Anyone see the list ? Nice pic of Kimi - in LAST YEAR'S driving suit ! I betcha the brass at Ferrari just loves that one ! http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?id=3085058
See the picture slideshow ... Kimi is #4 at $40MM Michael is #5 at $36 MM Rossi is #11 at $30 MM Jeff Gordon is #21 at $24.5 MM
I think the list should only include salaries and/or prize money winnings. Not endorsements. Could you even consider MS an "athlete" anymore even though he doesn't race? He's just doing endorsement deals. Kimi is paid $40 million to drive for Ferrari, win or lose. Didn't Fernando make $30 million at McLaren? Why isn't he on the list?
They couldn't get a pic of Kimi in a ferrari suit??? They are the one's who paid him the money in 2007
But then you run into Michael Jordan, who doesn't play anymore, and Shaq and Kobe, who do. And Greg Norman, and Arnold Palmer, who don't, but Tiger and Phil, who do... Kinda hard to discern salaries, because we don't really know what they are, I mean deferred or not, but also, when is the last time they posted prize money winnings for a Grand Prix ? How about 'never' ?? Just count it all, because you can't draw a true line anywhere.
When MS was still at Ferrari inside source's estimated that his yearly icome, ncluding endorsement's etc etc, was $100+ million per year and a few time's he was, if memory serve's but it's not what it used to be, he was the highest paid 'sport's figure'.
Kimi is overpaid. Rossi is far better having 8 championship wins, races in a series which is very demanding and is underpaid. Carol
Carol, no offense but Kimi is the 07 WDC. Rossi got spanked by a kid named Casey Stoner this year. Now Ralf...he was overpaid. Spang
Ralf being overpaid is a severe understatement LOL!! Only reason he got a ride in F1 was because of his brother imo.
thats not true all together. he nearly won Jordan's 1st race, but they instructed him to hand the win to Damon Hill. Ralf is a good driver, and he deserves to be in F1. what he doesn't deserve tho, is his paycheck. don't forget, he's a winner in F1. it's easy for everyone to sit around and say he doesn't deserve a drive, etc. but i genuinely think that massive crash that fractured his back in Indy just destroyed his confidence all together. Toyota's ill handling car this year didn't help either. he did get Toyota's highest finish at a GP this season. he deserves a drive in F1, but not the paycheck.
Yes Ralf showed great promise at Jordan but he still got into F1 because of his last name, atleast that's my opinion. Not saying his skill is not worthy of F1 and I would truelly like to see him in a team were he can once again show his skill behind the wheel. I'm really curious as too were he will land in '08.
Al, I don't believe that Fred was given more than $14 mil by McLaren. He came off of $6 mil at Renault. And I always considered golf a recreation, not a sport. What would Hemmingway say? Not that Tiger is not an athelete, he certainly has become that, but golf, a sport?
Actually a lot of people were putting their money on Ralph as the faster of the two. He was very quick in F1, won the Macau race (as did Michael) and then won the 1996 Formula Nippon series in Japan. The next year he was racing for Jordan and was quite quick.
They spelled "Finish" rong. Jeez Forbes, use spell check. Wow, they have Raikkonen in last year's suit, and they have #9 Ronaldinho in a PSG jersey (he's on Barcelona).
Are you still on this? It's technically Rossi's own fault he's underpaid, if you want to drag him into a discussion versus Kimi (apple, meet orange).
Thanks for the info. I'm now wondering where I got that $30 million figure from. Maybe someone posted Renault couldn't afford to pay him $30 million to come back or something so I assumed he's getting that at McLaren. I don't consider golf a sport either. It's a recreational activity imo similar to bowling. Other "sports" like ice skating (not speed skating) and gymnastics shouldn't be called sports either imo. Those are judged performances. Carol, Rossi gets paid less than Kimi because F1 brings in more bucks. Tom Brady has won 3 Superbowls and will go down as one of the greatest QBs ever. However, he's paid less than most NBA players, including those that haven't won a thing. Why? The NFL doesn't bring in as many bucks. Only 16 games a season vs 82 in the NBA. Attendance is therefore less as well as TV contract values (per team basis). Don't forget endorsement deals either in NBA as fans can better relate to a player that's not in 40+ lbs of padding along with a helmet. F1 is a bigger sport than motorcycle racing. More fans, bigger audience, bigger bucks. Simple as that.
He got his original ride because he's good. Yes - I'll say folks recognized his name maybe, and that got him some extra attention, but you just don't last long in F1 unless you produce, and he's been producing. Maybe not winning as much, but he's not BAD. He continued to get rides because he's good. And he kept a ride this year because he's good. If he wasn't any good at all, he would not have lasted, or lasted this long. Who was that Japanese guy that lasted about 10 races a year or two ago ?
Yuji Ide, lasted 3 races before the FIA revoked his SuperLicense. Quite possibly the worst Formula One driver, often he was 3-5 seconds of the pace and a few seconds off his teammate.
How about just saying 'any sport *I* can take part in with minimal expense and minimal physical skills required is not a 'sport''. So there are no true 'sports' aside from soccer, football, rugby, basketball, hockey, volleyball, track and field. Baseball must not be considered a true sport because if you time a game, a nine inning game - starting from when the ball leaves the pitcher's hand, to the time the ball is caught - is maybe 7 minutes per game. Golf - 3, maybe 4 seconds per swing, 70 swings per day, let's say roughly 5 minutes of actual 'sport' a day.... Motorsports - anybody can buy a ride, right ? I guarantee you if *I* showed up at DEI with a 20 million dollar sponsor in my pocket, I'd be in a car in February at Daytona.
As far as that last part, being able to participate in a professional environment does not make it any more or less of a sport. An NBA team can hire the most obese person in the world and that action does not make it any less of a sport. The sport is not defined by the people that participate, but rather the game itself. Tiger Woods is incredibly fit, but that "sport" definitely has its share of fat people (i.e. Daly and Mickelson's man breasts). Baseball is on the edge of being a sport imo. It definitely takes a lot of skill to be a successful pitcher and hitter, but it's debatable at how great an outfielder can be since they rarely take part in the game. I definitely give them the benefit of the doubt and classify it as a sport, but I can understand why some disagree. IMO, tennis is the truest form of a one-on-one sport and basketball for team sport (takes great foot work and hand eye coordination). Btw, I'd also say motorsport is on the edge of being a sport or not. I just take it for entertainment value and leave it at that.
