Tag: Forbes

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy among four golfers on Forbes’ highest-paid athletes list

Woods made a tidy $62.3 million last year, with $60 million of that coming from endorsements. He’s one of three golfers in the top 25.

Nobody will be surprised to hear that Tiger Woods is among the top 10 athletes when it comes to earnings, according to the annual listings that came out at Forbes.com on Friday.

And while only four golfers cracked the top 100, three of those were in the top 25, proving that golf’s elite are as well-compensated as those in any sport.

Woods made a tidy $62.3 million last year, with $60 million of that coming from endorsements.

Rory McIlroy (No, 14) and Phil Mickelson (No. 25) were also in the top 25 and Jordan Spieth, despite his lack of success on the PGA Tour in 2019, still came in at No. 52.

The site notes that since he turned pro in 1996, Woods has earned $1.5 billion from endorsements, appearances and course design fees. Not a bad number. Also, Woods continues to branch into new areas with his career firmly in its twilight. The Payne Valley project in Missouri will be Woods’ first public course design and will help push his talents — and earning power — in new directions.

McIlroy netted $52 million and came in at 14th on the list, but while he did well in endorsements ($30 million), he shot up the rankings due to his $15 million payday for winning the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup.

Meanwhile, Mickelson’s on-course earnings were minimal — he pulled in “just” $800,000 on the season, but hauled in a whopping $40 million in endorsements, including new additions in Amstel Light and hat brand Melin. He placed 25th on the list and has made an incredible $750 million in endorsements through the years.

Spieth barely missed the top 50 on the Forbes list, even though he fell out of the Official World Golf Rankings top 50. His deal with Under Armour continues to help push him high on this list, and he netted a total of $27.6 million on the year, with $26 million coming from endorsements.

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Report: No fans in stadiums for 2020 could cost Panthers $143 million

Just how much depends on the team and the stadium.

The 2020 NFL schedule is out and the plan is to proceed with the regular season as usual, beginning in early September. That said, there are a thousand questions that need to be answered between now and then. Near the top of the list is if teams will be allowed to have fans in their stadiums or if the pandemic will make that impossible.

Panthers owner David Tepper recently suggested we could possibly see some fans in stadiums this year, but they will not be at full capacity.

If the league has to go forward without fans in the stands, it would obviously cost a great deal of revenue.

Just how much depends on the team and the stadium. According to an estimate by Forbes, Carolina could lose $143 million if there are no fans at Bank of America Stadium this year, which is based on 2018 revenue. The Cowboys would be hit hardest by a fanless-season. Forbes says Dallas could lose $621 million this year.

There’s nothing wrong with hoping that fans get to show up for games like usual, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Recent reporting in the Wall Street Journal suggests that having stadiums full of people could have a superspreader effect, which is worth avoiding no matter how much money it costs.

The league is preparing for these potential losses by changing the rules for how much debts teams are allowed to hold. Owners voted to increase that limit from $350 million to $500 million, per Sports Business Daily.

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Report: Texans could lose $218 million of their annual revenue if games are played without fans

The Houston Texans could lose over 40% of their annual revenue if the 2020 NFL season goes forward without fans in the stands at NRG Stadium.

The whole NFL may be the 1996 Houston Oilers’ final season at the Astrodome with no crowd noise.

While the league may be considering pumping in fake crowd noise, there is no way to replace the revenue that real fans generate. According to an article from Mike Ozanian of Forbes using figures from 2018, the Houston Texans stand to lose $218 million, roughly 43.9% of their annual revenue, if games are played without fans inside NRG Stadium.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the sports world with suspensions of seasons in the NBA, NHL, MLB, college sports, and a lot more. The NFL has weathered the storm since COVID-19 has occurred during its offseason. It was not that big of a change to have the 2020 NFL Draft virtually since the draft is nothing more than a three-day reveal of a list anyway. The league and host city, which would have been Las Vegas, lost out on the event and economic benefit of having fans, but the operation went smoothly.

Take the games though. Fans generate revenue for teams with parking, concessions, tickets, and trips to the team shop inside the stadium. It goes beyond just being a part of the emotional factor in games. And the Forbes article doesn’t even take into account the loss of revenue NFL venues have had to face with the cancellation of concerts and other events.

The NFL allowed teams to reopen their team facilities on May 19, and the Texans were one of those teams. However, the players and coaches, who would have been in the middle of their offseason workouts with rookie minicamp already completed, are not yet allowed at team facilities. Until that checkpoint is reached, the 2020 NFL season is still wrought with question marks as to the feasibility of even playing it on time or at all.

