Posted on 07/22/2010 1:18:31 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
All hail King Roger. The average earnings of the top 20 non-American sportsmen have broken the $30 million barrier for the first time, led by a new No. 1. With the all-time record for majors and unprecedented millions in winnings, endorsement dollars and lucrative exhibition fees, Roger Federer has dethroned David Beckham as the top-earning foreign athlete with a near $62 million haul.
Beckham, in fact, has fallen to No. 3. The Los Angeles Galaxy star is now also behind Argentine demigod and reigning FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, who has ridden a mythic year to No. 2 spot.
In all, this year's list features seven soccer players, five motor-sports racers, three tennis players, two NBA stars, two baseball players and one boxer. As always, our list includes salary, bonuses, endorsement income and appearance fees. For the Fortunate 50 list of the top-earning American athletes.
1. Roger Federer Tennis Switzerland Last Year's Rank: 9 $61,768,110
2. Lionel Messi FC Barcelona (soccer) Argentina Last Year's Rank: 4 $44,000,000
3.David Beckham Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) Great Britain Last Year's Rank: 1 $40,500,000
4. Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid (soccer) Portugal Last Year's Rank: 12 $40,000,000
5. Manny Pacquiao Boxing Philippines Last Year's Rank: 3 $38,000,000
6.Ichiro Suzuki Seattle Mariners (MLB) Japan Last Year's Rank: 15 $37,000,000
7. Valentino Rossi Motor Sports Italy Last Year's Rank: 5 (tie) $35,000,000
8. Yao Ming Houston Rockets (NBA) China Last Year's Rank: 7 $34,378,325
9. Rafael Nadal Tennis Spain Last Year's Rank: NR $27,466,515
10. Lewis Hamilton Auto Racing Great Britain Last Year's Rank: 8 $26,700,000
11. Kaká Real Madrid (soccer) Brazil Last Year's Rank: 18 (tie) $25,100,000
12. Thierry Henry New York Red Bulls (MLS) France Last Year's Rank: 14 $24,000,000
13. Dirk Nowitzki Dallas Mavericks (NBA) Germany Last Year's Rank: 16 $23,795,714
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
Rossi just raced a MotoGP with a broken leg, pulled a fourth place...
Hey! I’ve heard of three of those guys!
Another reason why they call him “The Doctor.”
The guy really is amazing and a lot of fun.
Congress needs to pass a law.
NAACP attacking the fact that there are none of their primary constituents in the Top 10 in 3....2....1....
RACIST WORLD!
This is a list of INTERNATIONAL ATHLETES. By definition, NO AMERICANS are included on this list.
If you included such top American BLACK athletes as Lebron James, Serena and Venus Williams, Tiger Woods etc., they’d easily blow past the top ten.
out of touch....insanity....obscenity...
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