Earnings For The Highest-Paid Athletes In 2023 Are Insane
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - JANUARY 03: Cristiano Ronaldo attends a press conference during the official unveiling of Cristiano Ronaldo as an Al Nassr player at Mrsool Park Stadium on January 3, 2023 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)
While wages at your day job might be a little stagnant these days, wages for the top athletes in professional sports have been growing exponentially and the latest numbers show it.
Leading the way - and to no surprise if you followed the news - soccer megastar Cristiano Ronaldo came in first after raking in an ungodly $275 million, according to Sportico. Ronaldo signed a 2.5-year deal with Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr for $536,336,818, becoming the first athlete to sign a contract worth over $200 million per year in the process.
Coming in a seemingly distant second with $203 million in 2023 is golf star Jon Rahm, who won four PGA Tour events including the Masters before inking a massive deal with LIV Golf.
In third is another soccer megastar, Lionel Messi, with an even more distant $130 million. He is followed by LeBron James ($125.7 million) and Kylian Mbappe ($125 million) to round out the top five.
Here is the full top 10 ranking, per Mark J. Burns:
- Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer) - $275 million
- Jon Rahm (golf) - $203 million
- Lionel Messi (soccer) - $130 million
- LeBron James (basketball) - $125.7 million
- Kylian Mbappe (soccer) - $125 million
- Neymar (soccer) - $121 million
- Steph Curry (basketball) - $98.9 million
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (basketball) - $88.4 million
- Kevin Duran (basketball) - $86.9 million
- Patrick Mahomes (football) - $84.3 million
As you can see, there are a ton of soccer stars at the upper echelon of the list. Will Ronaldo repeat as the highest-paid athlete of 2024?
