In which sport do the MOST athletes earn the HIGHEST NET INCOME?

The Game Room
1

I was thinking about this yesterday after Dustin Johnson won a cool $15 million - to add to the $5.8 million he’d already won this year. So I was daydreaming about what sort of lifestyle that would support, but I realized that $20 million only painted a part of the picture.

I assume pro golfers earn considerable coin from endorsements. And they also get “comped” in various ways - free travel, clothing, meals, etc. But I don’t know any reliable way to estimate such “outside” income.

Also, they have considerable expenses. Some percentage of their earnings goes to their agent. And they pay a percentage of their winnings to their caddies. Then they employ a number of folk - various coaches, trainers, etc. And I’m sure financial advisors. I think golfers have to pay for their own travel to/from events - tho many are sponsored by private air charter firms. And they have to pay for housing while at events.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not suggesting pro golfers - or any other pro athletes - need a tag sale to be held for them. But I was wondering if it would be possible to compare sports in terms of which sports have the highest net incomes. I also wanted to eliminate outliers like Tiger Woods.

Does a football/baseball/basketball player who earns $20 million a year have expenses similar to a golfer’s? I assume their travel and housing on the road is covered. And I don’t know what their arrangements are WRT private coaches/trainers/nutritionists and the like. And another point, some sports have vastly shorter/longer career expectancies.

I’m also asking about which sports have the highest NUMBER of highly paid individuals. I agree, this is a vague measure. Like I said, there might be a few tennis players raking in big bucks, with hundres who are scrambling. I long thought it would be tough to be sitting on the end of the bench, earning the NBA minimum, while hanging with co-workers who made CRAZY amounts of cash.

Interested in any thoughts/perspectives.

2

The answer is almost certainly football - as in soccer. Although the U.S. dominates most things financial, the global reach of soccer pushes it beyond the major U.S. sports., and I don’t think golf is anywhere close.

There’s a whole bunch of data here:

3

Ran across this. Lists the highest paid athletes as:
Roger Federer tennis
Christiano Ronaldo soccer
Lionel Messi soccer
Neymar soccer
LeBron James NBA
Stephan Curry NBA
Kevin Durant NBA
Tiger Woods golf
Kirk Cousins US football
Carson Wentz US football

I suspect you are on to something, in terms of greatest number of participants, it would likely HAVE to be soccer.

Going to look at the article you liked - thanks. Upon first glance, tho, I think it is limited to salaries. Not sure how much that affects things.

4

Soccer has the advantage that the top leagues don’t have salary caps like the North American leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL).

5

No salary cap in MLB

6

True, but they do have a luxury tax which in practice functions as a soft salary cap.

7

Probably would depend on how much you weigh “most athletes” vs “highest net income.”

By net income are you only talking about sports related? I think Ronaldo earns more from his instragram account than he does in salary from Juventus.

8

Which is obvious. So would you like to offer your perspective?

9

If you weight extremely highly by salary it probably varies a lot by year and soccer, tennis, or boxing are likely. As you broaden the scope it probably becomes basketball. Then as you broaden the scope even more it probably becomes soccer again. Eventually the question is “which sport has the most paid players?” I dunno. Maybe that’s still soccer - wouldn’t surprise me.