Michael Jordan leads with USD 3 billion

The 100 with the best paid athletes in the world made a record of $ 6.2 billion of salaries, prize money and notes last year, led by Cristiano Ronaldo ($ 260 million) and Stephen Curry ($ 154 million). The sum increased by 14%, since several team owners locked their biggest stars with blockbuster contracts.

An athlete who retired more than 20 years ago, but earned more than everyone and continued a four-decades run as a goat.

Michael Jordan earned an estimated 300 million US dollar in 2024, with Nike being responsible for most of his income. It increased its career result to 3 billion US dollars since he became a professional in 1984, or 4.15 billion US dollars if it was adjusted to inflation. He sits on top SportsSee the best paid athletes of all time before Tiger Woods ($ 2.79 billion, inflation), Ronaldo ($ 2.23 billion) and LeBron James ($ 1.88 billion).

Click here to get a full list of the TOP 50 and detailed methodology.

Nike signed a contract with Jordan after the Chicago Bulls had selected the third overall in the 1984 draft of 1984. The agreement negotiated by David Falk was initially 500,000 US dollars a year for five years and was famous for a reduction in sales of sneakers that were launched for the first time in 1985.

The brand has increased since then. Last year, Nike reported Jordan sales of $ 7 billion, an increase of 6% compared to the previous year because the rest of Nike’s business was flat. Jordan Brand’s turnover has doubled since 2020 because he expanded to do more women’s equipment, non-basketball articles and international sales. The basketball shoe market “Performance” has dropped in the past ten years, but the “retro” or the lifestyle business has more than made up for the declines.

The latest financial year of Nike, the next month ends, will let Jordan brand turn down to decrease, since the entire company goes through a restart under the new CEO Elliott Hill. But the brand remains an important gear in Hills Turnaround efforts. After all, Hill was the Nike Manager, who took over the Jordan Brand International in the late 1990s.

In addition to Nike, MJ keeps his longstanding comments on Gatorade, Five stars, Oberdeck and 2K. In 2023 he sold a majority stake to the Charlotte Hornets, but the five-time NBA MVP remains a team owner in the 23xi Nachar team. He is also an investor in Axiomatic, Cincoro Tequila, Draftkings and Sportradar. Last year he put money in Courtside Ventures, a VC fund that focuses on sport, lifestyle and games.

Athletes from eight different sports crack the top 50, and most of the 50 athletes are retired – 18 are still active. But like MJ, hanging your sneakers or tunnels does not mean the end of the money flow for many sizes of all time.

David Beckham was the largest star in the largest sport in the world, and his annual income reached a highlight of around $ 50 million in his 20-year career. However, Beckham did more than in most years in retirement than he brought partnerships with more time to devote them to them. After his retirement, he initially dismissed several shops in China and used the country’s massive interest in sport at that time. His largest payday took place in 2022, when the authentic Brands Group paid around 270 million US dollars for 55% participation in Beckhams DB Ventures LLC, the holding company for many of its partnerships. Beckham’s other activities and dividends from ABG promoted his profit north of $ 60 million last year.

SportsThe TOP 50 does not take into account an investment income or share participation, but Beckham also achieved there, especially with his MLS franchise Inter Miami FC. Beckham was given the opportunity to start an extension franchise for a fixed fee of 25 million US dollars when he came to MLS as a player in 2007. When Inter Miami started playing in 2020, the MLS franchise increased. In 2022, the club’s value increased another thrust when he secured the final approval for a new stadium and again the following year with the arrival of Lionel Messi. In January, SportsInter Miami had the MLS team ratings at 1.19 billion US dollars.

Beckham occupies eighth place with an inflation-adjusted income of $ 1.61 billion.

Tom Brady withdrew after the NFL season 2022. During his 23-year career, he won seven super bowl titles in 10 trips and three NFL MVP prices. His average salary in his career, including bonuses, was 14.5 million US dollars, and it was 21 million US dollars in his last decade when he was the undiscovered largest star in the richest sports league in the world.

His “retirement” agjob pays off better.

Last season, Brady started his 10-year contract over $ 375 million to head Fox Sports NFL analyst. He is still a popular pitchman and plays in the last national advertising campaigns for Dicks Sports Articles, Duracell and Hertz. In 2020 he signed a lucrative, long -term memorial and an autograph contract with fanatics. Last year, his brands “TB12” and “Brady” with Nobull with a clothing brand merged in a deal that made Brady the second largest shareholder of the company.

Brady occupies number 21 with cumulative income of $ 820 billion. He is one of only four NFL players who crack the top 50 against 13 in basketball. Football players usually have shorter careers – Brady is a massive outlier – and the annual yield for confirmation is also the biggest stars in basketball.

Golfers take eight slots in the top 50, the second behind basketball. Golfers benefit from decades of careers, and the greatest stars of sport remain popular for a long time after their biggest victories. Arnold Palmer still earned almost 40 million US dollars a year from his name and brand when he died in 2016 at the age of 87. Woods has only won three golf tournaments since 2013, with the last 2019, but still deserves more than 60 million US dollars a year.

Other sports representatives each comprise seven of boxes and races, five in tennis, four soccer players and two baseball.

Jordan, Woods, Ronaldo and Brady are the top earners for their respective sport. Other guides are tennis’ Roger Federer (No. 9, 1.59 billion US dollars), Floyd Mayweather from Boxing (No. 10, 1.52 billion US dollars), Michael Schumacher from Auto Racing (No. 12, 1.39 billion US dollar) and Alex Rodriguez from Baseball (No. 22, 795 USD). The threshold for the crack of the top 50 is 570 million US dollars. The Americans represent 32 of the 50 names, and Serena Williams is the only woman who cracks the top earners – Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams fall into the next 50 names.