Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James Make The Most Money In World Sport

You'd Think They Could Afford A Shirt


Article heading image for Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James Make The Most Money In World Sport

Sure, his statue's butt ugly, but it doesn't matter.

Cristiano Ronaldo makes more money than any other athlete on the planet.

Salary, bonuses and endorsements come to at least $123 million a year.

Forbes have crunched the numbers ranking the Portuguese prodigy just ahead of NBA superstar LeBron James

He earns $41 million a season, but endorsements and play-off bonuses push James up about $114 million... a year.

For all his success winning NBA Championship for the Cavaliers, the man who calls himself "The King," can't match Ronaldo's 12 months.

He was named FIFA's best player in the world for the fourth time, scored his 600th career goal and led Real Madrid to their second straight Champions League title.

Ronaldo also signed that eye-watering contract extension with Real which will make him $66 million a year for the next four years.

Then there's a lifetime Nike deal worth upwards of $1.3 billion.

Oh yeah, LeBron's got one of those too.

As for the other athletes on the list...

Soccer superstar Lionel Messi pulled in $106 million, tennis legend Roger Federer stashed away $85 million in his Swiss bank accounts and basketballer Kevin Durant collected $80 million.

Of the Top 100 athletes ranked by Forbes, Americans dominate the list with 63 entries and a record 32 NBA players made the cut.

Endorsements and appearance fees make up roughly 30% of the pool and Nike's got bragging rights on almost half of world's best paid.

It's got more than $12 billion committed in endorsement deals with athletes, teams and leagues.

Just do it, indeed.

10 December 2018




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