Professional Athletes, Team Sports

Today, professional athletes who are members of top-level teams earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money at professional competitions; the top players or athletes in each sport earn as much or more in endorsements and advertising, usually for sports-related products and services, but increasingly for products or services completely unrelated to their sport. Such salaries and other incomes are not representative of the whole field of professional athletes, but are only indicative of the fantastic revenues a few rare athletes with extraordinary talent can hope to earn. According to Forbes, soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo was the world's highest-paid athlete in 2024, with earnings of $260 million including endorsements, followed by golfer Jon Rahm ($218 million) and soccer player Lionel Messi ($135 million).

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that athletes and sports competitors had mean annual earnings of $70,280 in May 2023. The lowest 10 percent earned $27,730 or less, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $239,200.

Perhaps the only caveat to the financial success of an elite athlete is the individual's character or personality. An athlete with a bad temper or prone to unsportsmanlike behavior may still be able to participate in team play, helping to win games and garner trophies, but he or she will not necessarily be able to cash in on the commercial endorsements. Advertisers are notoriously fickle about the spokespeople they choose to endorse products; some athletes have lost million-dollar accounts because of their bad behavior on and off the court.