The Top-Paid Athletes in Sports

Roger Clemens just signed a contract worth $28 million for one baseball season. At $4.5 million a month, not many people can match his income. So who else in sports is making this kind of money? Well, here is a few of the largest contracts in the sports world

So who makes more money in year than I will my whole life?

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen: These Formula 1 racers make more money than any other athlete. Alonso's contract is 4 years, $160 million dollars while Raikkonen is pulling in an astonishing $153 million dollars for 3 years. That's $51 million a year! Formula 1 racing is not popular in the States so I assume maybe the French watch it or something. Michael Schumacher, an ex-Formula 1 racer, used to be on the top of the list before he retired. For whatever reason, Formula 1 racers are the highest paid athletes in the world. While it does take an incredible amount of talent to drive one of those cars, I am sure it doesn't take $150 million worth of talent. Hell, they can hire me for $1 million a year and I'll race some little cars around a track. The sponsors could keep the other $149 million. Everyone would be happy! Call me!

Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter: A-Rod has a 10 year contract worth $252 million and Jeter has a 10 year worth $189 million. The Yankees just give away money. Doesn't Giambi have a huge contract too? These huge Yankee contracts are hard to live up to. A-Rod and Giambi have been criticized for years for not living up to their big contracts. This has especially been true for A-Rod and his playoff performances. Nobody really says a word about Jeter's contract though. They love him in New York and everyone is baseball has to respect his play. He puts his body on the line and is a great leader. A-Rod just complains about the media picking on him and how tough it is to play in New York. Complaining when you are getting paid over $25 million a year is a bad idea. No one is going to sympathize with you.

Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett: Kobe is making a cool $136 million over 7 years and Garnett is $126 million over 7 years. Nothing really surprising about these contracts. They both bring a lot of people into the seats and both are highly recognizable. Hopefully, Minnesota will trade Garnett to the Lakers. Wouldn't that be exciting to watch.

That's a lot of double cheeseburgers...

So every sports has a few athletes that make a lot of money. It seems to me that auto racing is number one, then the MLB, then NBA, and then the NFL and soccer. These contracts are only the tip of the iceberg. This doesn't even include endorsements! Well, now we know where the money from $50 tickets and $100 jerseys goes.