Once again, BRW have released their Top 50 Australian Sports Earners for the year. [BRW highest sports earners] No points for guessing who is number 1, yet again. Greg Norman. The Shark amassed the same as he did last year, pocketing $20 million. Shark doesn’t get out on the course much anymore…only $500,000 was from plying his trade as a golfer. [Five Gold Coasters on the sport rich list]
In second position is arguably Australia’s best soccer player, Harry Kewell, with $11 million. The majority of that figure is from his soccer contracts.
The refreshing news from this list is that the top earners are over a wide variety of sports.
Mark Webber comes in third thanks to his lucrative Red Bull Racing contract in F1.
Golfer’s Adam Scott and Geoff Ogilvy make the top 10, with Scott making about $4.5 million of his $8.1 million income from endorsements.
World MotoGP champ Casey Stoner amassed $4.2 million, but this will skyrocket next year.
Some fresh faces on the list include World Surfing Champion Mick Fanning, who earned $1.9 million. With the prize money on the ASP Tour relatively low, Fanning produced a large amount of his income from endorsements (as most professional surfers do).
Quite a few Aussie cricketers made the list, with Adam Gilchrist on $2.2 million heading the group. Brett Lee came in at about $2 million, with about half of that figure from endorsements.
The highest paid woman in Australia is superstar basketballer Lauren Jackson. She came in at 48 with $1.2 million. Lauren predominantly made her money offshore, with lucrative contracts in Europe and the US. Only one other woman made the list, Lauren’s team mate Penny Taylor, at 50, with $1.1 million.