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Forbes is at it again.
The business magazine's annual list of the top 10 most valuable athletes, in terms of their brand value, has been released and it makes for fascinating reading - providing great insight into the world of sports business and how athletes help drive value for brands around the world.
Here are the top 10 most valuable athletes on the planet -
#10 Stephen Curry: 13.4 million (new to the list)
The Golden State Warriors point guard has lit the NBA on fire over the past couple of years, and it's no surprise that the 29-year-old from Akron breaks into the top 10 this year. The two-time NBA Champion is also a two-time MVP, four-time All-Star and was the NBA's scoring leader in 2016.
His success has naturally attracted quite a lot of attention from sponsors in the States, with Under Armour being one of the biggest brands he endorses. Known as 'the face of the footwear line' for Under Armour, the Curry shoe line has helped the sporting goods company scale unprecedented heights.
#9 Lionel Messi: $13.5 million (10% decrease over last year)
Leo Messi may have had the most spectacular individual season of his career - marked by that absolutely smashing shirt-raised celebration at the Santiago Bernabeu - but a failure to win the Ballon d'Or (or the first two BEST FIFA Awards) and Barcelona's collective failure all season, especially relative to Real Madrid's splendid successes, have seen the Argentine's brand value take a hit, and hence the drop down the list.
He is, though, winner of 8 La Liga titles, 4 Champions Leagues, and a record five Ballon d'Ors... and one of the greatest to lace up a pair of football boots - he's pretty much a fixture on this list.
He, of course, endorses quite a number of brands (including, a touch strangely, Tata Motors) but his biggest deal is with Adidas - for whom is the face of their footwear line and the biggest global superstar in their ranks.
#8 Rory McIlroy: $13.6 million (4.6% increase over last year)
The only Northern Irishman on the list, Rory McIlroy MBE has 13 PGA Tour wins under his belt, including 4 major Championships (2 x PGA Championships, 1 x US Open, 1 x The Open Championship) and has been identified as the most exciting young prospect in golf.
No higher vindication of this is required than the fact that EA chose him to replace Tiger Woods in their flagship golfing video game, currently known as Rory McIlroy PGA Tour after the American fell out favour after his controversies surfaced a few years back.
He has a mega-bucks deal with Nike for their sporting apparel (reportedly 10-years, $200 million worth) and TaylorMade for their golfing equipment (reportedly 10-years, $100 million worth) and his stock is rising as every year goes by.
#7 Virat Kohli: $14.5 million (new to the list)
Captain of the Indian cricket team, and the face of an aggressive, brand-new Indian sporting persona, Virat Kohli has the world in his lap at the moment, and it doesn't seem like he's letting go anytime soon.
Apart from the multitude of Indian records he holds, he also holds the world record for being the first cricketer to score three centuries in his first three innings as Test captain, being the fastest in the world to reach 30 ODI centuries, 1000 T2OI runs and 15,000 international runs.
After having taken over captaincy from MS Dhoni earlier this year (in all formats of the game), he has become the face of Indian cricket and it's most marketable persona... he became the first Indian to sign an INR 100 Cr. ($150+ million) contract with a company when he signed up for an 8-year deal with Puma this year, and in fact, the only Indian analysts say is more marketable than Kohli is the King of Bollywood himself, Shah Rukh Khan.
As of last month, Kohli has endorsement deals with 17 brands!
#6 Tiger Woods: $16.6 million (27% decrease over last year)
Tiger Woods, at a point of time in our lives, was bigger than the game of golf itself. You may not have seen a single game of golf or known how it was played, but you'd have heard of Woods, and you'd have developed an admiration for the sheer brilliance of his sporting achievements
The mere fact that he is still on this list, let alone so high up, is a testament to the immensity of the brand he had created for himself before the mother-of-all-dirty-scandals ripped his reputation, and career, to shreds.
Winner of 79 PGA titles (14 Majors) and the second most successful golfer of all time, Woods continues to be a force to reckon with as a sporting brand and despite many big names dropping him he still has mega-bucks deals with TaylorMade (golfing equipment) and Monster Energy, to name but two.
