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Sport > World > Lists > Earnings > Forbes > Highest Ranked SportsWorld's Highest Paid Sports
Forbes magazine has been publishing lists of the highest paid athletes since 1990. The athletes come from a range of sports, but which are the highest paid? We determined which sports were most prevalent on the Annual Forbes list of the highest-paid athletes in the world, by taking the results all the lists and rating the sport that the person is involved with instead of person themselves. (data from 1990-2010 used)
The points for each year are derived from giving 10 points for a sport being on the top of a list, and one less for each rank below that (e.g. 1 point for being 10th on the list, and for ties all received the same points). Total earnings for each sport is also listed, which only includes athletes who made the top 10 list for each year. Total earnings are calculated based on money derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, endorsements and licensing income.
It Pays to Play Basketball
Only ten sports have been represented on the lists (the category of auto racing includes the disciplines of motoGP, NASCAR and F1). Although the golfing Tiger has been dominant on the top of the highest paid athlete lists recently, the dominance of Michael Jordan earlier on and more other basketballers on the lists has ensured that their sport leads on this combined list.
| ranking | sport | total points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basketball | 305.0 |
| 2 | Boxing | 249.5 |
| 3 | Auto Racing | 207.5 |
| 4 | Golf | 191.5 |
| 5 | American Football | 34.5 |
| 6 | Soccer | 37.0 |
| 7 | Tennis | 32.5 |
| 8 | Ice Hockey | 16.5 |
| 9 | Baseball | 15.5 |
| 10 | Cycling | 1.5 |
Note: In 1995, Deion Sanders was listed under both American Football and Baseball, so his points were shared between these two sports.
Comments
- Basketball rules ....: (from Melvin egbufoama, Feb 2012)
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Related Pages
- analysis of athlete rankings on highest paid lists
- List of Highest paid Athletes Lists
- other world sport lists