Sports Random, Random

[ponchi101]

I'll take your word for it, KLow, but if you can expand on your opinion, it would be great.
I don't know the gentleman.

[ti-amie]

[Deuce]

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Formula 1...

Latifi Denounces 'Abuse, Death Threats' After Abu Dhabi Crash

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[ponchi101]

Best part is one comment that said "the man has a fixation with Kyrie".
Hard to disagree.

[ti-amie]

[JazzNU]

Best part is one comment that said "the man has a fixation with Kyrie".
Hard to disagree.

No he doesn't. There's a media fixation with Stephen A when he talks about Kyrie that makes it seem that way, which is much different. If you've watched him over the years, you'll know that his fixation is with KD.

[Deuce]

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Russian Junior Team Kicked Off Airplane

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[ptmcmahon]

That is one of the most stereotypically Russian stories
Ever

[ti-amie]

The Highest-Paid Female Athletes Score A Record $167 Million

Brett KnightForbes Staff
SportsMoney
I cover the business of sports

Naomi Osaka leads the top ten with $57 million, but the presence of a gymnast and a WNBA player shows sponsors are starting to cast a wider net.

There is plenty to worry about in the world of women’s sports: disparities in pay and facilities, poor working conditions, a lack of media coverage, even outright abuse. Yet for all those problems, there is an undeniable sense of optimism, too. Leagues are adding new owners and expansion teams. TV ratings are up, and networks are providing new homes for games. Sponsor dollars are—finally—arriving, and startups are attracting investors.

That growth is extending to athletes’ paychecks. The world’s ten highest-paid female athletes earned a combined $167 million before taxes in 2021, according to Forbes estimates, a 23% increase over 2020 and a 16% jump from the prior record of $143.3 million set in 2013. At the top is tennis ace Naomi Osaka, who hauled in $57.3 million, easily a calendar-year record for a female athlete. Serena Williams takes the runner-up spot with $45.9 million.

The picture is not entirely rosy: Osaka and Williams account for virtually all of the increase, and no other woman on this list has even a remote chance of ranking among the world’s highest-paid athletes of either sex. (On Forbes’ 2021 athletes list, tracking the 12 months ending in May, Osaka landed at No. 12 and Williams at No. 28; the third-highest-paid woman on this new list, Venus Williams, missed the cutoff for the overall top 50 athletes by more than $20 million.)

Moreover, the threshold for the top ten of the women’s list is actually a tad lower than it was a decade ago—$5.7 million, down from $6.1 million in 2012.

Insiders insist, however, that new money and new sponsors are pouring into women’s sports; it’s just that the dollars are being spread among more athletes and finding their way into new leagues. For the first time in at least a dozen years, a gymnast (Simone Biles, No. 4 with $10.1 million) and a basketball player (Candace Parker, No. 10 with $5.7 million) rank among the highest-paid women. And while tennis still accounts for five of the list’s ten spots, that is the sport’s lowest tally in more than a decade and a dramatic change from 2019, when it claimed all ten. Parker—along with American soccer stars Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, who came up just shy of making the top ten—is especially encouraging because she comes from a team sport, where salaries lag behind the prize money available in individual sports.

“Now it’s way different,” says recently retired soccer legend Carli Lloyd, who joined the U.S. national team in 2005 alongside women who had fought for basics like guaranteed compensation and health benefits. “Whether it’s a [social media] post players are making to get paid or whether they’re signing endorsement deals, it’s a good space to come into, and it obviously occurred because of all the former players that had come prior.”

Here are the ten highest-paid female athletes from 2021.

