Sports’ all-time earnings leaders include two soccer stars, a tennis pro, an NBA forward, a prize fighter and a golf legend.
Phil Mickelson’s rumored $200 million contract with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour is the latest, and largest, example of the value that sports leagues, brands and even sovereign wealth funds see in aligning themselves with the best athletes in the world.
“Athletes are strategic assets of the leagues in which they play,” says David Carter, who founded the consulting firm Sports Business Group and is a professor of sports business at USC. “Before, they were simply employees.”
If credited for the LIV Golf payout, which he did not explicitly deny when confronted with the report at a press conference this week, Mickelson would join one of the most exclusive clubs in all of sports: those athletes who have earned more than $1 billion in their careers.
To date, there are six athletes who have brought in that much money. These billion-dollar earners have transcended the sports they have respectively dominated and become global icons, leading to even more lucrative opportunities outside their fields of play.
For example, the top earner of all, Tiger Woods, made less than 10% of his $1.72 billion career haul from golf winnings, with the rest mostly coming from massive endorsement deals he has maintained across a storied 27-year career.
Woods is a billionaire, as is LeBron James, who has brought in $1.16 billion in lifetime earnings and made plenty of his money from smart investments. But they are the only two among these billion-dollar earners to cross that wealth threshold. That’s because earnings are recorded before taxes, agents’ fees and other expenses.
Still, the existence of athlete billionaires is a new phenomenon, enabled by the ever-expanding reach of modern media. As the international celebrity of top athletes increases, so has the size of their endorsement deals.
“None of these guys are going to be billionaires if they don’t have a global footprint,” Carter says. “What is new in the last generation is the immediacy of the media link to technology, the fact that most businesses these guys are involved in have a global opportunity attached to it.”
The trend shows no signs of slowing, and in recent years, record-breaking sports contracts seem to be surpassed before the ink has dried on the previous record holder’s deal. Before long, more athletes may join the ranks of these privileged few.
All-Time Earnings Leaders
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Tiger Woods $1.72 bil
Golf
The 46-year-old Woods was, at his peak, the most prolific athlete endorser in history, raking in over $100 million off the course per year and leading Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes for a decade straight.
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Cristiano Ronaldo $1.24 bil
Soccer
The world’s all-time goal-scoring leader boasts more than 690 million followers across social media platforms, allowing him to command sky-high rates from sponsors like Nike, Herbalife and Clear shampoo. He’s an investor in Tatel restaurants and the forthcoming soccer community app ZujuGP, and he still commands premium wages on the pitch for Manchester United.
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LeBron James $1.16 bil
Basketball
In addition to his lifetime contract with Nike and a $41.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, the 37-year-old hoops legend sold a significant minority stake in his production company, SpringHill, in October at a valuation of about $725 million. He has also taken equity stakes in several of the companies he has endorsed, including the at-home fitness company Tonal, which helps push him to a net worth of $1 billion.
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Lionel Messi $1.15 bil
Soccer
The Argentine forward was the highest-paid athlete in the world over the past 12 months despite taking a significant pay cut when he moved to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona in August. He added a $20 million deal with fan engagement app Socios in March to go with long-term deals with Adidas, Budweiser, PepsiCo and Hard Rock International.
KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/AP
Roger Federer $1.09 bil
Tennis
Despite not playing in a tournament since Wimbledon last July, the 40-year-old Swiss maestro earned more money off the field—$90 million—than any other athlete in the world over the last 12 months. He’s a top pitchman for Rolex and Uniqlo and has a sizable investment in burgeoning shoe brand On.
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Floyd Mayweather $1.08 bill
Boxing
In 2018, Mayweather produced the biggest single payday in the history of sports when he netted $275 million from his prize fight with Conor McGregor. His decision to run his own promotion company for his fights led to him receiving a cut of the pay-per-view, gate, sponsorships, merchandise and international TV deals for each of the four most profitable fights in boxing history.
