ANNUAL R£VIEW OF GLOBAL SPORTS $ALARIES 2010 AVERAGE FIRST-TEAM PAY, TEAM-BY-TEAM, IN THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR SPORTS LEAGUES sportingintelligence sportingintelligence sportingintelligence Introduction Welcome to Sporting Intelligence's first Annual Review the 2009 season in MLB, the MLS, the NPB and the of Global Sports Salaries, which compares earnings IPL; from the 2008-09 season in the NBA, the NHL in the world's richest sports leagues on a like-for-like and the NFL (ending with the 2009 Super Bowl), and basis for the first time, by players' average pay per from the 2007-08 season in the English Premier week and per year. The figures considered are "on League, the SPL, Serie A and for the Spanish clubs. field" earnings only, not endorsements. The latest figures as we process them are available on a companion database at www.sportingintelligence.com. The report includes wage and performance data from the world's richest leagues in football (the English Pre- This review found the New York Yankees to be the mier League), in gridiron (the NFL), in basketball (the highest-earning sports team in the world by average NBA), in baseball (MLB), in cricket (the IPL) and in ice first-team pay, followed by Real Madrid, Barcelona hockey (the NHL). These are also the world's six richest and Chelsea, then the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. NBA leagues in terms of average pay per player per week, and MLB teams dominate the top 30; our full list in- although not in that order. cludes 211 clubs. This review also includes Japan's NPB baseball league The NFL is the richest and most popular sports league as the highest-paying sports league in Asia (and the on the planet when judged solely on its massive TV in- highest paying overall in Asia aside from the new- come and average crowds per game, by far the high- comer IPL, played over six weeks but included for its est of any domestic league. But the NFL is only at No6 high weekly pay), as well as Italy's Serie A, the world's in our best-paying leagues by average earnings. Its second-highest paying football league. pay distribution within the league, with a ratio of 1.86 to 1 in average pay between the best paid and worst We include a pair of Spanish teams, Real Madrid and paid teams, is more equal than any other league. Barcelona, as the only two teams from outside our "core" six richest leagues that do or would make the This report does not draw conclusions on what is the top 30 payers by average pay. Football leagues from "fairest" league, or the "best". It simply provides a snap- the USA (MLS) and Scotland (SPL) are included as rep- shot of wages that is, by definition, already historic, resentatives of "small" leagues from the world's most plus some basic analysis between pay and performance. popular game. We hope it prompts debate on the underlying themes, and further investigation, including by ourselves in future Details about our methodology can be found at reports. Thank you for reading. www.sportingintelligence.com. All figures were ex- tracted from official club accounts, or sourced from Nick Harris unions and other reliable administrative bodies, Editor directly or indirectly. The