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Bills would lose among least without fans… but still a lot

How much the Buffalo Bills would lose in stadium revenue without having fans in 2020 via Forbes.

According to Forbes, the Buffalo Bills, the small-market team that the club is, would be among the smallest losers of stadium revenue in the NFL if fans aren’t allowed to attend games next season.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a lot of dough, considering the king of sports that the NFL is.

According to the research from Forbes, the Bills would lose the fourth-least amount of revenue among all NFL teams if fans aren’t allowed to attend games next season. The figures are based on the 2018 season.

Of course, in 2018, the Bills had a poor season mixed in between two playoff berths, and also to consider is the last-place team: the Raiders. In 2018, it was one of their last seasons in Oakland, and in 2020, the club became the Las Vegas Raiders. Their placement is certainly going to jump. Just above the Raiders is also the Chargers, who won’t be skipping town, but will also be moving into a new stadium.

So onto the actual figure: $104 million dollars lost for the Bills. A solid chunk of change for anyone, even if it’s the fourth-lowest total on Forbes’s list. The report is based off of the sum of tickets, concessions, sponsors, parking and team stores.

 

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Philadelphia Eagles land in the top-5 of ranking of most passionate sports fans

Philadelphia Eagles No. 5 in a ranking of most passionate fan bases in sports

The Philadelphia Eagles have always had one of the more rabid fan bases in the NFL and the popularity has translated into the entire spectrum of sports.

Forbes recently did a ranking of the top fan bases in all of the sports, and the Birds landed a top-5 ranking, coming in at No. 5.

5-eagles
TEAM OWNER & NET WORTH: Jeffrey Lurie ($2.7 billion)
TEAM VALUE: $3.05 billion
SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING: 6.6 million
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 69,783
CHAMPIONSHIPS: 4
It takes a special breed of fan to merit two Hollywood movies, both of them blockbusters. The throng has made this franchise the most popular in Philadelphia, besting the Phillies, the 76ers and the Flyers.

The Steelers came in at No. 4 on the list, the Saints were No. 3, the Patriots were No. 2, with the Green Bay Packers fans landing at the No. 1 spot.

Forbes included television ratings, game attendance, merchandise sales, and social media reach in their rankings for all of North America’s 123 professional teams in the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, and MLB.

NFL fans are without a doubt the most devoted, with fans of the league’s 32 teams grabbing six of the top ten spots.

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Saints’ Who Dat Nation ranked among top-5 most-passionate fan bases

Fans of the New Orleans Saints were listed among the most passionate fan bases in America’s major sports leagues by a recent Forbes ranking.

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The New Orleans Saints fan base is a group that punches above its weight class. While their television market might be one of the smaller you’ll find around the NFL, Saints fans have an unmatched appetite for football — often turning in the nation’s highest ratings for prime-time games, whether the black and gold are involved or not.

But Saints fans do more than tune in when a game is on. According to a list put together by Forbes staff writer Christian Settimi, the Who Dat Nation ranks fourth among America’s most-passionate fan bases. That puts them shoulder-to-shoulder with supporters of the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. and ahead of the leaders in other sports like the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and MLB’s Boston Red Sox.

Settimi considered factors like team value (the Saints are estimated to be worth $2.275 billion), social media following (5.4 million between Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), and average home game attendance (with 73,082 spectators packing the Mercedes-Benz Superdome). She also noted that New Orleans throws a ton of hometown support behind its team:

A full 75% of New Orleans residents identify as Saints fans—second in the NFL to Green Bay’s 82% with the Packers—helping to make the “Who Dat” nation’s social media following four times as big as the city’s population of 1.3 million.

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Classic fight replays — led by Ali-Frazier trilogy — do strong ratings on ESPN

ESPN’s replay of the “Thrilla in Manila” was the sixth-most-watched sports-related show of the past week.

Fans are watching boxing even when there’s no boxing.

ESPN’s replay of the third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975 – The “Thrilla in Manila” – was the sixth-most-watched sports-related show of the past week, according to ShowBuzzDaily. An average of 699,000 people watched the fight, Forbes reported.

As Forbes pointed out, that figure is higher than the 683,000 who viewed the Wednesday episode of the new professional wrestling outfit AEW Dynamite.

Classic boxing shows made up eight of the 20 most-watched sports programs this past week. That also included Ali-Frazier I, Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks and Oscar De La Hoya-Julio Cesar Chavez.

An ESPN boxing analyst Tweeted: “Amazing numbers on ESPN Linear. … Boxing Library works amazing! Perhaps better than any other Sport.”

