Which Sports Stars Earn the Most per Minute

Dan Tracey Data Scientist and Football Editor

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!

📊💸 Curious about the 💰per-minute earnings of top athletes? 🏆🤑 We studied the highest-paid athletes over the past year and matched it with their time ⌛️on the field, court, or ring. Find out who earns the 💸most for every minute of competitive action! ⬇️🥊🏀🎾🏈🏒

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

Anthony Joshua Image: Huw Fairclough//Shutterstock

Anthony Joshua - $12,500,000 Per Minute

🥊💰💪 The king of the ring and our earnings list? It's none other than Anthony Joshua 👑✨With just 1 fight and only two rounds needed to win, AJ picked up a cool $12.5m a minute for his 6 minutes work. 🤑💲

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.

Aaron Rodgers MPH Photos // Shutterstock

Aaron Rodgers - $1,196,667 Per Minute

💰 Aaron Rodgers is second in our list 💸🔝 The NFL star may have been largely inactive throughout the 2023 season, but it did not stop him earning nearly $1.2m a 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.

Canelo Alvarez Image: lev radin//shutterstock

Canelo Alvarez - $694,444 Per Minute

🥊💰💪 Third in our list is the boxing sensation known as Canelo Alvarez 👑✨Three fights went to the judges scorecard but that 108 minutes in the ring, meant the Mexican collected just short of $700,000 a 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

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

American 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

🏈💰💥 The NFL, a high-paying league, but with less time on the field compared to other sports! ⏰🔝 The 2023 season had 17 games, lasting just 60 minutes each. ⚡️💲 Aaron Rodgers tops footballers' individual earnings per minute. In under 60 seconds, he earned $1.1m! 🤑⏱️ However, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens had the highest on-the-field earnings - a cool $98m for 2023. 💵🏆

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

Football/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

⚽💰🌍 The Soccer landscape has changed considerably since big-name players have moved to Saudi Arabia. As a consequence of his move to the Middle East, Neymar now tops the charts. ⚡️🔝

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!

🏀💰🔝 19 NBA stars make the top 50 earners list! ⭐️💸 When we break down earnings per minute, Joel Embiid takes the crown, pocketing $30,636 for every 60 seconds on the court. ⏰💲 With 1557 minutes played last season, Wall's earnings outshine his counterparts. ⚡️🤩 Comparatively, Bradley Beal and Jimmy Butler would both earn just under $25k a minute for their own efforts. 🔄🔥

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,

💰⏰✨ Earnings per minute across sports breakdown! Boxing leads the way with a whopping $1,066,667 per minute, leaving other sports behind. ⚡️🥊🔝 Soccer players made $30,259 now ahead of basketball players at $16,945, while football players earned an average of $81,293 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

💰📈 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.

changing in earnings 2024

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/

https://boxrec.com/en/

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.

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