10 Places to Win the Biggest Paydays in Sports
Here's a news flash: There's some serious cash to be earned in sports.
Everyone knows that, but what you may not know is where athletes can earn some of the biggest paydays. After doing some digging, we've come up with 10 places where athletic excellency and superior skills can earn an epic amount of cash.
When you read this list, you may question the definition of the word "athlete," but because each of the events listed in this slideshow can be viewed on respected sports networks, who are we to call the winners anything less?
One person who'll never have her athleticism questioned is Serena Williams. She wins a lot, and with her seemingly endless supply of tournament trophies has come an inordinate amount of prize money. She's the best female tennis player of her era and deserves every penny she's earned.
Flip through the slideshow, and you'll see Williams is often in place to take home some of the largest paydays available in sports.
FIFA World Cup Final
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In 2014, Germany won the FIFA World Cup, and according to ESPN FC, the prize money for the victory totaled $35 million. Each player on the team received a $408,000 bonus, which is a pretty handsome bump from their national football federation.
There are other sports events that deliver a higher payout to individual athletes, but nothing comes close as it pertains to a team prize.
The $35 million was a 17 percent increase from what Spain earned when it won the 2010 World Cup, according to Xinhua (via the Hindu). It stands to reason the winner of the 2018 World Cup will top Germany's haul.
In the UFC Octagon
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On a whole, MMA fighters are underpaid. That's especially the case if you look at the fighters who compete in the sport's most popular and successful organization—the UFC.
If you gauge fighter risk and the amount of money the UFC earns, it would seem the fighters should get more. There's a select group of fighters who do earn handsomely for risking life and limb in the Octagon.
Per MMAFighting.com, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor recently earned the first $1 million payday in UFC history. This can be disputed. According to an article written by Fox Sports' Mike Chiappetta, an unnamed fighter previously made $5 million, per UFC president Dana White.
Which story is true? Who knows—either way, McGregor made a decent piece of change for what proved to be a tough night. Every other slideshow image is one of triumph, but McGregor earned his big purse in defeat.
At the UFC 196 main event, Nate Diaz smoked McGregor as the latter tried to come up to 170 pounds to continue his epic roll. Despite his unsuccessful attempt to compete as a welterweight, McGregor remains one of the UFC's biggest draws.
He could potentially earn even more in future fights.
The International Final
3 of 10Some people argue eSports aren't real sports. It's hard to see a big difference between competitive gaming and auto racing. Both require a ton of skill, coordination and some aspect of physical fitness if one is to perform at his or her best. Still, that's a debate for another forum.
What can't be debated is how impressive the purses are for the largest eSports events. According to eSportsearnings.com, the largest payday in eSports history was awarded at The International 2015.
The tournament brings the best Defense of the Ancients (Dota) teams together for competition at the highest level. Evil Geniuses took home the title in 2015. The team of five (Aui_2000, Fear, ppd, SumaiL and UNiVeRsE) claimed a first-place prize of $6,634,660.68.
Assuming that prize was split equally among the five players, each gamer would've earned approximately $1,326,932.13. Think about that the next time you hear someone put down a gamer.
Daytona 500
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Denny Hamlin won the 2016 Daytona 500, but we're not exactly sure how much he earned for winning NASCAR's most prestigious race. Traditionally, NASCAR has released the prize winnings for the race, but earlier this year the organization said it would no longer make that information available.
Somehow, Hamlin's and others' numbers were released shortly after the race, but NASCAR then retracted the information and called the information "incorrect," per Dustin Long of NBCSports.com. Hmm..that's pretty odd.
We do know in 2015, Joey Logano received over $1.5 million for winning the race. You'd have to assume Hamlin got at least that much for his victory a year later. In any case, this serves as more proof athletes can make quite the living while sitting down for long periods of time.
Golf Major
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Winning a major golf tournament is hard, and those who are good enough to do it are paid well.
Danny Willett earned $1.8 million for his victory at Augusta National in the 2016 Masters Tournament. That one payout was just under 13 percent of Willett's career earnings, and he's been a pro since 2008.
That sizable payout is consistent with the prize money for all of the sport's major tournaments. In fact, the U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship all pay $1.8 million to their winners.
Indianapolis 500
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IndyCar racing isn't as big in the United States as it is in some countries, but the biggest race of the series takes place in America's heartland. The Indianapolis 500 is called the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, so it's only natural the winner would receive a handsome prize.
Juan Pablo Montoya took home $2,449,055 when he won the event in 2015. The 40-year-old has won twice on the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, but neither of those wins was as lucrative as his Indy triumph.
Grand Slam Tennis Final
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Serena Williams won three of the four Grand Slam finals in 2015, and she's captured four of the last six. On the men's side, Novak Djokovic also won three of the four Grand Slam titles in 2015.
Both athletes took home enormous paychecks for their efforts. Take a look at what each of the four Grand Slam events paid to the singles champion in 2015, per Forbes:
- Australian Open—$2.12 million
- French Open—$1.96 million
- Wimbledon—$2.66 million
- U.S. Open—$3.3 million
On Grand Slams alone, both Williams and Djokovic were able to earn more than $7 million apiece. That's not too shabby.
World Series of Poker
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Poker is another game critics will argue isn't a sport. That criticism is a bit more logical than the flap eSports receives; competitive gaming at least requires good reflexes.
No matter if you think poker is a sport or not, there's no questioning the amount of cash available to win for those who excel at the game.
By most accounts, the World Series of Poker is the game's premier event. As of January 2015, the event's top prize was set at $8 million. That's actually down from the $10 million prize that used to be awarded to the winner.
Whether you're an "athlete" or just some guy, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn't want in on that type of prize.
Dubai World Cup
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California Chrome didn't win the Triple Crown, but he did capture the 2016 Dubai World Cup. In America, the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes are all the rage, but when it comes to payout, they pale in comparison to the Dubai World Cup.
It is the richest horse race in the world with a $10 million payout.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the race chairman and a very wealthy man. He also owns Manchester City FC. According to the Mirror, he is the richest football owner in the world.
The payout for the horse race is just a drop in the bucket for him, but it's still one of the biggest single paydays in all of sports.
In a Boxing Ring
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You can't earn big money in every boxing ring, but some fights offer the largest paydays for any individual in sports. The prime example is the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao bout that took place in May 2015.
Mayweather reportedly made between $220 million - $230 million when he scored a unanimous-decision victory over Pacquiao. The Filipino legend's payday wasn't too shabby for taking the loss. He made a little more than $150 million.
Mayweather and Pacquiao aren't the only fighters making big money. Miguel Cotto was expected to clear between $27 million - $30 million for losing to Canelo Alvarez in September 2015. Alvarez's payday was a guaranteed $6.5 million.
If a fighter has the skills, personality and the backing from a promoter or powerful manager, there's no place to make more money for a single showing. And people say boxing is a dying sport.
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