In the latest report by ESPN, familiar names in sports equally earn their spots as the highest paid athletes in the world. Some of the talented individuals who have been in the list more than once include Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Kobe Bryant and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Floyd "Money" Mayweather leads the pack and earned about $73.5 million in the past year. Soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi garnered second and third place with $50.2 and $50.1 respectively. Aaron Rodgers of the NFL earned $40 million at fourth place. Zlatan Ibrahimovic rounded out the top five with $35 million. Matthew Stafford and Tom Brady of the NFL earned $31.5 and $31 million each. NBA superstar Kobe Bryant is at number eight with $30.5 million. Football stars Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco are tied at the ninth spot with $30 million in earnings.
Formula One racers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are both the 12th highest paid athletes in the world with $27.5 million each, according to a report by Forbes. Tony Romo is at number 14 with $26.5 million. Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols and CC Sabathia of the MLB rounded out the top 25 with $23 million each.
In the NFL, Aaron Rodgers is the highest paid with $40 million. In the NHL, Shea Weber is number one with $14 million. In the NBA, Kobe Bryant is the highest paid with $30.5 million. Zack Greinke earned the most in the MLB with $28 million.
Many athletes in the list earn more than half of the total sum outside of their league's salary. Individuals like Kobe Bryant, Lewis Hamilton and Cristiano Ronaldo earn millions from endorsement and advertising contracts with some of the top brands in the world like Nike, Tag Heuer and Coca-Cola.
In a report by TSM Plug, some who are not in the top 25 are bound to be in the list later in 2014, such as Tiger Woods, Manny Pacquiao, Roger Federer and Phil Mickelson.
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