These Are The Highest-Paid Athletes Competing At The Paris Olympics

Forbes

LeBron James will be the first self-made billionaire to compete in the Summer Games, but who else stands on the earnings podium in basketball, tennis, golf and other sports? Forbes reporter Matt Craig joins "Forbes Talks" to break down the list.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2024/07/25/the-highest-paid-athletes-at-the-paris-olympics/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Hi everybody, I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes.

00:07Joining me now is my Forbes colleague, reporter Matt Craig. Matt, thanks for coming on.

00:12Thanks for having me, always a pleasure.

00:14It is week two of the Olympics and you're reporting about the highest paid athletes

00:19competing in Paris and you write this for Forbes.

00:22Quote, while the Paris Olympics are sure to produce a new set of heroes,

00:26the 2024 Summer Games are not likely to mint many new millionaires. Why not?

00:33Yeah, I mean, I think it's this rare opportunity and this is kind of what we love about the

00:38Olympics is that the world is watching these events, often for the first time.

00:43I think that's part of the reason why we love watching it is we get to see

00:47water polo and artistic swimming, synchronized diving, these kinds of things.

00:52However, after the games are over, a lot of times those sports kind of slink back into obscurity.

01:00And one of the things that I found very interesting, I had a conversation with

01:03Michaela Schiffer in the downhill ski racer and she hit this right on the head.

01:10She was like, the Olympic moment is awesome and it's kind of the culmination

01:14of your athletic career, but it doesn't necessarily last very long.

01:17And unless you're able to keep that spotlight,

01:20sometimes it's hard to turn that athletic performance into earnings.

01:25And so when we look at the highest paid athletes at the Olympics, it's not

01:29these Olympic heroes that we traditionally think of.

01:32It's really the professional athletes that Forbes tracks throughout the year

01:37who have these huge professional sports contracts and then also make tons of money in endorsements.

01:42So in some ways, it's fairly obvious that it's the most famous athletes that get paid the most,

01:48but it's somewhat counterintuitive that it's not oftentimes the Olympic heroes

01:52that end up getting paid.

01:54Can you go back to what Michaela Schiffer said about trying to make that Olympic moment last

02:00and how do athletes do that to make it a larger payday?

02:03Because some of the most popular games to watch are gymnastics, are swimming,

02:07but as you're saying, that doesn't really necessarily translate into a bigger payday

02:12for these athletes.

02:13Yeah, well, I mean, there's no professional sports leagues,

02:16or at least not lucrative ones for a lot of the sports that you just mentioned.

02:20And there's only an Olympics every four years.

02:23So realistically, you know, there's only maybe two, three Olympics you go to as an athlete.

02:29And that's, you know, if you're one of the all-time greats

02:32and two or three moments in that world spotlight.

02:36So the way I would think about it really for our professional athletes

02:40that we track throughout the year as well is that you get paid,

02:44you know, if you reach that cultural influencer status.

02:49And it's difficult for Olympic athletes to do that.

02:51The ones that have, for example, I guess, Simone Biles,

02:55it came because one, she's one of the greatest Olympians ever over multiple Olympic cycles.

03:01But also I think that in 2021, the struggles that she had, you know,

03:05with the twisties and the mental health aspect of it,

03:08really increased her profile and opened her up to a wider spectrum of sponsors

03:14and increased her earnings, I think, significantly.

03:18And then obviously the fact that she came back and has been the dominant athlete once again.

03:23She, among those like Olympic, traditional Olympic sports, she's one of the highest paid.

03:29But to my point, you know, she's only getting about like $100,000

03:33from competition, that's according to our estimates,

03:36and $7 million in endorsement money, which is a significant amount.

03:42Don't get me wrong.

03:42But, you know, when you compare it to like LeBron James, isn't a ton.

03:46And there's one example of an Indian badminton player who's the same as,

03:51we don't know her in the United States, but is a massive star in India,

03:54kind of culturally, right?

03:56A cultural influencer.

03:57So she's making, you know, $7 million in endorsements as well.

04:02But again, LeBron James, it's $128 million.

04:06So it's not even really, they're not even in the same ballpark as each other.

04:10And that's just because LeBron is omnipresent in culture and is every single year.

04:16And really throughout the year, not even just in basketball season.

04:20You mentioned LeBron James.

04:21So let's get right to your list because you're reporting he's the only billionaire

04:25to be competing in the Olympics.

04:27And as a surprise to no one, he does top the list as the highest paid Olympian.

