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Sport has become a multi-billion dollar business and a lucrative career option. Most top sports teams are listed on the stock exchange, while top athletes in individual sports often earn more in endorsements than they do by playing.
Thanks to rapid commercialisation and their global popularity, many sports leagues like football and basketball have lucrative television rights and jersey deals. Thus it's no surprise that athletes of these two sports are some of the top earners in the field. Many players and teams also earn revenue via various social media platforms.
Athletes from individual sports like tennis, golf and boxing also earn big bucks from multiple avenues. However, it's not just athletes, but also team owners, administrators and sports entertainment personnel who have built up fortunes. On that note, here's a look at the ten wealthiest sportspeople in terms of net worth in 2022 (as per Wealthy Gorilla):
Spoiler Alert: Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, tennis legend Roger Federer, basketball superstar LeBron James and boxer Floyd Mayweather narrowly fail to make the top ten.
Without further ado, let's get started:
#10 Michael Schumacher (Formula 1 legend) - $600 million
Michael Schumacher is one of the best drivers to have graced a Formula 1 car. The seven-time world champion had a particularly successful stint with Ferrari in the mid-90s and early 2000s.
During his heydays, the 53-year-old reportedly earned $80-100 million per year, including endorsements. Schumacher ($1.21 billion) is one of a handful of athletes with career earnings of over $1 billion (after adjusting for inflation).
He retired from the sport for a second time in 2012. He is currently sponsored by Deutsche Vermogensberatung - a financial services distributor, Mercedes Benz, CS Ranch - a reining facility.
Schumacher suffered a horrific head injury while skiing off-piste in the Swiss Alps in 2013. A year later, he returned from a coma, and is now undergoing a long period of rehabilitation at home.
His son, Mick, currently races in Formula 1 for American F1 racing team Haas.
#9 Magic Johnson (Basketball legend) - $600 million
Earvin 'Magic' Johnson is one of the greatest players in basketball history. The five-time NBA champion and three-time Finals MVP enjoyed a stellar playing career that spanned more than two decades.
He enjoyed a memorable debut campaign in 1979-80 with the LA Lakers, becoming the first rookie to win the NBA Finals MVP award. Four decades later, he remains the only rookie and the youngest player (20 years) to have accomplished the feat.
The 62-year-old later won five more NBA titles as a part-owner of the LA Lakers. He earned around $40 million during his playing days in the 80s and 90s. That amount would swell to ten times today after adjusting for inflation.
Johnson has also enjoyed success post-retirement. His Magic Johnson Enterprises is a very successful conglomerate, which is valued at more than $1 billion. He has also owned several sports teams over the years like the Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball team and the WNBA team Los Angeles Sparks.
#8 Lionel Messi (Football superstar) - $600 million
Lionel Messi is widely regarded as one of the best players to have graced the game of football.
The 34-year-old has scored goals and won big titles galore for club and country during his legendary career. Now at PSG, the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner is one of a handful of players to score over 750 goals for club and country.
With a reported annual wage of $75 million after taxes, he is one of the top on-field earners in the game. Last year, Messi was the second-highest-paid athlete, as per Forbes. The Argentine earned $130 million, with almost $100 million being endorsements. He has endorsement deals with Adidas, Gatorade and Pepsi, among others.
As of 2022, Messi has made $1.14 billion in career earnings, with most of them coming during his 21-year association with Barcelona.
Messi owns two properties in Miami - a condominium worth $5 million, and the entire floor of another building worth $7 million - which also counts towards his net worth. He owns another property in Pedrables, Barcelona, is worth $9 million after refurbishments.
#7 Junior Bridgeman (Former basketball player) - $600 million
Junior Bridgeman had a modest career in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks and the LA Lakers, excelling as a sixth man, in the late 70s and 80s. However, the Bucks legend is worth more than half a billion dollars despite on-court earnings of only $350,000.
After retiring in 1987, the 68-year-old delved into business, and made a plethora of smart investments. Bridgeman is the largest franchise owner of Wendy's, owning over 160 restaurants across the USA. He also owns over 120 Chili's restaurants.
He is now the president and CEO of Coca-Cola Heartland Bottling Company, which earns around $650 million in revenue every year.
#6 Eddie Jordan (Former Formula 1 team owner) - $600 million
Eddie Jordan won the 1971 Irish Kart Championship. However, the Irishman has made a fortune as a television personality and former owner of a Formula 1 team (Jordan Grand Prix).
It was with the 73-year-old's team that a certain Michael Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut in 1991 before the German subsequently moved to Benetton and Ferrari. The likes of Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barichello, Damon Hill and others have driven for Jordan over the years.
Eddie Jordan sold his Jordan team in the mid-2000s before returning to the Formula 1 scene as a pundit for BBC Sport F1 coverage.
