From Endorsements to Investments: Discovering How Olympic Athletes Make Money

The estimate for financial compensation for the 50 highest-paid athletes in the world was a whopping $3.88 billion in the last financial year alone. Elite athletes make money—that is beyond doubt—but some get paid better than others with assets such as multi-sponsor sponsorship deals, hard cash prize money, and endorsements.

Ronaldo is a global athlete who pulls in millions of dollars from a diversified portfolio comprising Nike, Herbalife, and Binance, among others. Other athletes originating from the rest of the world include Serena Williams, LeBron James, and Tom Brady.

While top-rated stars bring in a big bag from their professional activities, many athletes are not as lucky. Continue reading to see how a number of Olympic athletes pull in revenue, and how much money they make. Learn how your favorite athletes transform their fame into fortune instead of depending on, no doubt, fat salaries alone.

How Much Do Olympians and Other Athletes Make?

There are a lot of athletes that make millions each year. However, these are the top-rated sports stars like Olympians, boxers, football players, and basketball players. 

These stars have stellar portfolios of investment, ranging from land and businesses to crypto assets. Here’s a full consideration of different sports and how their most elite athletes make.  

Soccer Players

With five billion fans across the globe, soccer is one of the most watched sports in the world. It also features some big names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the sport’s highest earner at an estimated total earnings of $260 million. Given his status as the highest-paid footballer in the world, he is deemed talented, lucky, and of course, valuable enough to bring in the millions every year through endorsements and sponsorships, and even compensation.

For all the remaining lowly-rated footballers, the salary is considerably less. Their average wage is about $32,476 annually. This figure depends on:

• The League
• Player’s skills
• Player’s popularity

The average professional football player earns a stipend compared to top-rated players like Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe, and Neymar. This may be enough to just consider them financially stable.

Hockey players

The top three players of the NHL in the 21st century were Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid. Let me begin with the first mentioned above-Sidney Crosby.

It is old news that in September, the star athlete signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins a two-year contract extension worth 8.7 million dollars every year starting from 2026 to 2027. It further helped in placing him among the richest NHL players in the world. His net value is 74 million dollars.

Coming in next is Alex Ovechkin. He is sponsored by Hublot, Nike, and Fonbet, which is a Russian company for gambling. He makes 9.5 million dollars annually, thus placing his net worth at approximately eighty million dollars. He is among the best hockey players in the world; hence the staggering figures.

Of course, it’s a different case with those hockey players who are less in the limelight, with average salaries ranging from $47,000 to $150,000 yearly according to Glassdoor.

Tennis players

Some of the wealthiest tennis players in the world are worth billions accumulated. World wealthiest stars of the sport include French Open Star Emma Navarro ($3 billion), Ion Tiriac ($2 billion), Serena Williams ($290 million), Novak Djokovic ($240 million), and Rafael Nadal ($220 million).

Not all professional tennis players are this fortunate. On average, these athletes make $43,863 yearly.

Swimmers

Olympic champion Michael Phelps is one of the world’s highest-rated swimmers. In the interview, the 23-time Olympic gold medalist said, “The Spirit of the Olympic Games is so magical. And for me, it’s just something that I can’t imagine life without… I just have these visions in my head of this summer’s games and nothing but happiness. For me, that’s what I feel around an Olympic Games, and I can’t wait to get to Paris.”

It puts every swimming fan in awe of him whenever he is in action, be it while watching him train or compete with other icons. Of course, this should not surprise anyone who discovers that he is the richest professional swimmer in the world, with a net worth valued at $100 million.

Boxers

The earnings that boxers make for every fighter may be very different, since it depends on lots of factors. Famous boxers can get hundreds of millions for fights, though most of them earn not even close to that amount. New professional boxers are said to make about $2,225 per fight and around $30,000 a year before expenses and taxes.

Managers, promoters, and trainers take more than half of the money, leaving the fighter with less. Most amateur boxers do not get paid, only a few boxers in some special leagues such as the World Series of Boxing can make up to 25,000 to 300,000 dollars annually.

Most boxers make little compared to the top 1%.

