The Fortunate 50
America's Highest-Earning Athletes

by Jonah Freedman

Is the slumping economy finally affecting America's premier athletes? For the sixth consecutive year, Sports Illustrated has compiled a list of the 50 top-earning American athletes in salary, winnings, endorsements and appearance fees. And for the first time, the average earnings of those on the list fell – down $1.5 million per athlete to $23.6 million.

That falloff is mostly due to lower earnings for No. 1 Tiger Woods and No. 2 Phil Mickelson, both of whom saw their on-course income shrink while also losing key endorsement deals. This year's list features 22 basketball players (a record nine who earned more than $20 million), 14 major leaguers, nine football players, three golfers and two NASCAR drivers.

Meanwhile, the average income of the athletes on our International 20 list of the top-earning non-American sportsmen hit an all-time high $29.5 million (up slightly from 2008), thanks to big gains by those in soccer and Formula 1 racing.

As we do every year, our findings consisted solely of salary, winnings, bonuses, endorsements and appearance fees. We consulted players' associations, tour records, agents and news reports. Our endorsement estimates came from Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing, other sports-marketing executives and analysts, and agents. Salary figures were based on current or most recently completed seasons (the upcoming '09 season for the NFL). For winnings-based sports (auto racing, golf, tennis), we used the '08 calendar year. Candidates for the U.S. 50 had to be American citizens. For an in-depth analysis of who made the 2009 Fortunate 50 and why, click here.

The Fortunate 50

1. Tiger Woods
   Pro Golf
   Last Year's Rank: 1
   Salary/Winnings: $7,737,626
   Endorsements: $92,000,000
   Total: $99,737,626

Tiger sacrificed millions in appearance fees during his year off to recover from knee surgery, but replaced his lucrative Buick deal – voided by mutual consent – with a new one from AT&T.

2. Phil Mickelson
   Pro Golf
   Last Year's Rank: 2
   Salary/Winnings: $6,350,356
   Endorsements: $46,600,000
   Total: $52,950,356

Like Tiger, Phil no longer counts on a car-maker in his endorsement portfolio. (Ford chose not to re-sign him.) He still has lucrative deals with Rolex, Callaway, Exxon, Barclay's and KPMG.

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July 2, 2009

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