Apart from Formula 1, the Irishman has business interests in varied sectors like oil, entertainment, real estate, gaming, and health & fitness. He was also a shareholder in Celtic, one of Scotland's biggest football clubs. Jordan is the owner of vodka brand Vodka V10 and energy drink brand EJ-10.
#5 Tiger Woods (Golf superstar) - $800 million
Tiger Woods is one of the greatest golfers in the history of the sport. The 46-year-old American has the joint-most PSG tour wins (82) and the second-most major Championships (15).
Having turned pro in 1996, Woods ended an 11-year major drought to win his 15th major at The Masters in 2019. That helped him move to within three of all-time leader Jack Nicklaus. He won a record-tying 82nd PGA tour win at the Zozo Championship in 2019.
Woods has amassed a fortune, thanks to his earnings on the golf course for more than two decades and lucrative sponsorship deals. More than a decade ago, he became the first athlete to earn $1 billion in career earnings.
His $105 million deal with Nike in 2000 was the then largest sponsorship deal for a professional athlete. Woods has also had sponsorships with the likes of Accenture, Gillette, Bridgestone, Rolex, Gatorade and Monster Energy over the years.
His total inflation-adjusted earnings of $2.1 billion is only exceeded by one other athlete - Michael Jordan (more on him later). Of that amount, Woods' golf salary comprises only about $120 million.
#4 Anna Kasprzak (Horse riding) - $1 billion
Anna Kasprzak is a two-time team dressage rider for Denmark at the Summer Olympics. She has won medals at various European junior and young riders equestrian tournaments. However, her claim to fame lies away from the arena.
In 2019, Kasprzak was one of only eight billionaires below the age of 30, as per Forbes. The 31-year-old is the co-owner of Danish shoe company ECCO. Their products are sold in 90 countries around the world, and their yearly sales are almost $1.5 billion.
Anna's mother Hanni Toosbuy Kasprzak is the owner and CEO of the company. Anna's grandfather Karl Toosbuy started the company in Denmark in 1963. Three decades later (1994), it was the Footwear company of the year in the USA.
Most of Kasprzak's net worth comes from her co-ownership of ECCO. However, her interests are varied. She runs a private dressage barn in Haderslev, Denmark.
#3 Ion Tiriac (Former tennis player) - $1.2 billion
Ion Tiriac is a former double international, having represented Romania with aplomb in both tennis and ice hockey.
On the court, one of his biggest achievements was winning the 1970 Roland Garros men's doubles title with his more illustrious compatriot Ilie Nastase. The 82-year-old's best performance in singles at a Grand Slam also came at the claycourt major. The former top-ten singles player reached the quarter-finals in 1968 at Roland Garros - the first-ever major tournament in the Open Era.
Post retirement, the three-time Davis Cup finalist coached the likes of Boris Becker, Nastase and Adriano Pannatta - all Grand Slam winners. Before committing full time to tennis, Tiriac was a defenseman for the Romanian ice hockey team at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.
The president of the Romanian tennis federation has amassed a net worth of $1 billion.
His Tiriac Group has investments in real estate, auto and financial services. Ion Tiriac also has a car and motorcycle collection of more than 400 vehicles.
#2 Vince McMahon (WWE) - $1.6 billion
Vince McMahon is the chairman and CEO of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), the world's largest media and sports entertainment company.
The 76-year-old has been associated with WWE, then called the WWF (World Wrestling Federation), for over five decades now. McMahon bought the company ten years later and transformed it into a global entity.
The East Carolina University graduate also has other business interests apart from WWE. He and his wife Linda, who have been married for 55 years, purchased the Cape Cod Coliseum and the Cape Cod Buccaneers of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League.
Vince McMahon is also a philanthropist, and has given funds to the Boys & Girls Club of Stamford, Connecticut and Breast Cancer Alliance, among others.
#1 Michael Jordan (Basketball legend) - $2.2 billion
Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest player to have graced the NBA. During a glorious 15-year stint in the league in the late 80s and 90s, Jordan won six championships (all with the Chicago Bulls) and countless other individual accolades. He was the Finals MVP in all six title-winning seasons, an NBA record.
The 58-year-old made around $90 million in his near two-decade-long NBA career, with $63 million coming with his last two years with the Bulls. However, he made a fortune (close to $2 billion) out of endorsements. Jordan's inflation-adjusted earnings have been reported to be over $2.6 billion.
Jordan was a hugely marketeable former player, arguably the greatest ever across sports. He had lucrative sponsorship deals galore with the likes of Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet and McDonalds, among others.
He became the first billionaire NBA athlete in 2014 when he raised his stake in the Charlotte Hornets from 80% to 89.5%. Jordan is also a part owner of Major League Baseball team Miami Merlins and NASCAR team 23XI Racing.
In 2017, he was the highest-paid athlete of all time, with earnings of $1.85 billion. The Air Jordan sneakers, developed by Nike for Jordan in 1984, remain popular almost four decades after their introduction.
