Writer, analyst, podcaster, Spurs fan. Three out of four is not bad. If there is a data angle, I will find it.
We all know that the top athletes in the world are incredibly wealthy, earning millions and millions of dollars each year. But which of the world’s top sports people earn the most per minute they are taking part in their sport?
As a sports betting site, we wanted to study the earnings of the highest-paid athletes in the past twelve months and compare this with how many minutes they spent on the field, court, or ring, to find out who makes the most money for every minute of competitive action.
Time Is Money: Revealing the Top Athletes' Per-Minute Earnings in Sports!
Earnings Per Minute by Athlete
| Rank | Name | Sport | On-The-Field Earnings | Minutes played | Earnings Per Minute | To Earn $1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Joshua | Boxing | $75,000,000 | 6 | $12,500,000 | 5 Seconds |
| 2 | Aaron Rodgers | Football | $71,800,000 | 60 | $1,196,667 | 51 Seconds |
| 3 | Canelo Alvarez | Boxing | $75,000,000 | 108 | $694,444 | 1 Minutes, 27 Seconds |
| 4 | Tyson Fury | Boxing | $42,000,000 | 66 | $636,364 | 1 minute, 35 seconds |
| 5 | Neymar | Soccer | $80,000,000 | 386 | $207,254 | 4 Minutes, 50 Seconds |
| 6 | Joe Burrow | Football | $96,000,000 | 600 | $160,000 | 6 Minutes, 15 Seconds |
| 7 | Deshaun Watson | Football | $46,000,000 | 360 | $127,778 | 7 minutes, 50 seconds |
| 8 | Kirk Cousins | Football | $60,000,000 | 480 | $125,000 | 8 Minutes, 00 Seconds |
| 9 | Lamar Jackson | Football | $98,500,000 | 1080 | $91,204 | 10 Minutes, 58 Seconds |
| 10 | Justin Herbert | Football | $67,700,000 | 780 | $86,795 | 11 Minutes, 32 Seconds |
| 11 | Lionel Messi | Soccer | $65,000,000 | 1084 | $59,963 | 16 Minutes, 41 Seconds |
| 12 | Nick Bosa | Football | $66,500,000 | 1200 | $55,417 | 18 Minutes, 03 Seconds |
| 13 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer | $200,000,000 | 3690 | $54,201 | 18 Minutes, 27 Seconds |
| 14 | Brian Burns | Football | $51,500,000 | 960 | $53,646 | 18 minutes, 39 seconds |
| 15 | Rashan Gary | Football | $46,500,000 | 900 | $51,667 | 19 minutes, 22 seconds |
| 16 | Patrick Mahomes | Football | $59,400,000 | 1200 | $49,500 | 20 Minutes, 13 Seconds |
| 17 | Chris Jones | Football | $53,100,000 | 1200 | $44,250 | 22 minutes, 36 seconds |
| 18 | Karim Benzema | Soccer | $100,000,000 | 2461 | $40,634 | 24 Minutes, 37 Seconds |
| 19 | Joel Embiid | Basketball | $47,700,000 | 1557 | $30,636 | 32 minutes, 39 seconds |
| 20 | Max Verstappen | Auto Racing | $76,000,000 | 2640 | $28,788 | 34 Minutes, 45 Seconds |
| 21 | Bradley Beal | Basketball | $46,800,000 | 1921 | $24,362 | 41 minutes, 03 seconds |
| 22 | Kylian Mbappé | Soccer | $90,000,000 | 3779 | $23,816 | 42 Minutes, 00 Seconds |
| 23 | Jimmy Butler | Basketball | $45,500,000 | 2042 | $22,282 | 44 minutes, 53 seconds |
| 24 | Lewis Hamilton | Auto Racing | $57,000,000 | 2640 | $21,591 | 46 Minutes, 19 Seconds |
| 25 | Stephen Curry | Basketball | $52,000,000 | 2421 | $21,479 | 46 Minutes, 34 Seconds |
| 26 | Trae Young | Basketball | $40,300,000 | 1942 | $20,752 | 48 minutes, 12 seconds |
| 27 | Kawhi Leonard | Basketball | $45,700,000 | 2389 | $19,129 | 52 minutes, 17 seconds |
| 28 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Basketball | $46,000,000 | 2567 | $17,920 | 55 Minutes, 49 Seconds |
| 29 | LeBron James | Basketball | $48,200,000 | 2708 | $17,799 | 56 Minutes, 11 Seconds |
| 30 | Damian Lillard | Basketball | $45,900,000 | 2735 | $16,782 | 59 Minutes, 36 Seconds |
| 31 | Paul George | Basketball | $45,700,000 | 2724 | $16,777 | 59 minutes, 37 seconds |
