Expecting Soccer Super Stars To Make Less Than The Stars of Football? Think Again.
Kids dream of playing sports and earning millions, if not billions. If athletes in America wanted to make the big bucks, they usually chose to play football or basketball but now playing the world’s most popular sport may be a real option.
Now, as Real Madrid superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, tops the Goal Rich List for 2015, his mega earnings show the potential for soccer players to reel in the big bucks. Yes, obviously a soccer player has to be bankable; great looking on and off the soccer field and capable of amazing feats with the ball but at least soccer is starting to lose the reputation of being the worst paid sport. According to Pete Staunton, who wrote an interesting piece comparing the earnings and deals of the highest paid soccer player, Ronaldo, to the highest paid U.S. athlete, Floyd Mayweather Jr. — there is definitely hope for soccer players.
Amazing as it may sound, Ronaldo is now is a position to overtake Mayweather as the most bankable sports star on the planet.
Why a game that requires an incredibly high IQ and mandates individual creativity be well matched with seamless teamwork on the field should pay its players less than other sports never made sense. Now that the MLS has worked a deal with its professional soccer players and the season will start, perhaps fans will look on the pitch with new respect and interest. Yes, soccer players can command the big bucks. The intelligent and spontaneous interaction between players who are all chasing a round ball on a field with the unifying goal of putting the ball into the back of the net should have equal or higher earning potential than one where the players dress up with pads and follow strict pre-rehearsed plays called out by a coach.
If football is the world’s game then Ronaldo is the world’s star player. “This three-time Ballon d’Or winner is now the highest-paid team sportsman on the planet and has been confirmed as the richest football player in the world with the publication of the 2015 Goal Rich List.”
According to the recently-published Forbes list of the 100 top paid athletes, Ronaldo earned $80 million in 2014, second only to Mayweather Jr. The 37-year-old welterweight is estimated to have earned a mammoth $105 million.
It is the off field earning potential that clearly shows the shift from commercial deals – now soccer players can be sex symbols commanding huge endorsement deals. Any one remember David Beckham’s gorgeous underwear commercials for H&M? Women watched those commercials over and over again – and not to look at the details of the underwear.
Endorsement deals have always been big business in sports. Nike, adidas and now Puma sign pro players and write hefty checks to have their products worn by sports stars. Now the real money is starting to flow into soccer – endorsement deals for luxury products, and every day sportswear companies and TV rights. The financial future looks bright for soccer players – finally.
Footballers were once lagging far behind the U.S. ‘big three’ sports stars in terms of their bankability, but Ronaldo out-earns all of them now and Lionel Messi isn’t far behind.
Ronaldo is not, yet, out on his own as the highest-paid athlete in the world but he will be.
Ronaldo earned $52 million between salary and bonuses with the other $28 million coming off the field. He expertly renegotiated his Real Madrid contract in 2013 to make him the best-paid player on the planet – a status befitting him as the world’s best player.
His endorsements and commercial deals include that long-standing contract with Nike, equatable to what the American sportswear manufacturer pays Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, as well as a newly-announced partnership with the Sacoor Brothers clothing company. Ronaldo also runs his own CR7 underwear line which has now been expanded to include a range of shirts and footwear.
The shoe line has caused ructions with Nike, which reportedly demanded the Portugal captain to drop sport shoes from his range. Instead, the line features dress and smart/casual shoes produced in collaboration with Portugal Footwear. Ronaldo’s latest venture is now an employer in a highly-specialized industry; he is becoming an all-encompassing economy all to himself.
Mayweather boasts no endorsement deals at all but there is no denying “Money” remains the biggest draw, not only in boxing, but in all sports.
In 2013, he signed a two-year, six-fight deal with Showtime which guarantees him at least $32 million every time he steps in the ring. He also takes a large chunk of the pay-per-view earnings. For his September 2013 bout against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, for example, Mayweather is reckoned to have cleared $70 million. His two fights against Marcos Maidana in 2014 brought that $105 million total mentioned above. Not bad for just over an hour’s work.
May 2nd brings the long-awaited showdown between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. The Filipino’s promoter, Bob Arum, estimates that the purse for the fight will be around $300 million. A 60-40 split of the money has been agreed with the lion’s share going to Mayweather. That means he is likely to earn $180 million for his 36 minutes of work on the night.
Later in the year, Mayweather will bring the curtain down on his illustrious career which he will be attempting to improve to a perfect 50-0. His final fight, even against a name who does not command the attention like Pacquiao, should again earn him at least $100 million. That will likely be that for Mayweather whose earning potential will dramatically lower once he hangs up his gloves.
With him out of the running, the stage is set for Ronaldo to reign in 2016 – not only as the highest-paid team athlete but the highest-paid full stop. It will be the first time a footballer tops the list; the richest footballer and the highest-earning sportsperson in the world. That is his destiny.
Kurt Badenhausen, Senior Editor at Forbes, is in agreement. “Companies are always going to be wary of aligning themselves with Mayweather for personal endorsements, but that has never been how top boxers make their money. Ronaldo should continue to add to his personal endorsements as long as he continues to perform at a high level.”
Ronaldo is now 30 but is less than two years into his five-year mega deal at Madrid. Factor in his earnings from elsewhere and Ronaldo could well become the third man, after only Mayweather and Tiger Woods, to break $100 million in a single year.
Competing for top spot will be LeBron James, who earned around $72.3 million in 2014 according to Forbes. The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar is a year into a two-year deal with his hometown club after leaving the NBA champion Miami Heat. Once LeBron decides what he is doing after the 2015 season then it is conceivable that he might strike out for Ronaldo.
Just behind is Messi on around $65 million for the year with Kobe Bryant rounding out the top five on $61.5 million. The United States remains the nation that pays the best with 60 athletes featuring on the Forbes list. Footballers based in Europe, however, feature in six of the top 20 slots. There are 15 in the top 100 and that in itself is evidence that the best of the best are capable of matching the salaries, and now the endorsements, of their American counterparts.
The episode might have had people sniggering but you can be sure the Portugal captain didn’t do it for free. A quick glance at the check on offer might have had Ronaldo breaking out in a broad grin even without the help of the smile-enhancing product he was advertising.
Ronaldo is the world’s top-earning footballer and no other player in the world is capable of exploiting their image like he does. That is why he banks more cash than anyone else.
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