Most pro athletes have to make do with minimum-level salaries as they try and climb to the top. Of course, the minimums would have most people jumping for joy at $500,000 for rookies in baseball and at a similar level in the NBA (the NFL will be $420,000 next season). Most sports leagues also cap the contracts that teams can offer players during their first few years as pros. Athletes that build up a resume of success at the top level are then rewarded by their clubs or corporate America with endorsement deals that shoot them to the top of the earnings’ scale.
But for some athletes, success and the mega-riches that follow, comes at an earlier age. The average age on the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes is 32 and 22 of those members are at least 35 years old with years of experience under their belts. On the other end of the spectrum are those athletic prodigies making bank at an early age. There are 11 athletes that made the top 100, where the cutoff is $17.3 million, who are 25 or younger. They hail from six different countries and play five different sports. The 11 collectively earned $285 million over the past 12 months with nearly $100 million of the total derived from endorsements.
Leading the way is Chicago Bulls’ point guard Derrick Rose, 25, who made $36.6 million between June 2013 and June 2014 and ranks No. 13 overall among the 100 highest-paid athletes. Rose got his earnings’ clock started early by leaving the University of Memphis after his freshman year. He was drafted first overall by the Bulls in 2008 at the age of 19.
The Bulls and
The past two years have been a disaster for Rose and his main financial backers. He missed all but 10 Bulls’ games over the past two seasons after two knee surgeries. His absence left a massive hole in the lineup of the team, who were considered championship contenders before Rose was hurt. Adidas sold only $40 million of Rose’s signature shoes in the U.S. in 2013, according to research firm SportsOneSource. It is not nearly enough to cover his annual payment from the German sportswear company. Adidas’ market share in basketball in the U.S. is stuck at 3.5%, while Nike, including the Jordan Brand, sits at 95%, according to SportsOneSource.
Real Madrid spent $118 million last September to sign 24-year-old Welshman Gareth Bale from English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Bale’s transfer ranks as the third most expensive in the history of the sport. He inked a six-year deal with the global soccer power after the move that paid out $25 million this season in salary. Bale’s total earnings, including endorsements, over the last 12 months were $36.4 million, which ranks 14th on the list of top-earners. Bale couldn't get his Welsh team through World Cup qualifying rounds for Brazil, so the winger took advantage of the free time with a promotional tour through Asia that netted him seven figures.
Brazilian wunderkind Neymar, 22, is the youngest to make the top 100. He ranks No. 16 overall at $33.6 million and is one and one-half years the junior of the next youngest, Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez. The striker joined Barcelona last year from his Brazilian club Santos in the second most expensive transfer ever worth $124 million. The striker will get $74 million in salary from Barca over five years. Neymar is a marketing darling off the pitch thanks in part to being touted as the face of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Recent signings include Castrol, Police sunglasses and L'Oreal who released the cologne, Drakkar Noir by Neymar. These companies join current blue-chip brands in Neymar’s endorsement portfolio including Nike,
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