’s image is squeaky clean off the court and he is one of the most gifted players to ever grace the hardwood. James is a surefire Hall of Fame member and a few more years of peak play could put him into the same breath as NBA great Michael Jordan.
LeBron James
Tiger Woods – $640 million.
Arnold Palmer may lay claim to getting golf back on track but Tiger Woods is probably the one golfer most responsible for giving the sport broad appeal around the world. Woods came up into the sport as a child prodigy and he lived up to those lofty expectations, quickly racking up win after win after win. Despite some public controversy, Woods has been one of the most endorsed athletes to ever take up their sport while also playing as one of the greatest of all time. Woods is worth an estimated $640 million.
Tiger Woods
Vince McMahon – $750 million.
We’ll change things up and dip our toes into the world of sports entertainment, as Vince McMahon would call it. Vince McMahon is an icon of a generation of wrestling fans and the head of the World Wresting Entertainment (formerly WWF) company. McMahon took over the company when his father passed away and it was his tireless work and innovation that would turn the WWF into one of the biggest brands in the entire world. McMahon is responsible for the first ever Wrestlemania, fought at Madison Square Garden, as well as a variety of other industry standard ideas. McMahon himself is worth nearly $750 million and thanks can be laid at his feet for keeping the art of professional wrestling alive.
Vince McMahon
Michael Schumacher – $800 million.
Another sport that we had no idea was so financially viable is racing. Michael Schumacher is one of the best to ever race and his bank account surely shows it. The German bord racer got his start when he was just 3 years old while messing around with a pedal cart. That would quickly change as he made it to the pro’s, earning the nickname of ‘Rain King’, while racking up championship after championship and endorsement after endorsement. Schumacher no longer races after a tragic skiing incident that left him in a coma for nearly 6 months. Now he is rehabilitating but he is not able to compete anymore.
Michael Schumacher
