??????? World's best paid athletes

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"[The company has] not only been able to attach themselves with athletes who have become celebrities, they've actually been able to create celebrities." Slideshow: The World's Best-Paid Athletes Slideshow: The World's Best-Paid Actors The Nike roster is the envy of all other sports brands. Who's on it? Tiger, Maria Sharapova, LeBron James,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, Derek Jeter and Ronaldo, among others. The company won't say exactly what it pays for names like these, but obviously it isn't cheap. Thanks in large part to his relationship with Nike, Woods is the world's highest-paid athlete, earning $87 million in just 12 months. He has what it takes to be marketable. He is not only articulate, but also attractive, clean-cut and scandal-free. "Ultimately, it boils down to whether an athlete has charisma, believability and the ability to communicate," says David Carter, professor of sports business at the University of Southern California. "And Tiger Woods has all of these things." Sharapova is another solid Nike investment. She's safe and likable--and beautiful. And she's in the top five of women's tennis this year. After winning Wimbledon in 2004, she signed multimillion-dollar endorsement deals with Canon and Motorola. Add all that to her deal with Nike and Sharapova earned more than $18 million in one year, making her the world's best-compensated female athlete. Another top earner and Nike superstar: Michael Vick, the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. Adored by fans--his number seven jersey has become one of the best-selling pieces of NFL apparel. With earnings totaling $37.5 million over the course of a year, he's also the best paid. In addition to the landmark ten-year,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, $130 million contract he signed in late 2004, he has a large--and lucrative--endorsement portfolio, which also includes a deal with Coca-Cola.
The world's best-paid sports stars
Kobe Bryant
$32.5 million
?
9
25
27
$38 million
Lance Armstrong
7
$28.8 million
Basketball
$33.4 million
Name
Slideshow: The World's Best-Paid Supermodels Slideshow: The World's Best-Paid Young Celebrities
27
American Football
3
Basketball
Valentino Rossi
34
Age
$33 million
Earnings
Motorcycling
8
33
34
30
30
5
$28 million
Basketball
Sport
Michael Schumacher
Cycling
$28 million
Auto Racing
Soccer
Aside from being rich and talented, what do many on the list of our best-paid athletes have in common? Nike. Of the 25 athletes on our list, who earned a collective $702.4 million in just one year according to Forbes' annual listing of the World's Most Powerful Celebrities, 12 have a deal with the Beaverton, Oregon-based company. "Nike is perhaps the most ubiquitous and sophisticated marketer in the sports world today," says Dean Bonham, chief executive of the Bonham Group, a Greenwood Village, Colo.-based sports marketing consulting firm. ?? World's best paid athletes
10
Tiger Woods
Boxing
$37.5 million
43
Oscar De La Hoya
$87 million
Shaquille O'Neal
1
But not everyone on our list has a Swoosh on their shirt. After over ten years with Nike, tennis great Andre Agassi signed a multi-year endorsement deal with rival Adidas in July 2005. The best-paid, non-Nike athlete? Formula One driver Michael Schumacher. The racing legend earned $60 million, thanks to his talent--and a sizable check from sponsor Ferrari. "At the end of the day,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, it's the athletes that reach the highest percentage of the masses that are going to be the most appealing to corporate America, from the perspective that they reach the largest segment of their consumers," says Bonham. To determine which of the world's athletes were raking in the most, we turned to the 2005 edition of Forbes' Celebrity 100, which ranks the most powerful actors,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, models, athletes and directors based on their media exposure (magazine covers, TV and radio mentions), Web presence (number of Google hits) and earnings. Slideshow: The World's Most Powerful Celebrities Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Discussion Group.
Golf
37
Michael Vick
David Beckham
$60 million
4
Michael Jordan
6
2