Sports & Celebrity Newswire

Posts Tagged ‘Cal Ripken Jr Booking Agent’

Tiger Woods earns $1B becoming highest paid athlete

Forbes reported last week that Tiger Woods became the first athlete to earn $1 billion in career earnings from endorsements, prize winnings, golf course design and appearance fees. Woods reportedly earns $30 million a year from Nike and receives $10 million per project for his golf design work. He also just won $10 million last week for winning the FedEx Cup title.

The crazy part is that Woods in only 33 years old and has many years of competitive golf, endorsements and golf course design ahead of him. It’s not a stretch to say that he’ll likely make well in excess of $2 billion by the time his career ends. It’s estimated that he has now earned more than NBA great Michael Jordan ($800 million) and retired Formula One driver Michal Shumacher ($700 million).

Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan compete at San Francisco Golf Tournament

I thought it would be interesting to look at the list of highest paid endorsers…

1. Tiger Woods ($110 million)…Even though he missed the second half of 2008 and the first part of this year with a knee injury, Woods is still the king of earnings.

2T. Kobe Bryant ($45 million)…The NBA’s most popular player on a global basis, Bryant is more popular in China than he is in the United States.

2T. Michael Jordan ($45 million)…Jordan is still Nike’s highest paid endorser, reportedly earning more than $40 million per year from his Jordan brand.

2T. Kimi Raikkonen ($45 million)…Formula One’s highest paid driver.

5. David Beckam ($42 million)…Although Beckham’s on the downside of his career, he’s still the most visible soccer player in the world and has endorsements with Adidas and Motorola among others.

6T. Manny Pacquiao ($40 million)…His last two fights against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton generated more than $100 million in revenue from pay-per-view.

6T. LeBron James ($40 million)…The Michael Jordan of this era, James is the face of the NBA along with Bryant.

6T. Phil Mickelson ($40 million)…Mickelson has earned more than $54 million in prize money during his career, trailing only Woods and Vijay Singh in money earned over a career.

9. Valentino Rossi ($35 million)…The most popular motorcycle racer in the world. Rossi earns $16 million per year just from Yamaha.

10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ($34 million)…Earnhardt Jr. was voted NASCAR’s most popular driver for the sixth straight year in 2008.

Next Ten…11T. Roger Federer ($34 million); 11T. Shaquille O’Neal ($33 million); 13T. Oscar De La Hoya ($32 million); 13T. Lewis Hamilton ($32 million); 13T. Alex Rodriguez ($32 million); 16. Vijay Singh ($31 million); 17T. Kevin Garnett ($30 million); 17T. Jeff Gordon ($30 million) and 17T. Ronaldinho ($30 million)

The most glaring absence from this list is the lack of representation from the NFL. One would think the most popular sport in the U.S. would be well represented, but NFL salaries aren’t as high as other sports and only a handful of players earn large endorsement income. Even though they’re not on the list, among the top earning NFL players are Payton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger.

Another interesting fact is that the only retired player on the list is Jordan. Among the top earning retired athletes who didn’t make the list are Cal Ripken Jr, John Elway, Muhammad Ali, Magic Johnson and John McEnroe.

PFP Sports and Celebrity Talent Agency is a top booking agent for sports stars, athlete appearances, endorsements and celebrities. If you would like to hire a sports star for an  endorsement,  appearance or speaking engagement, contact us or call 800 966-1380.

Of all the All-Star games, I enjoy watching baseball’s version the best. I’ve been fortunate to attend eight of the Mid-Summer Classics. It’s very exciting to see all of the current stars on the field at once.

Nothing will compare to last year’s All Star game in New York, which will go down in history as one of the all-time greats. First of all, anytime you have a big event in New York, it’s going to be special. Secondly, the night was filled with tributes to Yankee Stadium, which was being closed at season’s end to make room for the new ballpark next door. Lastly, the game was an absolute classic with the American League defeating the National League, 4-3, in 15 innings. The game took 4 hours, 50 minutes and was the longest All-Star Game in history.

Commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball have attempted to make the game relevant by giving home-field advantage during the World Series to the winning league. Back in the day, the game was full of intensity and it really meant something to the winning players. Over time, the game’s importance diminished as it became more of a show than a game. You hear a lot of debate as to whether this is good or not. Personally, I think it would be more fair to give the team with the best record home-field advantage but I don’t have much of an issue since it’s brought a bit of intensity back to the game.

A few of my favorite moments from previous All-Star games…

1) In 1970, Pete Rose, playing at home in Cincinnati, attempted to score but had to get past catcher Ray Fosse. The ensuing collision not only helped solidify Rose’s reputation as “Charlie Hustle”, it had the unfortunate consequence of injuring Fosse’s shoulder. Rose was called safe at home and the National League won the thriller, 5 -4. Fosse went onto play nine more seasons but was never the same.

2) In 2001, Cal Ripken Jr. played in the last of his 19 All-Star games. The game was basically a Cal Ripken lovefest. In the third inning, Ripken made his first plate appearance and was greeted with a standing ovation. Ripken then homered off the first pitch from Chan Ho Park and ended up with All Star MVP honors.

3)  In 1999, baseball honored the All-Century Team prior to the game at Fenway Park, with such greats on-hand as Mike Schmidt, Brooks Robinson, Bob Gibson and Johnny Bench. However, the highlight of the evening occurred when the great Ted Williams was driven out to home plate and threw out the first pitch with the help of Tony Gwynn.

Will this year’s game produce any classic moments? I can’t guarantee that. However, St. Louis is rolling out the red carpet and, at the very least, I’m sure the pre-game ceremony will produce a goose-bump moment or two. Plus, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols is having one of the greatest years in the history of baseball, so I assume he’s going to be a big part of the game and broadcast.

PFP Sports and Celebrity Booking Agency is a speakers bureau and top booking agent for sports stars, athlete appearances, endorsements and celebrities. For more information call 800.966.1380