04:33Who else is it when it comes to men's basketball?

04:37Yeah.

04:38So if we were to just like do a straight objective ranking of all the highest paid

04:43athletes at the Olympics, say like top 200 or 100, we'll say the basketball category

04:50would be the highest by far because NBA playing contracts have just gotten to that point.

04:57Also, I think because, for example, like the men's soccer players, it's 25 and under

05:01for the Olympics.

05:02So a lot of the huge stars are not there.

05:05But yeah, these NBA players, they're pairing $30, $40, $50 million in playing contracts.

05:12And they're also consistently the highest earners in endorsements.

05:17Just whenever we track our highest paid athletes in the world, huge shoe contracts.

05:23Also, they're just very well known, of course, as opposed to football.

05:26They're not playing behind helmets or things like that.

05:29So LeBron James and Steph Curry and Giannis, right, they're being used to sell state farm

05:36insurance or Sprite or categories that are not necessarily always tied to sports.

05:43So yeah, LeBron James, the first self-made billionaire that's ever competed at the

05:50Olympics.

05:51Of course, like some children of billionaires, and therefore they are billionaires, have

05:56done it, especially in sports like equestrian or tennis, right?

06:00But LeBron James, self-made billionaire competing.

06:04And in the past year, we've estimated that he's made around $128 million, which is no

06:09chump change.

06:11Giannis, Antetokounmpo and Steph Curry, both over $100 million as well.

06:16And really all the way down the line, the U.S.

06:18men's basketball team in particular, they're making very, very good money.

06:23You're throwing numbers out here that are just astronomical for a salary.

06:27But traditionally, do these basketball players make more money in endorsements or that salary?

06:34At the very, very top end, you can always make more in endorsements because there's

06:39no cap, right?

06:41So if you're a LeBron James or Steph Curry or Giannis that I mentioned,

06:46yeah, you can make more in endorsements.

06:49But for the most part, in fact, I think Giannis and LeBron are the only examples this year

06:56where that is the case.

06:57Everyone else is making more from these playing contracts because on the NBA side of things,

07:02right, they have a collective bargaining agreement that says 51% of all revenue has

07:08to go to the players.

07:09And that number has just continued to go up as media rights have ballooned to these billions

07:14of dollars a year figures.

07:16And so even though there is a salary maximum, like LeBron James is capped at 30%, I believe

07:25it is, of a team's salary cap.

07:27That number has just gotten so, so high that even these, here's an even better example,

07:34these non-Team USA teams that are in the NBA, a lot of these teams have NBA players now,

07:42like for example, Canada, they have 10 NBA players on their roster and those players

07:47are making on average $16.2 million a year from their NBA playing contracts.

07:53So it's not just the highest end, it's really depth throughout the league of players that

07:57are making, you know, I mentioned Simone Biles, $7 million in endorsements, right?

08:02The 10th man on the Canadian basketball team is making, you know, average $16.2 million,

08:08maybe not exactly a one-to-one there, but yeah, the NBA players and the basketball players

08:13are the highest paid players at these Olympics by far.

08:17I mean, those numbers are just incredible.

08:18But now let's move down a little bit to men's and women's tennis.

08:23What's notable about those lists?

08:27I think specifically the women's tennis list is notable because one of the things that

08:31Forbes does is we rank the highest paid female athletes across all sports throughout the year,

08:38not just Olympics.

08:39And consistently over the past decade, the female tennis players have been the highest

08:45paid category of female athletes.

08:47For a long time, it was Maria Sharapova, then Serena Williams had it, Naomi Osaka had it

08:52for two years.

08:54And this past year, Iga Svantec, $23.9 million.

08:59Again, compared to the highest end of the men, right?

09:02It's still not there.

09:03But when it comes to comparing to other female sports, yeah, the women's tennis players and

09:10Iga, she has a pretty impressive sponsorship portfolio to go with the fact that she's a

09:15very, very consistent winner of prize money.

09:18Obviously, in tennis, you kind of eat what you kill at these tournaments and you have

09:23to continue to earn it.

09:24Right behind her is Coco Gauff, who, again, is very young.

09:29I mean, Iga Svantec is only 23 years old, right?

09:33But Coco Gauff as well has really the prime years of her career and her prime earning

09:39years ahead of her and is already making, we estimate $21.7 million.

09:46On the men's side, it's kind of the earnings kind of follow the way the results have been.

09:51Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz have been the old guard, the potential greatest of all

09:58time.