ESPN devoted 11 hours to boxing on Saturday, including the first time the first Ali-Frazier has been televised since 1991. That fight had an average audience of 641,000. The second Ali-Frazier fight averaged 607,000.

The only live card on ESPN this year — headlined by Eleider Alvarez vs. Michael Seals — averaged 704.000 viewers.

Live sports have been sidelined as a result of the corona virus pandemic.

Panthers owner David Tepper urges more donations to combat coronavirus

Tepper has donated $22 million of his own money to help relief efforts so far.

Some things are much bigger than football and that’s never been more clear than right now as the coronavirus pandemic ravages the United States and countries around the world. Panthers owner David Tepper is urging people who have the ability to give to step up with more donations.

Here’s what Tepper said, according to Forbes.

“Here, it’s people losing their ability to make money, and that time period doesn’t have a certain end, which also creates a specific challenge for what you do with any kind of philanthropy… We hope that everybody steps up. . . I think in general, in times of need, people have to step up if they have the ability to step up. Period.”

Tepper has donated $22 million of his own money to help relief efforts so far. His net worth is around $12 billion, per Forbes. 

Players have also gotten involved in the fight. All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey has started a funding program called 22 and You, pledging funds for healthcare providers in both North and South Carolina. 

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Texans’ McNair family doesn’t crack Forbes’ list of top-20 richest sports owners

The McNair family wasn’t listed among the top-20 of the richest owners in sports, according to a recent Forbes list.

The McNair family may be richer than King Midas, but they still aren’t among the upper crust of sports owners.

According to a recent list from Forbes of the world’s richest sports team owners, the McNair family that owns the Houston Texans failed to crack the top-20.

There were seven NFL owners on the list including the Carolina Panthers’ David Tepper, the Los Angeles Rams’ Stan Kroenke, the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Shahid Khan, the Miami Dolphins’ Stephen Ross, the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft, and the Buffalo Bills’ Terrence Pegula. The AFC South was represented only by Khan’s Jaguars.

According to estimates from Forbes in Sept. 2019, the Texans are worth $3.1 billion, making them the ninth most valuable NFL franchise. That is not a bad jump from the $600 million the late founder, Bob McNair, paid to start up Houston’s second NFL franchise.

Fun fact: the Texans won a playoff game in 2019 while each of the teams among the top-20 list did not.

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Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao still lead the way

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are still the biggest names in boxing, according to new data from ListenFirst.

Boxing is a long way from escaping the collective shadow of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Mayweather is retired (for now) and Pacquiao may be on the back end of his career, but they are still dominating the boxing conversation, at least in the digital universe. That’s what the latest numbers pertaining to social media suggest, according to Forbes, which drew its conclusion from data culled by ListenFirst, an analytics firm that tracks social media engagement.

As of Dec. 31, 2019, Mayweather’s total audience across his social media platforms measured 44.5 million. Likewise, on the same date, Pacquiao had a total audience of 20.6 million.

Compare that to Canelo Alvarez, arguably the most bankable star in the sport today. The Mexican star had a total audience of 11 million on his social media accounts as of Dec. 31. Gennadiy Golovkin tracked at 5.27 million.

According to Forbes, you have to look outside of boxing to find anyone who rivals Mayweather’s reach. UFC’s Conor McGregor had a social media fan base of 48.9 million on the last day of 2019.

Of course, both Mayweather and Pacquiao have seen their influence on social media diminish since their ballyhooed matchup in 2015.

ListenFirst’s Fan Growth score, which measures the increase of a person’s digital audience — Facebook page likes, new Twitter followers and more — shows that Pacquiao’s score dropped from 5.9 million in 2015 to 735,892 in 2019; similarly, Mayweather’s Fan Growth score dropped from 8.7 million in 2015 to 45,861 in 2019. Again, Mayweather is retired while Pacquiao is still active.

And yet, ListenFirst claims that a rematch between Mayweather and Pacquiao remains an attractive possibility, despite some moans and groans from hardcore boxing fans. ListenFirst’s Chief Marketing Officer Tracy David says that as far as mainstream appeal goes, there is no bigger fight in boxing despite the drop off in popularity for both fighters and the fact that Pacquiao’s team recently suggested that Mayweather-Pacquiao II isn’t realistic.

“…[T]hat Mayweather and Pacquiao both have more of a social media following than younger stars like Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin speaks to why there’s still so much anticipation around a potential rematch,” David told Forbes. “Even at a diminished popularity level, Manny and Floyd remain the biggest names in boxing, and a sequel to their 2015 fight would likely be a PPV draw, despite questions about how much each fighter has left in the tank.”