Sport Industry Group

Scandal-hit Woods still top of Forbes rich list- 5 Feb 2010 00:00:00

Despite the impact of his adultery scandal and corporate sponsors terminating their associations with him, world number one golfer Tiger Woods remains the richest athlete in the world according to the second annual ‘Fab 40’ list released by business magazine Forbes.

Forbes estimated that Woods still represents the top sports brand by athlete, with an estimated value of $82m.

The research stated that Woods' remaining sponsor deals with Nike, Electronic Arts, and Procter & Gamble Co's Gillette brand will allow him to remain the world's highest paid athlete this year.

While Nike and others have stood by Woods, Accenture and AT&T dropped him as an ambassador in the wake of allegations of multiple extramarital affairs.

Woods, who is taking an indefinite break from professional golf, has been in hiding since admitting in December that he had cheated on his wife.

Woods’ total was larger than that of the next five athletes combined, according to Forbes with football star David Beckham ($20m), tennis player Roger Federer ($16m), NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. ($14m) and National Basketball Association stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant ($13m and $12m, respectively) rounding out the top six.

The most valuable team brand according to Forbes was English football club Manchester United, worth an estimated $270m, just ahead of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees at $266m.

Among sporting events, the National Football League's Super Bowl championship game was the leader with an estimated value of $420m, topping the Summer Olympic Games ($230m) and the FIFA World Cup ($120m).

In the business category, Nike at $10.7bn was the top brand, beating out Walt Disney Co's ESPN brand ($10.5bn) with Adidas, PepsiCo's Gatorade, and Adidas-owned brand Reebok completing the top of the list.

Forbes said it ranked athletes based on endorsement income relative to peers in their sport; businesses based on the amount of an enterprise's private market value attributable to its name; teams based on the portion of their overall value not a result of market demographics and league; and events based on revenue generated per day of competition.