Have you ever walked into your favourite sporting event, looked around, and wondered how much it costs to run an event, or even league, of that grandeur? We have, and let us tell you… it’s astounding. Not only does the league cost money to upkeep, but so do the players… and these players specifically. We compiled a list of the top paid athletes in the five most popular sports. Together they rake in$238.9 Million yearly.
Highest Paid Athletes in 5 Different Sports
Hockey: Connor McDavid
This Canadian super-star makes approximately 19 Million a year when we count all the fancy endorsement deals. If you have the opportunity to take a drive around Edmonton, Alberta home to the Edmonton Oilers you will see this young man’s face plastered on every street corner. He lives in the living room of every sports fan who owns NHL 18 as he is the cover model for that as well.
Bringing in a $15 Million yearly salary, and $4 Million of endorsement deals Connor McDavid made a whopping $19 Million in 2018.
Baseball: Clayton Kershaw
Not only is he the go-to guy at the home plate he also holds the starting place for another facet of the industry – the highest salary. With an annual salary of $34 Million on a 7-year contract, this snipe show is expected to bring in a total of $215,000,000 at the end of his term.
Unlike the NHL, the MLB does not have a hard salary cap. Instead, they have a luxury tax for teams whose total payroll exceeds certain thresholds – we don’t know about you but anything worth having is worth paying more for.
Basketball: Stephen Curry
Once a bargain, now a luxury item. Stephen Curry started out in the league as a steal-of-a-deal, now he has the $$$$ rating. Quite a slam dunk if we say so ourselves, even better? He replaced Lebron James as the highest paid player in the NBA. Sitting at $37.5 Million a year he definitely puts the Golden in the Golden State Warriors.
Football: Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers better be well insured, considering his massive endorsement deal from State Farm. Even without it, he could afford full-coverage on everything he owns with the $75.9 Million he brings in yearly. He makes Connor McDavid’s paycheque look like chump change in comparison.
Considering the grandiosity of the football industry in America it makes sense to pay your greatest stars what they are worth. We hope Aaron is putting that money to good use.
Soccer: Lionel Messi
The one that reigns them all (well reigns in highest paid athletes at least) – Soccer. Messi can afford to make a mess of, well, anything (except for his career) because he would be able to pay to fix it! Jet? No problem! His $111 Million paycheques can take you anywhere you want to go.
Imagine the size of championship ring he could get, that would be one for a world record. Messi, if you ever think of making that ring a reality you know where to come.
