Indeed. With apologies for the hijack, we had this debate a while back (in Sports?) - IIRC, it was Dr S who postulated that a "handful" of soccer players made "good money" - I straightened him out! [The *average* salary in the English Premier League is around $2MM and thousands of guys around the world are making ~$1MM.] Return to normal programming. Cheers, Ian
+1 I do believe Michael was the first to "earn" (as in salary) over a billion however. [Tigers numbers include winnings & endorsement deals - Slightly different scenario.] Cheers, Ian
No way in hell he made that in salary alone. Not even close. Endorsement deals make the great majority of earnings on top earners. MS would have been better off financially in the long run if he had stayed retired IMO. He's going to go downhill quickly after his dismal comeback. But he'll never have to worry about money for the rest of his life; that's for sure. And the best driver ever? Not even close IMO.
The big endorsements won't be around next year if he continues to be dragged around the track by Nico.
We beg to differ.... At the height of his powers Ferrari were reportedly paying him ~$80MM per season [Up from the $40MM for his first two years] - And he was there or thereabouts for 10 years...... Sure, he made massive additional money with endorsements [For example, Deutsche Vermögensberatung paid him $8 million over three years from 1999 for wearing a 10 by 8 centimetre advertisement on his post-race cap. Source; Wikipedia] Also from Wikipedia; In 2004, Forbes magazine listed him as the 2nd highest paid athlete in the world. In 2005 Eurobusiness magazine identified Schumacher as the world's first billionaire athlete. Cheers, Ian
Btw - none of us have any idea how much $$ Michael has, but this year he took ownership of a new Dassault Falcon 2000lx jet - cost? A cool $29 million.....
This is the only thing that gets me. A lot of people have been on MS's case that he is slow and should retire again. But....let's take Webber. He is fast in the RB car. But when he was in the Minardi and Williams, he was no where close to where he is now. So has he gotten better over the years or has he just landed in a great car. Button also....he was not winning until he gets in the best car on the grid with Brawn. He is fast again in another good car. Schuamcher comes back and in a slow car and is fighting mid pack. He is faster than the other veterans. So why is everyone saying he is slow and hating on him. I personaly think that if he came back in one of the 3 super teams, he would be fighting for the podium. Everyone knows that Rossi was still winning last year. he jumps on a slower bike and it shows. Just saying......
Wait - Wasn't Team Mercedes the former all-conquering Team Brawn? The team nobody could touch in 2009? They WERE the best - until they changed ownership - AND DRIVERS. ahem.... 'Just saying......'
^^^^that's ridiculous. I'd like to know what most of us have achieved in our lifetime that makes us able to criticise others. Me? nothing....but at least I'm willing to admit it. Tall poppy syndrome in the extreme by some of you. Seriously guys, get over it.
Who exactly is out there to replace him??? BMW tested the best available and took Heidfeld and I wouldn't say he is in anyway better than old man Schumi! It's fine slagging him but he's still at least as good as the mid field pack .... There's a lot of new talented drivers coming through but very few gifted drivers getting in. I think it's great for F1 to have Schumi back, it has generated far more interest than any of the others getting onto the grid- like Bruno for example... I'm just disappointed that Hakkinen, Mansell, Raikkonen and Irvine couldn't get seats too .... Ooo'h I forgot about old man Rosberg too ;-)
I think it is visibly clear that last Brawn caught the 3 super teams off guard and Brawn took advantage of it. It has also been publically anounced that MB is not as well funded as the other teams. I have heard a lot of people say, "oh Rosberg should get the next Ferrari ride." But if I ran the 3 teams, I would stay with whom I had. I like Rosberg but he has not hit a podium yet this year. Look guys/gals.... I'm not a huge MS fan but I like anyting that makes F1 fun to watch. He is an aggressive driver that you never know if he will pull a win out, hence more fans watch. Same for when Kimi raced. But I wanted to state an observation that when ever a MS thread comes out, the SAME guys just come out to bash him. Getting pretty lame in my opinion. But the way I see it if a new F1 fan started to watch 2011's F1 series, he/she will notice who the front runners are and who are the midpack and tail draggers. MS is clearly a midpacker. I don't think they would feel he needs to be replaced. If we need to kick him out then we need to kick out the other midpackers and tail draggers and let just the 6 top runners race all the events. I think that MS would podium in a Rb as well as Petrov and Heidfield. Hence I made the comment that Webber and Buttons can only win on a top team. Unfortunetly this sport is won by who has the deepest pocket. You guys are hating on the wrong person/reason. You guys should show anger towards the series andnot towards the drivers. Sorry OP for bringing this nonsense onto your thread. Thank you for the link, it was very intresting.
what does his past performance and current marketability have ANYTHING to do with his current performance? correlation is minimal. You can respect his past performances and current marketability while being honest about his current ability.