09:58And then this new challenger, we saw that in the Wimbledon final.

10:02We saw that in the gold medal tennis match just a couple of days ago as we're recording.

10:08They're also the two highest earners.

10:10Novak makes around $38 million last year and Carlos Alcaraz around $31 million.

10:16But I believe and I think it's a foregone conclusion that Alcaraz will be the highest

10:22paid tennis player for this upcoming year whenever we do that list again for the US

10:27Open.

10:29Why do you have that premonition?

10:32Well, he's won the French Open this year and he's won Wimbledon, so he has those huge

10:36paydays.

10:37And also Novak Djokovic has not well, he won this gold medal.

10:42That was the first tournament that he'd won all year.

10:45So I would assume the sponsorships would be, you know, relatively the same.

10:50Maybe Alcaraz is gaining in that category as well because, you know, he's young and

10:55he's exciting and he's winning.

10:57But I think primarily if you win a Grand Slam, it's, you know, a couple million dollar

11:01check and he's won two of them this year and he's kind of been on fire.

11:05So I think he's likely likely to pass Novak Djokovic.

11:09We'll have to see whenever whenever we finally put that list together.

11:12Matt, go back to the female list a bit for us.

11:15And can you talk to us about why women tennis players are consistently the highest paid

11:21female athletes on Forbes' list?

11:24Yeah, I mean, for one thing, they're very visible.

11:29You know, they kind of they're out there by themselves.

11:33And women's tennis is a popular sport.

11:36I think when you think about the popularity between men's and women's, the female tennis

11:42players are very popular.

11:43One.

11:43Also, there's been a huge movement within tennis to have equal prize pools off the top

11:49of my head.

11:49I know the US Open has equal prize pools.

11:52I don't think every every tournament does, but the the female prize pools have come up

11:58significantly in the past decade.

12:00And on top of that, you know, when you think about the top of that sport, there have been

12:05some athletes that have crossed over into that sort of cultural influencer status that

12:09I was talking about.

12:10You know, if you think about Maria Sharapova was doing ads for Porsche and for beauty brands,

12:17and then obviously Serena Williams was, you know, about as famous as an athlete could

12:23be.

12:24Naomi Osaka had huge, huge endorsements in her home country of Japan.

12:31And so, yeah, I think the female tennis players are the ones that we've seen that have crossed

12:35over into that mainstream appeal and really dipped into that well of, you know, huge endorsement

12:40dollars.

12:42That has been tough.

12:43I think the women's soccer players were starting to get there, but then they retired like the

12:50Alex Morgans.

12:51She hasn't quite retired yet.

12:52But Megan Rapinoe and that kind of class, Abby Wambach, they were they were reaching

12:58that status, but kind of toward the the end of their careers.

13:02And when you think about, you know, this upcoming sort of generation of female athletes, you

13:08know, of course, Caitlin Clark would come to mind.

13:11She's not at these Olympic Games.

13:12So not not exactly sure there, but someone who's who's crossing over into that mainstream

13:18appeal.

13:18Absolutely.

13:19And I think you could say that about several of the female basketball players.

13:24So maybe maybe when we do this exercise four years from now, the next Olympics, we're talking

13:28about the women's basketball players.

13:31But for now, the tennis group is by far and away highest earning female athletes.

13:38You touched on women's soccer.

13:39So let's go there next.

13:41The highest paid women's soccer player on this list earns more than the second highest

13:47paid player and third highest paid player combined.

13:50You're reporting calling her the queen of Spanish soccer.

13:54Who is she?

13:56Yeah, it's Alexia Boutelis, and I think this is a perfect example of kind of the explanation

14:04that I've been giving this whole time, because Alexia Boutelis not only won one, but two

14:09of the Ballon d'Or, the best player in the world awards.

14:14And so you've got someone that's consistently been in that spotlight as being the best in

14:20the world.

14:20And because of that has built up this large endorsement portfolio.

14:26We estimate that she has 10 long term endorsement deals to go with whatever contracts that she

14:32has with her club and with her national team.

14:35And so really, she's the biggest star.

14:41Sport aside, she's on the older end.

14:43She's had some knee surgeries, but the biggest celebrity, I guess I should say.

14:48And because of that, she's being paid like that.

14:50Again, if Megan Rapinoe had been here, if Alex Morgan had been here, they would probably

14:55have numbers up in that league.

14:59Below Alexia Boutelis on the women's soccer side, it's just several U.S.

