At yahoo.com I read an article estimating the top 10 highest paid sports franchises in the world. Now of course keep in mind that the average NFL team of about 48 players dwarfs every other league’s roster total in comparison. So the average NBA team of around 12 players means every athlete gets a much bigger slice of the pie. So the list doesn’t tell necessarily the highest amount of money spent total, but simply per ratio to the amount of players they have on their team.
But in the top five spots three European football clubs made the list. But without further adieu lets take a look at the list that yahoo came up with:
1) Yankees: Average player makes 7,000,000
The Yanks spent their fair share in order to get another World Series ring last year and the club that once gave Roger Clemens 28 million to pitch for half of a season is looking to repeat this year with the addition of All Star center fielder Curtis Granderson formerly of the Detriot Tigers. And the $400 million they spent on three free agents last year wasn’t matched this most recent off-season.
2) Real Madrid: Average player makes $6,333,591
With the additions of Ronaldo and Kaka, Los Galicticos payroll skyrocketed up this most recent off-season. In fact the club spent over $250 million on the new talent purchased and a record transfer fee for Ronaldo to move over from Old Trafford. Club president Florentino Perez has shown interest in bringing in even more star players this upcoming off-season, but the club still has many great players on their bench.
3) Barcelona: Average player makes $6,082,940
Barca is no cheap skates either in La Liga and the club just resigned Lionel Messi to a record deal. Also the addition of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Serie A squad Inter jacked up the payroll a little more and the club also has Thierry Henry plus a plethora of excellent high priced midfielders and defenders. The club isn’t the highest payroll in the league, but the treble winners are very close.
4) Chelsea: Average player makes $5,361,957
Many claim that Chelsea has the most talented roster in the world of football, but they actually are just the third most lucrative as far as contracts go. Maybe they should of spent a little bit more to keep up with the big boys this year since they are currently out of the Champions League and they have seen their EPL title lead vanish. But the club has tremendous talent and is the only EPL club to eclipse the top ten.
5) Dallas Mavericks (NBA) $5,315,097
Mark Cuban is infact a raving lunatic, but its hard not to at least respect the guy for his love of sports. He isn’t your typical luxury box owner and the guy has been known to storm the court and hassle the referees if he doesn’t like a call. He has tried to buy a second sports team for a while, but most leagues are trying to keep him out. I say if you won’t let the guy buy the Pittsburgh Pirates then let the guy buy Portsmouth instead.
