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The World's Highest Paid Athletes in 1996

Here is the top 10 list of the highest earning sports people from 1996. It is a little old, the list would be much different today. A prominent sports person from future lists, Tiger Woods, placed 26th on the extended list. The German Michael Schumacher was the only non US athlete to be in the top 10.



All estimates (US dollars) are Forbes estimates for the 1996 calendar year. Totals include salaries, bonuses, prize money, endorsements and appearance fees. See also the top earning lists from other years.

  Name Sport Nationality earnings ($ million) previous year
1. Mike Tyson Boxing USA 75 2
2. Michael Jordan Basketball USA 52.6 1
3. Michael Schumacher F1 Motorsports Germany 33.0 9
4. Shaquille O'Neal Basketball USA 24.4 5
5. Emmit Smith NFL USA 16.5 not ranked
6. Evander Holyfield Boxing USA 15.5 14
7. Andre Agassi Tennis USA 15.2 7
8. Arnold Palmer Golf USA 15.1 11
=9. Dennis Rodman Basketball USA 12.9 not ranked
=9. Patrick Ewing Basketball USA 12.9 19

next on the list were Cal Ripkin, Roy Jones Jr, Dan Marino, Wayne Gretzky, Riddick Bowe, Pete Sampras, Oscar De La Hoya, Grant Hill, Ken Griffey Jr., Dale Earnhardt.

References



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Lists Extra

Football/Soccer is clearly the world's most popular sport, and has the most popular athletes, but which sport has the fittest players (but not necessarily the greatest athlete). These players do not always earn the most. The best of the best have made it to our 7 Sporting Wonders Lists.

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