15:04Women's National Team players, and their earnings depend heavily upon how many appearances

15:09with the national team they have in a given year, because they get paid on a per game

15:13basis for that.

15:15But the two that are mentioned in the article, Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith, I don't know

15:21that like too many average sports fans would know their face and know their name yet.

15:27Now, they may have huge Olympic moments here.

15:31You know, the U.S. Women's National Team is still moving through the medal rounds of their

15:36competition, so maybe these players can transcend.

15:39But as of now, they're not celebrities in their own right.

15:42You know, they're just highly paid professional athletes.

15:46So in order to reach that next threshold, you know, they would have to kind of step

15:50into mainstream stardom.

15:52And maybe we'll be talking about them when we do this again in four years.

15:56But I do want to finish out the conversation with talking about men's and women's golf.

16:00You're reporting that Jon Rahm had the highest earning year of any golfer Forbes has ever

16:05recorded.

16:06How was he able to pull this off?

16:09Yeah, you can't talk about the golf scene without mentioning Saudi Arabia, right?

16:15Jon Rahm, yeah, will be the highest earning player in the past year that's competing at

16:20these Olympics solely because he switched over from the PGA Tour to the Live Golf Tour,

16:26which is backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

16:30And we estimate that he received about half of his announced $350 million deal with them

16:37up front as kind of a lump sum.

16:40And so if we factor that in with the prize money he'd already earned from tournaments

16:44of the past year and then the endorsements they had previously, which, you know, many

16:50of them will drop off with him joining Live Golf Tour, but not that that matters when

16:54you're receiving a $175 million check.

16:58But, but yeah, yeah, he has the highest earning year, highest earning year of any golfer ever,

17:05more than Tiger Woods.

17:06Tiger Woods had many years over a hundred million from endorsements.

17:10And who knows if we're doing just that for inflation, but in this new, you know, Live

17:15Golf, Saudi Arabian-influenced environment, we're seeing numbers that we've never seen

17:21before.

17:22The only other thing I'll mention on the men's golf side is that the PGA Tour players behind

17:28Jon Rahm, so Rory McIlroy, Scotty Scheffler, they are also seeing increased earnings because

17:34of the Live Golf Tour.

17:35So basically in order to try to keep their players from all jumping over to Live Golf

17:41Tour, the PGA Tour has had to add incentives and increase their prize money in order to,

17:47yeah, to try and compete with the new disruption from Live.

17:53And because of that, Rory McIlroy and Scotty Scheffler are also making more money than

17:58they have previously.

17:59Just to put numbers on that, Rory McIlroy around $83 million from both prize money and

18:04endorsements and Scotty Scheffler, $61 million, according to restaurants.

18:08Matt, you've done a lot of highest paid athletes lists.

18:12And when you're looking at them, does performance directly translate to financial success?

18:17Or do you need, you know, that full package star power to really elevate yourself to that

18:22next threshold financially?

18:26I mean, those are two things that are hard to separate from each other.

18:30I think having elite performance puts you on those stages that have a lot of eyeballs.

18:36And so, yeah, there is definitely like a baseline of accomplishment that is needed for you to,

18:44you know, be someone that a brand would want to work with.

18:47Like brands basically endorse with athletes because they want the association with greatness,

18:53you know.

18:53And so if you're not one of the best in the world, then you're not very valuable to a

18:59brand.

18:59However, I would say that being, you know, this, again, this cultural influencer, this

19:04celebrity, this star is more important, you know, to landing bigger deals than being consistently

19:11the best.

19:11I guess just to go back to the group that we were just talking about, Scotty Scheffler

19:17has been the best player hands down in golf over the past year, you know, winning just

19:24majors tournaments, setting records.

19:26And he even had like the most prize money earnings in PGA Tour history last year.

19:32But Rory McIlroy is more famous.

19:34He is a bigger star, a bigger celebrity.

19:38People know his face.

19:39People know his name.

19:40And because of that, you know, he's doing bigger deals.

19:42He's getting more endorsements.

19:44He has more business irons in the fire.

19:47And that's a perfect example where, you know, Rory McIlroy is still one of the best in the

19:53world and still be associated with that competitive greatness.

19:56But once you get up to that level, it is a little bit about, you know, your public perception,

20:02your personality, your Q rating, right?

20:05How many, how much people like you?

20:06And that allows you to kind of land those mega deals.

20:10Matt Craig, per usual, I appreciate the conversation.

20:14Thanks for your reporting.

20:15Thanks for having me, Brittany.

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