#5 Phil Mickelson: $19.6 million (30 % decrease over last year)
Winner of 42 PGA titles (Including 5 Majors), Lefty as Phil Mickelson is fondly known, is the oldest athlete on this list at 47 years old. Although facing a sharp drop in brand value year-on-year - corresponding with a drop in performances, his last tournament triumphs came in 2013, where he won one major and one PGA Tour event - he is still formidable enough to make the top 5 list this year as well.
He currently endorses KPMG (no, really, boring ol' KPMG uses athletes for endorsing them in the US!), Rolex (always a big-money deal, that) Exxon Mobil, Workday Inc and Callaway Golf. Interestingly he also endorses the medicine that he says helped him fight arthritis in 2010, Enbrel.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo: $21.5 million (13.2% increase over last year)
What a year Ronaldo is having, eh?
He bagged his second consecutive BEST FIFA Award this year and is odds-on favourite to bag a record-equalling (Leo Messi's record, by the by) 5th Ballon d'Or after his exploits earlier this year when his goals powered Real Madrid to their first La Liga triumph in half-a-decade and their third Champions League triumph in 4 years.
Oh, it was also their first League-Europe double since 1958!
Although 32 - an age when most footballers are on the wane - Ronaldo's stock has never been higher and apart from the whole range of CR7 products that he himself endorses (jeans, innerwear, perfumes, et al) he is the face of Nike's global marketing campaign and the most marketable footballer on the planet (he has, of course, customised boots - the Nike Mercurial Vapor CR7) is one of the biggest celebrities on social media. In fact, just in 2016-17, his sponsors earned $936 million in media value across his social media accounts.
Don't expect the 3-time Premier League, 2-time La Liga, 4-time Champions league, and 4 time-Ballon d'Or winner to drop off this list anytime soon.
#3 Usain Bolt: $27 million (8% increase over last year)
The fastest man on the planet may have retired with one of the most anti-climatic final acts ever, but Usain Bolt is still one of the most marketable athletes on the planet.
After having turned around the sport of 100m sprinting in specific, and athletics in general, saving them from a gaping abyss of controversy, dullness and (performance enhancing) drug-induced pessimism, Bolt became the face for track-field and has garnered more endorsements than any track and field athlete, ever.
The eight-time Olympic Gold medallist's endorsement deal with Puma has propelled the German footwear company to the limelight and has given them an equal stage to fight it out after years of being in the shadow big-brother Adidas and American giants Nike.
He also has a high-profile deal with Gatorade and Virgin Media and endorses a number of products on social media - where he is the third most valuable athlete behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar.
#2 LeBron James: $33.4 million (1.8% decrease over last year)
When you walk out of high-school, and into your city's NBA franchise - with a four-storey tall poster of yourself on the building opposite said franchise's home stadium and a $100 million contract with Nike in your pocket - you know you're quite a big deal.
In the 14 years since his debut, Lebron James has gone on to become one of basketball's all-time greats, winning 3 NBA rings, 3 Finals MVP and 4 regular-season MVP awards, and 13 All-Star appearances along the way.
While he has major deals with Audemars Piguet, Coca-Cola, Dunkin' Brands, McDonald's, Samsung and State Farm (what an eclectic collection of brands, eh?), Nike remains his flagship brand and the sports-apparel and footwear giant has James as its face in the US.
A clever businessman who has always made the most of his endorsement deals, James looks to be a fixture on this list for a long time to come.
#1 Roger Federer: $37.2 million (3.3% increase over last year)
They said he was done.
They said he was past it.
They said he was too old.
So he got back to basics, head-down, mind completely focused, and won 2 Grand Slams this year. Roger Federer now has 19 Grand Slam titles, and a firm grip on the title of Greatest of All Time.
The Swissman has had the most wondrous renaissance on-court and that has quite naturally improved his standing as a brand, as well. He has quite a few endorsement deals - all of them big money - with Nike (yeah, those guys have a lock on this list), Credit Suisse, Lindt, Sunrise, Rolex, Jura Elektroapparate and Mercedes Benz and only a fool would write off the chances of him holding on to this no.1 spot come next year.
