Norman, Bogut, big earners in Aussie sports
By Tom Wald, 21 Jan 2010 Tom Wald is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Andrew Bogut, Australian sports, Basketball, football, Golf, Greg Norman, Harry Kewell
Greg Norman of Australia waves as he walks down the 18th fairway during the third round of the British Open Golf championship, at the Royal Birkdale golf course, Southport, England, Saturday, July 19, 2008. AP Photo/Paul Thomas
Having made his presence felt in the NBA, Andrew Bogut is starting to cast his considerable shadow over the rest of Australia’s sporting stars in money matters.
The Milwaukee Bucks centre has shot up from fifth to second in the BRW’s latest list of the nation’s top 50 sports earners behind occasional golfer Greg Norman.
The 25-year-old’s five-year, $US60 million ($A65 million) contract extension has kicked in for the current NBA season and Bogut has responded with his most productive season, averaging 15.1 points and 10.4 rebounds a game.
The BRW listed Bogut as earning $14m a year, hot on Norman’s ($15m) tail even if the two-time British Open champion’s wealth has long been coming from off the golf course.
Harry Kewell remained our best-paid football player despite his earnings dipping from $10.5m to $9.5m as he continues to ply his trade at Turkish club Galatasaray.
Formula One ace Mark Webber ($9m) was next best, one of four involved in motor sports that made the top ten ahead of motocross star Chad Reed ($8.8m), NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose ($5.44 million) and 2007 MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner ($5 million).
Geoff Ogilvy ($6.34m) is the highest full-time golfer on the list while Lleyton Hewitt has dropped out of the top ten and watched his earning power shrink from to $6.6m to $2.88m.
Australia’s cricketers remain the best paid locally-based sportsmen even if they spend much of each year crossing the globe.
Skipper Ricky Ponting ($4.26m) is the sport`s top earner despite never having really cashed in on the lucrative Indian Premier League.
Fast bowler Brett Lee ($3.52m) has shown that playing power does not always equate to earning power, having being rated as the nation’s second-best paid cricketer despite missing the Ashes and current home summer.
Vice captain Michael Clarke was ranked 21st with a princely sum of $2.54m and Michael Hussey ($1.39m) was at No.41.
Wild child Andrew Symonds made the list at No.50 with $1.22m, enough to shout himself a few new fishing rods and a tinnie.
© AAP 2012BRW’S TOP TEN AUSTRALIAN MONEY EARNERS IN SPORT:
1. Greg Norman (Golf) $15m
2. Andrew Bogut (Basketball) $14m
3. Harry Kewell (Soccer) $9.5m
4. Mark Webber (Motor sport – Formula One) $9m
5. Chad Reed (Motor sport – motocross) $8.8m
6. Geoff Ogilvy (Golf) $6.34m
7. Marcos Ambrose (Motor sport – NASCAR) $5.44m
8. Casey Stoner (Motor sport – MotoGP) $5m
9. Robert Allenby (Golf) $4.93m
10. Tim Cahill (Soccer) $ 4.6m
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tifosi said | January 21st 2010 @ 4:37am | Report comment
(I Posted this in another forum as well yesterday)
What does this list tell us?
The USA is where the big bucks are. 6 out of the ten make most of their money in the US.
Oh and motorsport seems pretty good too, but these guys are putting their life on the line so its warranted i think.
Michael C said | January 21st 2010 @ 5:15am | Report comment
the title is a bit misleading,
these guys aren’t the biggest earners in Aussie Sports…….because, they’ve made their big money OUTSIDE of Australia and outside of Aussie Sports.
Good luck to them.
Punter said | January 21st 2010 @ 6:30am | Report comment
Michael C,
Now I don’t mean to be rude, I regard Melbourne as a huge sporting city & also as a country, we are also a great sporting country, but there is sport outside of Melbourne & our great country.
If you want a list of top earners who have made their money INSIDE of Australia & confide to only Aussie sports, you are really limiting your options here, you could just title it top earners in AFL.