| 32 | Kevin Durant | Basketball | $47,800,000 | 2959 | $16,154 | 1 hour, 1 minute, 55 seconds |
| 33 | Klay Thompson | Basketball | $43,300,000 | 2752 | $15,734 | 1 hour, 3 minute, 34 seconds |
| 34 | Zion Williamson | Basketball | $34,100,000 | 2207 | $15,451 | 1 hour, 4 minutes, 44 seconds |
| 35 | Nikola Jokic | Basketball | $48,100,000 | 3219 | $14,943 | 1 hour, 6 minutes, 56 seconds |
| 36 | Anthony Davis | Basketball | $41,200,000 | 2908 | $14,168 | 1 hour, 10 minutes, 35 seconds |
| 37 | Devin Booker | Basketball | $36,200,000 | 2613 | $13,854 | 1 hour, 12 minutes, 11 seconds |
| 38 | James Harden | Basketball | $35,800,000 | 2712 | $13,201 | 1 hour, 15 minutes, 46 seconds |
| 39 | Luka Doncic | Basketball | $40,100,000 | 3129 | $12,816 | 1 hour, 18 minutes, 02 seconds |
| 40 | Sadio Mané | Soccer | $48,000,000 | 3757 | $12,776 | 1 hour, 18 minutes, 17 seconds |
| 41 | Erling Haaland | Soccer | $46,000,000 | 3655 | $12,585 | 1 hour, 19 minute, 28 seconds |
| 42 | Max Scherzer | Baseball | $58,900,000 | 4860 | $12,119 | 1 hour, 22 minute, 31 seconds |
| 43 | Mohamed Salah | Soccer | $35,000,000 | 3132 | $11,175 | 1 hour, 29 minutes, 30 seconds |
| 44 | Jayson Tatum | Basketball | $32,900,000 | 3082 | $10,675 | 1 hour, 33 minutes, 41 seconds |
| 45 | Shohei Ohtani | Baseball | $25,300,000 | 24300 | $1,041 | 16 hours, 0 minutes, 29 seconds |
Image: Huw Fairclough//Shutterstock
Anthony Joshua - $12,500,000 Per Minute
The king of the ring and also the king of our earnings list, it is none other than Anthony Joshua. The British boxer was only active for six minutes and this is due to needing just two rounds to get the better of Francis Ngannou in the ring. With earnings of $75m for his efforts, this equates to an eye-watering $12.5m a minute.
Not bad work if you can get it but this per minutes earning comes with the caveat that Joshua has hardly broken a sweat in the past 12 months.
MPH Photos // Shutterstock
Aaron Rodgers - $1,196,667 Per Minute
Second in the list is a name familiar to the Gridiron and with Aaron Rodgers earning $71.8m across the duration of the previous NFL season, the hefty pay packet has only seen the star play one game in 2023. This means if we work on the basis of Rodgers playing every minute of that game, it means his $71.8m has to be split by 60.
However, that still gives Rodgers a tidy sum of earnings for 60 seconds work and therefore, the New York Jets Quarterback earned a staggering $1.1m a minute. Once again, had Rodgers been more active, that figure would have tumbled down considerably.
Image: lev radin//shutterstock
Canelo Alvarez - $694,444 Per Minute
Completing our top three is none other than Canelo Alvarez and whereas Anthony Joshua had a single fight to contend with, this Mexican warrior had three. In each of the trio of fights that Alvarez contested over the past 12 months, he was taken to the judges scorecard. In each of them, the 33-year-old would come out on top.
Like Anthony Joshua, Alvarez earned $75m for his annual efforts but after needing 108 minutes to get his work done, it meant that the per minute earnings stood at $694,444. Then again, at just under $700,000 for 60 seconds in the ring, I doubt the boxing legend will have too many complaints.
Boxing/MMA
There are but three boxers on the list this year and as we have already seen, two of them occupy the positions of #1 and #3 overall. However, there is also another addition when it comes to the sweet science and with Tyson Fury finishing fourth overall, the recently dethroned heavyweight king has clocked up 66 minutes of work in the past 12 months.
