A few days ago, the magazine ‘Forbes’ published its annually updated list of the world’s best-paid athletes. While Portugal’s soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo defends his place in the sun, Jon Rahm makes the biggest leap in the entire ranking, taking second place. The Spaniard has not only pushed Lionel Messi into third place, but is also among the top 3 earners in the sporting world as a golfer for the first time since Tiger Woods in 2013 (1st). The salaries from LIV Golf make it possible.
Forbes List 2024: Rahm, McIlroy & Co. – The five golfers of the ranking
Between May 2023 and May 2024, Forbes examined the total income of the world’s highest-paid athletes, as it does every year. The list of the 50 top earners also includes five golfers, among whom a recent LIV star plays a special role. Jon Rahm was not even among the top 50 in the previous year’s list, but is in second place this year with a total income of 218 million US dollars (201 million euros). The Spaniard owes this primarily to his lucrative LIV deal: According to Forbes, a full 198 million dollars of this comes from his income/contracts on the golf course, while ‘only’ 20 million dollars was earned off the golf course, for example through advertising revenue. This means that only Cristiano Ronaldo earned more in the last twelve months, defending his place from the previous year with a total income of 260 million dollars (240 million euros).
The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2024 https://t.co/9foB5DPCeB pic.twitter.com/aqH0wkJ1lE
— Forbes (@Forbes) May 22, 2024
Jon Rahm and the second highest-paid golfer on the list are mainly separated by soccer and basketball stars such as Lionel Messi (3rd), LeBron James (4th), Kylian Mbappé (6th) and Stephen Curry (9th). Finally, Rory McIlroy, who was recently replaced by Xander Schauffele in second place in the world golf rankings after a long time, follows in 19th place. The Northern Irishman has a total income of 80.1 million dollars (73.8 million euros) and is therefore four places ahead of Tiger Woods with a total income of 67.2 million dollars (61.9 million euros). It is particularly striking that the 48-year-old alone earned 55 million dollars outside the golf course, for example through advertising revenue. This puts Woods in sixth place in this category. World number one and reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is in 29th place with 59.2 million dollars (54.6 million euros). The last golfer on the list is Cameron Smith, like Jon Rahm a player on the LIV Tour, with 48 million dollars (44.2 million euros).
The impact of LIV Golf changes the Forbes list
In 2013, Tiger Woods in first place (78.1 million dollars) was the last golfer to occupy one of the top three places on the Forbes list; between 2018 and 2022, only once did a golfer occupy a place among the ten highest-paid athletes in the world (2020: Tiger Woods in eighth place). This changed abruptly with the salaries of LIV Golf. In 2023, the two LIV golfers Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson were ranked sixth and seventh respectively. This year, Jon Rahm provided the biggest jump of the year with a second place finish and the first top three finish by a golfer since 2013. Rahm, who was not on the list last year, caused an uproar in the golf world when he signed with LIV Golf in December last year. While the details of the contract have not been released, it has already been reported to be at least $300 million over several years. We can certainly expect to see more LIV Golfers among the top earners in the sporting world in the future.