Forbes on Wednesday released its annual ranking of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes. The top 100 earned a total of $3.11B over the last 12 months, a slight decrease from last year's earnings of $3.15B. Endorsement income also experienced a bit of a decline, down 4% to $887M this year. Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, with earnings of $93M, retains the top spot for the second consecutive year. The list of elite athletes consists of players from 11 different sports. Basketball dominates the list with a record 32 NBA players among the top 100, up from 18 in '16, followed by baseball with 22 players, football with 15 and soccer with 9. There are 21 countries represented on this year's World's Highest-Paid Athletes list, with the U.S. (63) the most prevalent. Six Brits landed in the top 100, led by golfer Rory McIlroy at No. 6 with $50M (Forbes).
The World’s Top 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in 2017:
|
Rank
|
Athlete
|
Sport
|
Salary ($mil)
|
Endorsements ($mil)
|
Total Earnings ($mil)
|
|
1
|
Cristiano Ronaldo
|
Soccer
|
58.0
|
35
|
93.0
|
|
2
|
LeBron James
|
Basketball
|
31.2
|
55
|
86.2
|
|
3
|
Lionel Messi
|
Soccer
|
53.0
|
27
|
80.0
|
|
4
|
Roger Federer
|
Tennis
|
6.0
|
58
|
64.0
|
|
5
|
Kevin Durant
|
Basketball
|
26.6
|
34
|
60.6
|
|
6
|
Rory McIlroy
|
Golf
|
16.0
|
34
|
50.0
|
|
6
|
Andrew Luck
|
Football
|
47.0
|
3
|
50.0
|
|
8
|
Stephen Curry
|
Basketball
|
12.3
|
35
|
47.3
|
|
9
|
James Harden
|
Basketball
|
26.6
|
20
|
46.6
|
|
10
|
Lewis Hamilton
|
Racing
|
38.0
|
8
|
46.0
|
Source: FORBES