NAOMI OSAKA
No. 1
Tennis • Age: 24 • Japan
Total Earnings: $57.3M

On-The-Field Earnings: $2.3 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $55 million

Nearly all of Naomi Osaka’s $57.3 million in pretax earnings comes from an endorsement portfolio that has added more than ten brand partners over the last year and a half, including Louis Vuitton, Sweetgreen and Tag Heuer. In recent months, the Japanese-born 24-year-old has picked up equity stakes in VR startup StatusPRO and plant-based-chicken maker Daring Foods, released a collection of NFTs on Tom Brady’s Autograph platform and launched a skincare line called Kinlò. The tennis ace had a bit of a tougher time on the court in 2021, falling to 13th in the women’s rankings and crashing out of the Tokyo Olympics in the third round, but she did capture her fourth Grand Slam title, at the Australian Open in February. An abdominal injury will keep her from defending her crown at this year’s tournament in Melbourne, set to begin on Monday.

No. 2

SERENA WILLIAMS
Tennis • Age: 40 • U.S.
Total Earnings: $45.9M

On-The-Field Earnings: $0.9 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $45 million

Were it not for Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams would claim the earnings record for a female athlete with her $45.9 million from 2021. The 40-year-old played in only six WTA Tour tournaments and plummeted to 41st in the women’s rankings—her worst mark since she returned to tennis in 2018 after the birth of her daughter—but she remains a big draw for advertisers, partnering with brands like Nike, Gatorade and, most recently, DirecTV. She was an executive producer on the 2021 film King Richard, which centered on her father, and she has investments in more than 60 startups through her firm Serena Ventures. Williams said last month that she would miss the Australian Open because “I am not where I need to be physically to compete.”

No. 3

VENUS WILLIAMS
Tennis • Age: 41 • U.S.
Total Earnings: $11.3M

On-The-Field Earnings: $0.3 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $11 million

Venus Williams is a rare sight on the WTA Tour these days, playing only nine tournaments, and winning only three matches, in 2021. That would destroy most players’ earnings potential: In the tennis world, a drop in the rankings or a missed tournament typically triggers a reduction in deals with sponsors hoping to see their logos on television. But Williams’ partnerships in recent years have focused more on her celebrity than her tennis, and the 41-year-old has a lucrative side hustle making appearances and giving keynote speeches. She has her own apparel brand, EleVen, which has collaborated with K-Swiss, and like her sister Serena, she was an executive producer on the film King Richard. Also like her sister, she will skip this year’s Australian Open—the first time neither of them will appear at the Melbourne tournament since 1997.

No. 4

SIMONE BILES
Gymnastics • Age: 24 • U.S.
Total Earnings: $10.1M

On-The-Field Earnings: $0.1 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $10 million

The Tokyo Olympics did not go as Simone Biles planned: She withdrew from five events before returning to win bronze on the balance beam. Still, the 24-year-old had already secured her status as a gymnastics legend, and her story of resilience seemed to resonate with brands. She partnered with Autograph to release NFTs starting in August and joined mental-health startup Cerebral as “chief impact officer” in October. She was also the face of a cross-country post-Olympics gymnastics tour, the Gold Over America Tour, with its initials spelling GOAT—a nod to her reputation as the sport’s greatest of all-time.

No. 5

GARBIÑE MUGURUZA
Tennis • Age: 28 • Spain
Total Earnings: $8.8M

On-The-Field Earnings: $2.8 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $6 million

Even counting her runner-up finish at the 2020 Australian Open, Garbiñe Muguruza’s last couple of seasons felt somewhat disappointing after a dominant run from 2015 to 2017. She rediscovered her form in 2021, however, winning three tournaments and climbing to No. 3 in the women’s tennis rankings to trigger significant sponsor bonuses. The 28-year-old Spaniard also added Jaguar and Nivea to her valuable set of endorsements with brands including Adidas and Babolat.

No. 6

JIN YOUNG KO
Golf • Age: 26 • South Korea
Total Earnings: $7.5M

On-The-Field Earnings: $3.5 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $4 million

After nearly two straight years at No. 1, Jin Young Ko lost the top spot in the women’s golf rankings to Nelly Korda, but she picked up a pretty good consolation prize with a win in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in November, claiming $1.5 million and LPGA Player of the Year honors. Although she plays without an equipment deal, favoring a mixed set of clubs of different brands, the 26-year-old can count on valuable sponsorships from companies from her native South Korea, a golf-crazy country. Her partners include LG Electronics, Korean Air, Jeju SamDaSoo mineral water and Rejuran skincare products.

