Basketball and American football players figure most prominently among the 2018 Forbes list of highest paid athletes. Here's a look at what sports the 100 most paid athletes play:
Boxer Floyd Mayweather topped the list with an annual income of $285 million, with footballer Lionel Messi coming second at $111 million. Virat Kohli was the sole Indian and only cricketer on the list, making $4 million through matches and $20 million through endorsements.
While basketball and American football stars make most of their money through match fees and prize money, tennis and golf athletes make over 75% of their annual income through endorsements. For instance, Roger Federer, who took home $77.2 million, made $65 million through endorsements.
Here’s a look at the top 10 athletes and how much they made through game fees and endosements.
The annual median salary of the athletes was about $24 million. While most athletes' endorsement revenues were commensurate with their salaries, there were a few outliers like Federer (higher endorsement revenue) and Mayweather (higher salary). Take a look at the distribution below, where each circle represents an athlete. Hover over or touch a circle to get data about that particular athlete.
