Tiger Woods Among 4 Golfers in the Top 10 of Highest Paid Athletes in the World

Turns out that even before LIV Golf got into the game, golfers could do pretty well for themselves.

Four golfers are among the top 10 on Sportico’s list of top-10 highest paid athletes of all time. The next closest sports (basketball and soccer) each had two on the list.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Tiger Woods is first among golfers – and second overall to Michael Jordan.

Woods is listed as having earned $2.5 billion on and off the field, which trails Jordan’s $3.3 billion. The figures are adjusted for inflation.

Woods’ numbers may go up even more as a rumored equipment deal is nearing. 

Per @JoshGerben, it appears that Tiger Woods and TaylorMade are working on a trademark and partnership.

From March 2023, @TaylorMadeGolf (through an LLC) submitted trademarks for ‘SUNDAY RED’ and an accompanying logo as well as a tiger logo

More on Tiger’s split from Nike ➡️… pic.twitter.com/7QRePPS2w6

— Sportico (@Sportico) January 23, 2024

The next two on the list are two of the most legendary golf figures of all time: Arnold Palmer ($1.7 billion) and Jack Nicklaus ($1.3 billion). The report says that Palmer was earning around $40 million per year from endorsements and other business ventures prior to his death in 2016. Nicklaus has also benefited from licensing deals and course design work since retiring. 

No. 10 on the list is Phil Mickelson at $1.36 billion. No doubt that the rumored $200 million signing bonus to join LIV helped in reaching that total.

LeBron James (No. 6) joined Jordan as the two basketball players on the list. Soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi were Nos. 5 and 7 respectively, and the list was rounded out by Floyd Mayweather (No. 8) and Roger Federer (No. 9).

Cover Image via John Chow Dot Com