66 minutes of work, worth a total of $42m and this means the man recently beaten by Oleksandr Usyk earned $636,364 per minute. With a rematch to likely follow, Fury's earnings may soon increase along with the potential return of his WBC belt.
| Rank | Name | Sport | On-The-Field Earnings | Minutes played | Earnings Per Minute | To Earn $1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Joshua | Boxing | $75,000,000 | 6 | $12,500,000 | 5 Seconds |
| 2 | Canelo Alvarez | Boxing | $75,000,000 | 108 | $694,444 | 1 Minutes, 27 Seconds |
| 3 | Tyson Fury | Boxing | $42,000,000 | 66 | $636,364 | 1 minute, 35 seconds |
Football
The NFL is one of the highest-paid major sports leagues in the world, but its stars actually spend a lot less time on the field than those in other sports.
The 2023 NFL season lasted for 17 games (followed by the postseason), with games lasting for just 60 minutes and with Aaron Rodgers finishing third in our overall list, it comes as no surprise that he is top when it comes to individual earnings for footballers alone.
Rodgers may be top of the pile when it comes to earnings per minute, and it must also be noted that it took him just 51 seconds to earn $1m last year. However, the player with the highest on-the-field earnings was Lamar Jackson, as the Baltimore Ravens star earned a cool $98.5m for 2023.
NFL Earnings Unveiled: Per-Minute Earnings and On-Field Performers
| Rank | Name | Sport | On-The-Field Earnings | Minutes played | Earnings Per Minute | To Earn $1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Rodgers | Football | $71,800,000 | 60 | $1,196,667 | 51 Seconds |
| 2 | Joe Burrow | Football | $96,000,000 | 600 | $160,000 | 6 Minutes, 15 Seconds |
| 3 | Deshaun Watson | Football | $46,000,000 | 360 | $127,778 | 7 minutes, 50 seconds |
| 4 | Kirk Cousins | Football | $60,000,000 | 480 | $125,000 | 8 Minutes, 00 Seconds |
| 5 | Lamar Jackson | Football | $98,500,000 | 1080 | $91,204 | 10 Minutes, 58 Seconds |
| 6 | Justin Herbert | Football | $67,700,000 | 780 | $86,795 | 11 Minutes, 32 Seconds |
| 7 | Nick Bosa | Football | $66,500,000 | 1200 | $55,417 | 18 Minutes, 03 Seconds |
| 8 | Brian Burns | Football | $51,500,000 | 960 | $53,646 | 18 minutes, 39 seconds |
| 9 | Rashan Gary | Football | $46,500,000 | 900 | $51,667 | 19 minutes, 22 seconds |
| 10 | Patrick Mahomes | Football | $59,400,000 | 1200 | $49,500 | 20 Minutes, 13 Seconds |
| 11 | Chris Jones | Football | $53,100,000 | 1200 | $44,250 | 22 minutes, 36 seconds |
Soccer
While the soccer season is usually relatively long, especially if the team goes on a long cup run or does well in Europe, with the top players rarely being substituted too, these mega wages mean that the top players still take home a huge sum per minute played.
This season saw Neymar top the list in terms of earnings per minute and with the Brazilian being one of many stars to join the Saudi-led goldrush, the former PSG and Barcelona star earned $80m across the 2023/24. Then again, a serious injury meant that he only played for a total of 386 minutes.
That injury curtailed his talents but his ability to earn money and this means the 32-year-old earned $207,254 for every 60 seconds that he was on the field of play.
For those players who were more active, Lionel Messi's move stateside has seen him earn just shy of $60,000 for every 60 seconds in the MLS.
Just over $5,000 more than what Cristiano Ronaldo earns after his big money move to Saudi Arabia and he is now one of eight soccer stars to make the list - an increase of two from last year.