uniqueness of this study lies Sporting Intelligence in looking beyond total payrolls or club wage bills to April 2010 what the players make per head. All figures are from the most recent completed sea- sons for each league where there was a full set of data available for all the clubs in that league at our cut-off point - the end of 2009. That means numbers from ANNUAL REVIEW OF GLOBAL SPORTS SALARIES 2010 sportingintelligence Contents ANNUAL REVIEW OF GLOBAL SPORTS SALARIES 2010 sportingintelligence sportingintelligence Annual review of global sports salaries 2010: top 12 Nos 13-50 Rank-Team League Ave year Ave week Highest paid player(s) / wage per year 13 Kolkata K Riders IPL £2,935,117 £56,445 Sourav Ganguly / pro rata, £5,775,683 RANK TEAM LEAGUE AVE 1ST-TEAM AVE 1ST-TEAM 14 Man Utd Premier League £2,902,560 £55,818 n/a PAY PER YEAR PAY PER WEEK 15 Chennai S Kings IPL £2,887,333 £55,526 Andrew Flintoff / pro rata, £8,194,333 16 Portland Trail Bl. NBA £2,838,790 £54,592 Raef LaFrentz / £7,760,725 No1 NY Yankees MLB £4,674,644 £89,897 17 Orlando Magic NBA £2,834,524 £54,510 Rashard Lewis / £10,033,201 18 Denver Nuggets NBA £2,829,280 £54,409 Kenyon Martin / £8,803,409 Highest paid player: A Rodriguez £20,130,000 19 Chicago Cubs MLB £2,824,723 £54,322 Carlos Zambrano / £11,437,500 No2 Real Madrid La Liga £4,235,110 £81,444 20 Phil. 76ers NBA £2,805,967 £53,961 Elton Brand / £8,392,285 Highest paid player: n/a 21 Boston Red Sox MLB £2,794,735 £53,745 JD Drew / £8,540,000 No3 Barcelona La Liga £4,067,200 £78,231 22 Toronto Raptors NBA £2,777,155 £53,407 Shawn Marion / £10,864,100 23 Atlanta Hawks NBA £2,772,077 £53,309 Mike Bibby / £9,139,998 Highest paid player: n/a 24 New Orl. Hornets NBA £2,726,448 £52,432 Predrag Stojakovic / £7,642,080 No4 Chelsea Premier League £3,585,185 £68,946 25 Detroit Tigers MLB £2,705,294 £52,025 Magglio Ordonez / £11,572,674 26 Wash’ton Wizards NBA £2,697,050 £51,866 Gilbert Arenas / £8,938,614 Highest paid player: n/a 27 Utah Jazz NBA £2,694,834 £51,824 Andrei Kirilenko / £9,214,660 28 St L Cardinals MLB £2,694,332 £51,814 Albert Pujols / £8,800,669 No5 Dallas Mavericks NBA £3,553,823 £68,343 29 Indiana Pacers NBA £2,654,407 £51,046 Troy Murphy / £6,177,460 Highest paid player: Jason Kidd £13,036,920 30 LA Dodgers MLB £2,644,127 £50,849 Manny Ramirez / £14,551,241 No6 LA Lakers NBA £3,409,281 £65,563 31 Arsenal Premier League £2,615,052 £50,289 n/a Highest paid player: Kobe Bryant £12,970,125 32 LA Angels MLB £2,576,605 £49,550 Torii Hunter / £10,980,000 33 Liverpool Premier League £2,530,400 £48,662 n/a No7 Detroit Pistons NBA £3,340,18 £64,234 34 Delhi Daredevils IPL £2,524,892 £48,556 Virender Sehwag / pro rata, £4,407,758 Highest paid player: Allen Iverson £12,712,781 35 Houston Rockets NBA £2,522,182 £48,504 Tracy McGrady / £11,964,540 36 New Jersey Nets NBA £2,520,660 £48,474 Vince Carter / £8,981,716 No8 Cleveland Cavaliers NBA £3,303,495 £63,529 37 Deccan Chargers IPL £2,494,900 £47,979 Andrew Symonds / pro rata, £7,137,000 Highest paid player: Ben Wallace £8,845,000 38 Phil. Phillies MLB £2,473,828 £47,574 Ryan Howard / £9,150,000 39 Minn. T’wolves NBA £2,467,621 £47,454 Al Jefferson / £6,710,000 No9 Boston Celtics NBA £3,266,251 £62,813 40 Chicago Bulls NBA £2,454,196 £47,196 Brad Miller / £6,938,750 Highest paid player: Kevin Garnett £15,098,680 41 Sacramento Kings NBA £2,423,507 £46,606 Kevin Martin / £5,648,804 No10 New York Knicks NBA £3,264,010 £62,769 42 Mumbai Indians IPL £2,399,842 £46,151 Sachin Tendulkar / pro rata, £5,927,675 Highest paid player: Stephon Marbury £12,712,781 43 Milwaukee Bucks NBA £2,376,562 £45,703 Michael Redd / £9,625,800 44 Kings XI Punjab IPL £2,362,225 £45,427 Yuvraj Singh / pro rata, £5,623,692 No11 Phoenix Suns NBA £3,074,229 £59,120 45 NY Mets MLB £2,296,386 £44,161 Carlos Beltran / £11,738,646 Highest paid player: Shaquille O’Neal £12,200,000 46 Atlanta Braves MLB £2,244,910 £43,171 Tim Hudson / £9,455,000 47 Miami Heat NBA £2,205,574 £42,415 Jermaine O’Neal / £13,036,920 No12 RC Bangalore IPL £3,007,300 £57,833 48 Golden St. Warriors NBA £2,140,707 £41,167 Monta Ellis / £6,710,000 Highest paid player: Kevin Pietersen £8,194,333 (pro rata) 49 Newcastle Premier League £2,133,333 £41,026 n/a 50 Houston Astros MLB £2,113,478 £40,644 Carlos Lee / £11,590,000 05 ANNUAL REVIEW OF GLOBAL SPORTS SALARIES 2010 ANNUAL REVIEW OF GLOBAL SPORTS SALARIES 2010 06 sportingintelligence sportingintelligence sportingintelligence Nos 51-90 Nos 91-130 Rank-Team League Ave year Ave week Highest paid player(s) / wage per year Rank-Team League Ave year Ave week Highest paid player(s) / wage per year 51 Chicago W Sox MLB £2,109,624 £40,570 Mark Buehrle / £8,540,000 91 Ariz. Diamondbacks MLB £1,323,000 £25,442 Eric Byrnes / £7,116,666 52 LA Clippers NBA £2,097,158 £40,330 Zach Randolph / £8,946,667 92 Montreal Canadiens NHL £1,316,115 £25,310 Andrei Markov / £3,340,110 53 Okla. City Thunder NBA £2,087,334 £40,141 Malik Rose / £4,664,975 93 Cincinnati Reds MLB £1,313,376 £25,257 Aaron Harang / £8,540,000 54 Seattle Mariners MLB £2,060,440 £39,624 Ichiro Suzuki / £10,980,000 94 Carolina Hurricanes NHL £1,295,778 £24,919 Eric Staal / £2,904,443 55 Charlotte Bobcats NBA £2,050,285 £39,429 Emeka Okafor / £5,817,875 95 Minnesota Wild NHL £1,279,432 £24,604 Marian Gaborik / £4,356,665 56 Milan Serie A £2,022,535 £38,895 Kaka / £4,225,352 96 S Francisco 49ers NFL £1,271,007 £24,442 Justin Smith / £7,472,500 57 San Antonio Spurs NBA £1,985,623 £38,185 Tim Duncan / £12,565,209 97 Pittsburgh Steelers NFL £1,267,374 £24,373 Ben Roethlisberger / £16,898,171 58 Internazionale Serie A £1,904,225 £36,620 Patrick Vieira / £3,521,127 98 Blackburn Premier League £1,267,018 £24,366 n/a 59 New York Rangers NHL £1,827,426 £35,143 Scott Gomez / £4,647,109 99 Tottenham Premier League £1,264,853 £24,324 n/a 60 Milwaukee Brewers MLB £1,791,874 £34,459 Jeff Suppan / £7,777,500 100 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL £1,264,314 £24,314 Sidney Crosby / £5,227,998 61 Colorado Rockies MLB £1,785,300 £34,333 Todd Helton / £10,126,000 101 Chicago Blackhawks NHL £1,247,666 £23,994 Brian Campbell / £4,149,205 62 Aston Villa Premier League £1,781,818 £34,266 n/a 102 Boston Bruins NHL £1,247,337 £23,987 Zdeno Chara / £4,356,665 63 Memphis Grizzlies NBA £1,777,341 £34,180 Darko Milicic / £4,282,200 103 San Jose Sharks NHL £1,246,937 £23,980 Joe Thornton / £4,182,399 64 San Franciso Giants MLB £1,768,634