Earnings of Olympic Athletes

The Olympics are the ultimate competition for the world’s best athletes. Competing at the Olympics is the dream, but for many Olympians, the path to financial stability isn’t exactly straightforward.

Olympic athletes make money, surely, but largely in the ways based on medal bonuses, sponsorship deals, or how much financial support is coming from their respective national governing bodies. Few instances of cashing in on Olympic success require hard work well beyond winning medals.

Do Olympians Get Paid to Compete?

The International Olympic Committee itself does not give the athlete any form of wage for competing in the Olympics. However, the IOC distributes nearly 90% of all revenue earned to the NOCs and IFs in support of training programs and developing sports in the world.

Some athletes get paid according to their country’s medal bonuses. For example, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) pays $37,500 for a gold medal, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze. This program, “Operation Gold,” distributed upwards of $5.6 million in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Prize Money at the 2024 Paris Olympics

For the first time in history, track and field athletes competing in the Paris Games will line their pockets with prize money directly from their sport’s governing body, World Athletics. 

“Our goal is a medal, obviously we would love it to be gold, but we’re really gunning for anything we can and hopefully make history for the country,” said Kate Shortman in an interview. 

The Games have set aside a prize pool of $2.4 million and track gold medalists will collect $50,000 each.

The news of the move allows compensation in 48 track and field events and may mark one new direction in how elite athletes from those 48 competing countries are compensated.

The IBA also grants financial support to the athletes. At the Paris Games, a gold medal will receive an amount of US$100,000 divided between the athlete and their coach and NOC; a silver medalist pockets US$50,000, and a bronze medalist takes US$25,000.

Sponsorships and Other Income Streams

Sponsorship deals are a major source of income for Olympians: the big names are pulling in millions every year through sponsorships with certain brands like Nike. But too often, sponsorships favor superstar athletes and leave other athletes with fewer opportunities to fund their Olympic dreams.

The sprinter Desiree Henry explains, “Many athletes have to rely on stipends or accounts from fundraiser events because the Olympic competing costs are rather overwhelming. Such struggle makes the challenging choice to acknowledge many of them as financially capable.”

Nevertheless, some programs place the athletes in jobs that will allow them to train and provide a salary. This comes on top of the support from national governing bodies and global initiatives that are set up to help the Olympians make money while pursuing their dreams.

Other times, sponsorship for athletes and Olympians come from multiple sponsors in the gambling industry. Although sportspeople themselves are not permitted to be affiliated with bookies or casinos, there really isn’t much restriction for their teams. For instance, about 11 English Premier League clubs have sponsors in the iGaming industry.

On the part of the sponsors, their products gain publicity to fans who visit these platforms and enjoy premium entertainment. For instance, fans may play at casinos that support Neteller that sponsor their club’s jersey as a form of brand loyalty. Besides, Neteller casinos are known for swift transactions and secure payments, especially for Canadian players. In turn, the team uses revenue from the sponsorship to pay salaries and contribute to the earning power of its professionals. 

Financial Burdens of Olympic Hopefuls

Olympic training is a full-time job, and things are not cheap. For the athletes, there are years of training, while Olympic success is less uncomplicated than one might imagine. For many athletes, the medal bonus, endorsement deals, prize money, and sponsorships simply supplement the needs for those who require an income to continue their careers.

Snowboarders, sprinters, and those competing either in the Winter Olympics or Summer Games look to their federations for any form of support that can offset extremely high competition costs. The road to success in the Olympics is rewarding but seldom straightforward.

Financial security is dependent upon opportunities, and they often come thinner on the ground than competitive chances. These days, prize money and sponsors are on the increase, although many Olympians have to scramble by on less-than-adequate incomes.

Concluding Remarks: How Olympians Make Money and What It Means for Sports

Athletes across the world dedicate their lives to training and ultimately entertain us through their performances at the Olympics or international and club competitions. Thus, they are deserving of financial reward as they need to consider themselves financially stable enough to compete favorably.

Now that you know all about the different ways athletes make money, it’s time to support them even more through merchandising, TV viewership and live event ticketing. Not only will you be contributing an appropriate amount of financial support, but will also be helping shape the future of sports globally.