Soccer's Elite: Revealing the Highest-Paid Athletes and Earnings Per Minute
| Rank | Name | Sport | On-The-Field Earnings | Minutes played | Earnings Per Minute | To Earn $1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neymar | Soccer | $80,000,000 | 386 | $207,254 | 4 Minutes, 50 Seconds |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Soccer | $65,000,000 | 1084 | $59,963 | 16 Minutes, 41 Seconds |
| 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Soccer | $200,000,000 | 3690 | $54,201 | 18 Minutes, 27 Seconds |
| 4 | Karim Benzema | Soccer | $100,000,000 | 2461 | $40,634 | 24 Minutes, 37 Seconds |
| 5 | Kylian Mbappé | Soccer | $90,000,000 | 3779 | $23,816 | 42 Minutes, 00 Seconds |
| 6 | Sadio Mané | Soccer | $48,000,000 | 3757 | $12,776 | 1 hour, 18 minutes, 17 seconds |
| 7 | Erling Haaland | Soccer | $46,000,000 | 3655 | $12,585 | 1 hour, 19 minute, 28 seconds |
| 8 | Mohamed Salah | Soccer | $35,000,000 | 3132 | $11,175 | 1 hour, 29 minutes, 30 seconds |
Basketball
No less than 19 NBA stars made the top 50 earners list and when we break down the earnings per minute, we can see that Joel Embiid is top of the shop with $30,636 pocketed for every 60 seconds on the court.
Embiid played 1557 minutes last season and with on-court earnings of $47.7m, that activity was enough to earn more every 60 seconds than the likes of Bradley Beal and Jimmy Butler who finished second and third in this year's list respectively.
While Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors failed to make the playoff series, the NBA star would finish fourth in the list with earnings of $21,479 every 60 seconds.
NBA's Earnings Breakdown: Top Earners and Per-Minute Prowess!
| Rank | Name | Sport | On-The-Field Earnings | Minutes played | Earnings Per Minute | To Earn $1m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joel Embiid | Basketball | $47,700,000 | 1557 | $30,636 | 32 minutes, 39 seconds |
| 2 | Bradley Beal | Basketball | $46,800,000 | 1921 | $24,362 | 41 minutes, 03 seconds |
| 3 | Jimmy Butler | Basketball | $45,500,000 | 2042 | $22,282 | 44 minutes, 53 seconds |
| 4 | Stephen Curry | Basketball | $52,000,000 | 2421 | $21,479 | 46 Minutes, 34 Seconds |
| 5 | Trae Young | Basketball | $40,300,000 | 1942 | $20,752 | 48 minutes, 12 seconds |
| 6 | Kawhi Leonard | Basketball | $45,700,000 | 2389 | $19,129 | 52 minutes, 17 seconds |
| 7 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Basketball | $46,000,000 | 2567 | $17,920 | 55 Minutes, 49 Seconds |
| 8 | LeBron James | Basketball | $48,200,000 | 2708 | $17,799 | 56 Minutes, 11 Seconds |
| 9 | Damian Lillard | Basketball | $45,900,000 | 2735 | $16,782 | 59 Minutes, 36 Seconds |
| 10 | Paul George | Basketball | $45,700,000 | 2724 | $16,777 | 59 minutes, 37 seconds |
| 11 | Kevin Durant | Basketball | $47,800,000 | 2959 | $16,154 | 1 hour, 1 minute, 55 seconds |
| 12 | Klay Thompson | Basketball | $43,300,000 | 2752 | $15,734 | 1 hour, 3 minute, 34 seconds |
| 13 | Zion Williamson | Basketball | $34,100,000 | 2207 | $15,451 | 1 hour, 4 minutes, 44 seconds |
| 14 | Nikola Jokic | Basketball | $48,100,000 | 3219 | $14,943 | 1 hour, 6 minutes, 56 seconds |
| 15 | Anthony Davis | Basketball | $41,200,000 | 2908 | $14,168 | 1 hour, 10 minutes, 35 seconds |
| 16 | Devin Booker | Basketball | $36,200,000 | 2613 | $13,854 | 1 hour, 12 minutes, 11 seconds |
| 17 | James Harden | Basketball | $35,800,000 | 2712 | $13,201 | 1 hour, 15 minutes, 46 seconds |
| 18 | Luka Doncic | Basketball | $40,100,000 | 3129 | $12,816 | 1 hour, 18 minutes, 02 seconds |
| 19 | Jayson Tatum | Basketball | $32,900,000 | 3082 | $10,675 | 1 hour, 33 minutes, 41 seconds |
Highest point-scorers in every NBA team’s history
Summary by Sport
So, how do the earnings per minute break down across the different sports? As you can see, those in boxing bring home by far the most for every minute of competitive action ($1,066,667) and far more than any of the other highest-earning sports.