No. 7

P.V. SINDHU
Badminton • Age: 26 • India
Total Earnings: $7.2M

On-The-Field Earnings: $0.2 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $7 million

P.V. Sindhu may be virtually unknown in the U.S., but the 26-year-old badminton champion is hugely popular in India and has appeared in this list’s top ten once before, in 2018. She followed her silver-medal-winning performance in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 with a bronze last year in Tokyo, becoming the first Indian woman with two Olympic medals. She has added four sponsors since returning home, including ed-tech giant Byju’s and used-car platform Spinny, on top of partners like Li-Ning sportswear and India’s Bank of Baroda.


No. 8

ASHLEIGH BARTY
Tennis • Age: 25 • Australia
Total Earnings: $6.9M

On-The-Field Earnings: $3.9 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $3 million

No women’s tennis player made more on the court in 2021 than Ashleigh Barty, the world’s top-ranked player and the reigning Wimbledon champion, and she is the betting favorite to win this month’s Australian Open on her home soil. But the 25-year-old, who recently signed a sponsorship deal with Marriott Bonvoy, served up a reminder of the pay disparities that still exist in some areas of the sport when she won the Western & Southern Open outside Cincinnati in August. She took home $255,220 for the victory, whereas the men’s champion at the same tournament, Alexander Zverev, collected $654,815.

No. 9

NELLY KORDA
Golf • Age: 23 • U.S.
Total Earnings: $5.9M

On-The-Field Earnings: $2.4 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $3.5 million

Nelly Korda may have finished a spot behind Jin Young Ko on the LPGA prize-money list and in the Player of the Year race, but her year was perhaps even more impressive as she captured her first major title at the Women’s PGA Championship in June, won Olympic gold in August and ended 2021 as the top-ranked women’s golfer. The 23-year-old, recently named to Forbes’ 2022 30 Under 30 list in the sports category, has more than ten sponsors, including Hanwha Q Cells, a manufacturer of solar cells, and UKG, a tech company focused on workforce management.


No. 10

CANDACE PARKER
Basketball • Age: 35 • U.S.
Total Earnings: $5.7M

On-The-Field Earnings: $0.2 million
Off-The-Field Earnings: $5.5 million

Candace Parker is fresh off a WNBA championship run with the Chicago Sky, but with league salaries capped at around $200,000, she makes nearly all of her money from endorsements, partnering with brands like Adidas and, new for 2021, Band-Aid, Capital One and CarMax. In fact, her annual off-the-court pay is more than double her total playing salary across her 14 years in the WNBA. The 35-year-old became the first woman to appear on the cover of an NBA 2K video game last year and was among the star athletes to invest in trading-card exchange Alt in a funding round announced in November. Parker also has a lucrative contract as an NBA analyst for Turner Sports, extended last year.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettknigh ... inLinkedIn

[ti-amie]

[Deuce]

It's no secret that, as time has gone on, and as more and more money has been involved in professional sports, and as the internet has ensured that everyone gets their 15 MONTHS of fame, pro sports have become more and more superficial, with athletes becoming famous 'media stars' more than they are athletes. At the same time, the purity of genuine competition - and playing 'for the right reasons' - has been disappearing.

Here's Kimi Raikkonen's take on why he's happy to be leaving Formula 1...

Raikkonen Happy to Leave F1's 'Fake Things and BS'...

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[ti-amie]

What a charmer

[ti-amie]

[Fastbackss]

Took them long enough. I thought I read earlier this week he had been extended.

If that were the case it would be apropos given how inconsistent he was in making calls.

PS - I need to digest a bit further their progression to use a more centralised system like soccer

[JazzNU]