Forbes’ annual look at the highest-earners in sports lists Cristiano Ronaldo as the world’s highest-paid athlete, with earnings of $88M over the past 12 months "from salary, bonuses and endorsements," according to Kurt Badenhausen of FORBES. It "is a good time to be a world-class athlete in a popular team sport." TV money "is fueling massive increases in player salaries across baseball, basketball, football and soccer." The cutoff for the top 100 athletes is $20.8M, up $2M over last year.
Ronaldo’s Real Madrid contract is worth more than $50M a year "in salary and bonus and runs through 2018." He is a "marketing juggernaut" earning $32M "off the pitch." Lionel Messi "ranks No. 2" with earnings of $81.4M. Messi’s "total earnings from sponsors" were $28M. His adidas pact is worth more than $10M annually. The 100 top-earning athletes "hail from 23 countries and compete in 10 sports, with Americans (65) and baseball players (26) the most numerous." Over the last 12 months, they banked a cumulative $3.15B, 29% of which "came from endorsements and appearances." The NBA’s LeBron James "ranks third with total earnings" of $77.2M. Roger Federer "is the top-earning athlete in an individual sport" with $67.8M over the past 12 months. Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova "are the only two women to make the cut for the second straight year, but the tennis stars flip-flopped spots thanks to new endorsements for Williams and bonuses from her historic three Grand Slam 2015" (FORBES, 6/8).