At the other end of the spectrum, baseball players made the least per minute with the pair of Max Scherzer and Shohei Ohtani combining to earn an average of $2,888. When compared to the NBA, basketball starts made as much as eight times more when looking at the highest earners per minute.
In terms of the two types of football, american football players made an average of $81,293 and soccer player made just $30,259 by comparison.
Also an honourable mention must go to the F1 pair of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who between them earned an average of $25,189 per minute,
| Rank | Sport | On-The-Field Earnings | Minutes played | Earnings Per Minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boxing | $192,000,000 | 180 | $1,066,667 |
| 2 | Football | $717,000,000 | 8820 | $81,293 |
| 3 | Soccer | $664,000,000 | 21944 | $30,259 |
| 4 | Auto Racing | $133,000,000 | 5280 | $25,189 |
| 5 | Basketball | $823,300,000 | 48587 | $16,945 |
| 6 | Baseball | $84,200,000 | 29160 | $2,888 |
Significant Changes in 2024
💰📈 Biggest increase in earnings
The biggest increase in earnings was recorded by Cristiano Ronaldo. When looking at the previous measure of earnings per minute, the Portuguese icon was earning $46m a year, now that he has left European soccer behind and moved to Saudi Arabia, that figure has skyrocketed to $200m.
💰📉 Biggest decrease in earnings
While the biggest decrease in earnings is recorded by Canelo Alvarez. Then again, we should not feel to sorry for the Mexican boxing legend. What was annual earnings of $100m, is now just a paltry $75m by comparison.
⏱️📉 Biggest decrease in time taken to earn $1 million
In terms of who has taken the quickest time to earn a million compared to the previous report, this award goes to Neymar. Whereas it used to take the Brazilian soccer star 2,835 seconds to reach this benchmark, it now took him just 290 - 4 minutes and 50 seconds to be precise.
⏱️📈 Biggest increase in time taken to earn $1 million
Not good reading if you are Kevin Durant, the NBA star used to scoop up $1m in earnings in just 2,855 seconds. However, that figure has not increased to 3,715 seconds in our latest findings. This means it takes him 61 minutes and 55 seconds to earn such a figure.
💰⏰📈 Biggest increase in earnings per minute
The biggest change in earnings per minute comes courtesy of Anthony Joshua. Last year the heavyweight boxer was earning $694,444 for every 60 seconds in the ring. That figure now stands at an eye-watering $12.5m - an increase of $11,805,556.
💰⏰📉 Biggest decrease in earnings per minute
This unwanted honour goes to Canelo Alvarez. In our last report, he was earning $1.38m for every 60 seconds in the ring. That figure has been chopped in half to $694,444 but the Mexican will still be smiling after earning such a handsome figure when compared to many other sporting stars.
![Star Athletes' Kryptonite [Study]](https://olbgimages.co.uk/image-cache?src=https://olbgimages.co.uk/storage/gallery/american-football/image6-min.png&w=500&h=281.25&zc=1)
Star Athletes' Kryptonite [Study]
Methodology
We took the on-field earnings of the 50 highest-earning athletes in the world according to Forbes’ 2024 list of Highest-Paid Athletes, choosing to focus just on those athletes from the worlds of American football, basketball, association football and boxing.
We then sourced the number of minutes played by each athlete in the last completed season (or between the dates of May 1st, 2023, and May 31st 2024 for boxing) using the following sources:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/
https://www.basketball-reference.com/
https://www.baseball-reference.com/
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/
Note that for American Football players, statistics for minutes played were unavailable, so we took the number of games played and multiplied them by 60 (the standard number of minutes for an NFL match).
For Baseball players, statistics for minutes played were unavailable, so we took the number of games played and multiplied them by 180 (the standard number of minutes for an MLB match).
For Auto Racing, statistics for minutes played were unavailable, so we took the number of races driven in 2023 and multiplied them by 120 (the standard number of minutes for a F1 Race).
We included all league fixtures as well as postseason games for American Football and basketball, as well as cup games for association football players.
Our figures only account for playtime and do not consider the time spent training but demonstrate how much is earned by each sports star during a game or match.
We have put together many similar studies, please take a look around the site and if you are in the US and interested in the growing sports betting market, please take a look at our latest list of available legal sportsbooks.
Editorial Information
This article was researched and written by our Data Scientist Dan Tracey who searched the data and presented it by sport and as a comparison round-up, splitting it down by minute to cover some interesting earning angles.