MV Dave said | January 21st 2010 @ 6:34am | Report comment
The highest earning local footballer of any code…John Aloisi SFC! Around $1.3m per season thats about $200,000 per goal…not bad work if you can get it.
Would think Jason Culina to be the 2nd highest with over $1m but havent seen the full list.
How times have changed with local footballers earning the most of any code
TinHat said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:29am | Report comment
What is Matt Giteau on now? He was on something like $2 million at the Force (this is a genuine question).
At $200,000 a goal I’d want my money back. To be fair though he is probably the only player in the squad your average Sydneysider would have heard of. Maybe.
That is a great deal of money considering how many people actually go and watch him play. What is Sydney FC’s average home crowd – 11,000? Worth every buck.
True Tah said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:08am | Report comment
A fair chunk of Giteau’s package was in Firepower shares and we know how that ended up.
TinHat said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:57am | Report comment
The A-League Salary cap is only $2.1 million. Somebody is working for peanuts then.
MV Dave said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:12am | Report comment
Marquee players are not counted in the salary cap…and yep…Aloisi is a marquee, as is Culina.
Tinhat said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:01am | Report comment
How do they afford it with so little interest in the league outside of Melbourne?
Tiny salary cap.
Isn’t Culina a coach?
The remaining players are still paid peanuts.
MV Dave said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:09am | Report comment
Jason Culina is the marquee for GCU and his Dad Branko the coach of NJs. The squads are around 22 players in size with several of those on the basic payments…therefore the ave player with decent experience will be on $125-150,000 and the better players up to $300,000, not peanuts, and a handful getting more.
The salary cap is increasing each year and if the rumoured TV deal comes through early will no doubt shoot up again.
Considering 5 years ago local players were part time l think a lot of progress has been made in a short time.
Tinhat said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:28am | Report comment
So some are getting basically nothing so the remainder can get something reasonable. So some people are working for peanuts.
It’s not just 5 years though is it. The code has been number one in nsw for instance for 80 years and the socceroos have had reasonable crowds for decades. The a-league is hardly thrilling the socks off the masses though. Considering the support it should get given the number registered players it hasn’t taken off at all. It’s even more interesting when you consider that it doesn’t have any real competition in getting the viewing publics attention.
Having said that- socceroos to win in SA.
MV Dave said | January 21st 2010 @ 4:20pm | Report comment
1st year players up from Youth ranks would get $30-40,000 (probably 18-19 yo’s)… not too bad. For their 1st income not too bad…certainly aint peanuts for them. Some others may only be $70-100,000, perhaps 1 year deals, then the more experienced/talented would get the better money. Dont see a problem…works the same in every code.
The ALeague is fine, expanding, MV/MH will play in a brand new stadium, new TV deal to come…dont stress yourself out TinHat football in Oz has never been in a better position…sorry to disappoint you. MV has better attendances most RL and RU teams in Oz, not bad for domestic Sokkah.
BigAl said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:31am | Report comment
All this indicates that is something is terribly terribly wrong with the way these teams are run !
Tinhat said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:43am | Report comment
Agreed.
keeper11 said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:00am | Report comment
Its a case of Chad, Marcos, Casey who?… a basketball and and couple of ‘sockah’ players..
One could relate this article with the one regarding media control of the australian sporting…
So where are the much vaunted and over-hyped NRL/AFL footy ”superstars’ that have acre upon acre of local media coverage slavishly devoted to them…?
Doubt any of them from these so-called ‘major’ sports even make the top 25 …
Redb said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Salary cap prevent it. The only reason A League can allow an Alosi is due to the marquee player exception. He is hardly worthy of it as there are far more higher profile sports people in Australia in the AFL and NRL who are more popular with Australian fans.
bever fever said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:09am | Report comment
Doubt any of them from these so-called ‘major’ sports even make the top 25
And you have a problem with that ?.
Tinhat said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:11am | Report comment
See average attendance. Consider has no other real competition over summer. Argument over.
MV Dave said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:16am | Report comment
What argument is that?
Tinhat said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:30am | Report comment
Keeper11s and reds. Thought I clicked reply.