International athletes earn more than Americans

The highest-paid athletes today are far wealthier than they were 20 years ago, and fewer Americans rank among the top earners, according to a study from Forbes.

The 40 top-paid athletes this year made over $1.3 billion, dwarfing the $490 million ($776 million adjusted for inflation) accrued by the 1995 list. Floyd Mayweather ($300 million) topped the list with nearly seven times the income of 1995 leader Michael Jordan ($43.9 million).

In 1995 the list included just eight non-Americans. This year the list features 21 international athletes, including four in the top five.

Blackburn’s Chris Sutton ($800,000) was the highest-paid soccer player in 1995 and fell outside the top 40. This year the list includes eight soccer players, including Cristiano Ronaldo ($79.6 million) and Lionel Messi ($73.8 million). The study linked the rise in soccer salaries to a 1995 European court ruling that allowed players with expired contracts to change teams without a transfer fee.

The cutoff this year was $25.6 million (Ryan Howard) compared with $9.7 million (Dan Marino) in 1995. Earnings for the top 40 have increased 7.1 percent annually before inflation, compared with 3.7 percent for the average U.S. worker.