ESPN profiled the highest paid athletes in each sport last year based on salary and prize money. Many athletes earn a significant portion of their income from endorsements, but since prize money is well documented, it's a decent metric.
The obvious names are on the list, but not in the order I would have expected. Kobe Bryant was the top earning basketball player, earning approximately $25 million in salary. But, he's only in 5th place. Athletes in baseball (Alex Rodriguez), American football (Charles Johnson) and auto-racing (Fernando Alonso) all considerably out earned Bryant. But, as good as those guys are, they all live on Planet Pacquiao. It wasn't that the Pilipino boxer earned $50 million, but the fact that it was the guaranteed minimum for two fights. TWO! I have some degree of experience with combat sports, and I know boxing is as hard as they come. But Alex Rodriguez had to play the better part of a 122 game baseball season. And Bryant had 58 games. Never thought I'd say this, but poor Kobe.
And then there was squash and 2012's top earning Nick Matthew. Not noteworthy that he wasn't near the top of the money list, or even that he was second from the bottom, but interesting to note the athletes that were above him. Professional rodeo rider Trevor Brazile earned nearly three times as much as Matthew. Dart thrower Phil Taylor stood at 7 times Matthew and competitive eater Joey Chestnut's $205,000 was more than 1.5 times Matthew.
Maybe it's the organization's name? Chestnut is a member of Major League Eating. That sounds like a badass organization that would attract sponsors and dole out money.
Maybe it's the length of the game? An eating competition is only 10-12 minutes....
Please follow my lead by lobbying the PSA to change their name to something more aggressive, and to institute PAR-3 scoring so that we can put more money in Nick's pocket.
