Media Outrage

The numbers are in and we are about to tell you which athletes earned the most money this past year and made it into the Forbes Richest Athletes in the world listing. If you guessed Tiger for #1 then you are psychic or you’ve been reading this blog too much!

Woods earned $100 million in the 12-month period ending June 2007. That is the most an athlete has ever made in one year. Woods banked $13 million in prize money and $87 million from endorsements and appearance fees. His take was more than twice the amount earned by the second highest-paid athlete, pugilist Oscar De La Hoya. The “Golden Boy” pocketed $43 million from his May fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. To find out the other 23 top earners

3. Phil Mickelson

Earnings: $42.2 million

Sport: Golf
Nationality: American
Born: June 16, 1970

Phil the Thrill’s income has surged in recent years as sponsors look for an alternative to Tiger in the golf sponsorship game. Callaway, Ford and Bearing Point write Mickelson his biggest checks.

4. Kimi Raikkonen

Earnings: $40 million
Sport: Auto racing
Nationality: Finish
Born: October 17, 1979

Ferrari made Raikkonen the highest-paid driver in motor sports last year when they gave the Finn a 3-year deal. Raikkonen delivered this year when he clinched the Formula One championship earlier this month.

5. Michael Schumacher

Earnings: $36 million
Sport: Auto racing
Nationality: Germany
Born: January 3, 1969

Formula One’s greatest driver retired last year after dominating the sport for 15 years and winning seven championships. During his career, Schumacher earned $650 million in salary and endorsements.

6. David Beckham

Earnings: $33 million
Sport: Soccer
Nationality: British
Born: May 2, 1975

Becks invaded America this year greeted by much fanfare, but injuries kept him off the pitch for most of the MLS season. The bulk of Beckham’s income is derived from sponsors like Adidas (other-otc: ADDDY.PK – news – people ), Motorola (nyse: MOT – news – people ) and PepsiCo (nyse: PEP – news – people ).

7. Kobe Bryant

Earnings: $32.9 million
Sport: Basketball
Nationality: American
Born: August 23, 1978

The possibility of the Los Angeles Lakers trading Bryant promises to be one of the biggest stories of the NBA season. Bryant will have a say where he goes, as he possesses the league’s only full no-trade clause.

8. Shaquille O’Neal

Earnings: $31.9 million
Sport: Basketball
Nationality: American
Born: March 6, 1972

Injuries caused the Diesel to average career lows in points and rebounds last season. Injured or not, the Miami Heat still owes Shaq $60 million over the next three years.

9. Michael Jordan
Earnings: $31 million
Sport: Basketball
Nationality: American
Born: February 17, 1963

MJ has been out of the NBA as a player for four years now, but his Jordan brand is still a $500 million a year sales business for Nike. Jordan is back in the league as a minority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.

10. Ronaldinho

Earnings: $31 million
Sport: Soccer
Nationality: Brazilian
Born: March 21, 1980

The two-time FIFA Player of the Year has lucrative endorsement contracts with EA Sports, Lenovo and PepsiCo, but Nike is his biggest deal. His current contract with the Barcelona club runs through 2010.

11. Valentino Rossi

Earnings: $30 million
Sport: Motorcyling
Nationality: Italian
Born: February 16, 1979

While little known in the U.S., Rossi is a rock star in Europe. He narrowly missed an eighth Grand Prix World Championship this year when he finished second in the overall standings.

12. Alex Rodriguez

Earnings: $29.2 million
Sport: Baseball
Nationality: American
Born: July 27, 1975

The baseball world awaits to see if A-Rod will opt out of the last three years of his current playing contract with $81 million left on it. Rodriguez will get a $1.5 million bonus if, as expected, he receives a third MVP award in November.

13. Roger Federer

Earnings: $29 million
Sport: Tennis
Nationality: Swiss
Born: August 8, 1981

The world’s top-ranked player won three Grand Slams this year for a third time in four years. Swiss Post unveiled a Roger Federer stamp in April–the first Swiss stamp ever issued featuring a living person.

14. Derek Jeter

Earnings: $28.3 million
Sport: Baseball
Nationality: American
Born: June 26, 1974

The Yankee captain has three years left on the 10-year, $189 million contract he signed in 2001. A-Rod is the only athlete to have ever signed a bigger deal. His cologne, Driven, launched last year, and has been a big hit for Avon.

15. LeBron James

Earnings: $27.3 million
Sport: Basketball
Nationality: American
Born: December 30, 1984

James’ income is headed up, way up. He’s in the first year of a new four-year, $60 million contract and he has several potential endorsement deals in the pipeline that could send his total income to $40 million next year.

16. Floyd Mayweather

Earnings: $26.5 million
Sport: Boxing
Nationality: American
Born: February 24, 1977

His May fight with Oscar De La Hoya broke several records, including pay-per-view audience (2.2 million), pay-per-view revenues ($120 million) and gate receipts for a boxing match ($19 million).

17. Yao Ming

Earnings: $26.3 million
Sport: Basketball
Nationality: Chinese
Born: September 12, 1980

After several years on the sidelines, Reebok is finally putting Yao to use in its advertising for the brand. The Houston center’s other big deals include China Unicom, Garmin and Upper Deck.

18. Vijay Singh

Earnings: $25.8 million
Sport: Golf
Nationality: Fijian
Born: February 22, 1963

Singh is the only player other than Tiger Woods to lead the PGA Tour in annual earnings since 1999. His $10.9 million tally in 2004 is still a Tour record. Singh’s 19 tournament wins after age 40 are also a record.

19. Leonard Davis

Earnings: $25.4 million
Sport: Football
Nationality: American
September 5, 1978

The 354-pound guard signed a 7-year, $50 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys in March to anchor their offensive line. The deal included a $16 million signing bonus.

20. Arnold Palmer

Earnings: $25.0 million
Sport: Golf
Nationality: American
Born: September 10, 1929

Palmer’s last PGA tournament win was the 1973 Bob Hope Classic, but he continues to be one of golf’s most recognizable figures. GQ just named him one of the 50 most stylish men of the past 50 years.

21. Jeff Gordon

Earnings: $24.5 million
Sport: Auto racing
Nationality: American
Born: August 4, 1971

The Rainbow Warrior is on the verge of earning a fifth Nascar Championship. Gordon owns a stake in the car driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won the Championship last year.

22. Kevin Garnett

Earnings: $24.3 million
Sport: Basketball
Nationality: American
Born: May 19, 1976

KG was shipped to the Boston Celtics this summer after 12 seasons in Minnesota. Garnett got a $9 million trade kicker from Boston as part of the deal that will be spread out over the next five years.

23. Reggie Bush

Earnings: $23.8 million
Sport: Football
Nationality: American
Born: March 2, 1985

The Saints signed the Heisman Trophy winner to a six-year contract in 2006 that could be worth as much as $62 million. He racked up another $5 million from endorsements with companies like Adidas, PepsiCo and Subway.

24. Allen Iverson

Earnings: $23.3 million
Sport: Basketball
Nationality: American
Born: June 7, 1975

The Answer was sprung from Philly last year and headed west to the Denver Nuggets in a mid-season trade. He has a lifetime deal with Reebok that paid him around $7 million last year.

25. Maria Sharapova

Earnings: $23 million
Sport: Tennis
Nationality: Russian
Born: April 19, 1987

Injuries have hampered Sharapova this year, but sponsors love the 6-foot-2 Russian. Her impressive list of corporate partners includes Canon (nyse: CAJ – news – people ), Colgate-Palmolive (nyse: CL – news – people ), Motorola and Nike, among others.

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