Best Paying Teams in the World in 2011
Here is a list of the ten best paying teams in the world in 2011, based on the average weekly salary
per player (first-team players). The data is based on a survey of 272 teams in 14 major pro leagues, which included seven sports and spanned 10 countries (see notes), however the final top 10 is only from three sports and covers six leagues. Compared to the best paying teams of 2010, soccer teams have jumped up the list. ESPN also published a list of the top salaries in 2011 from each sport and each country for 2011.
Top-10 paying teams in the world
Soccer teams pay the best salaries - half of the top 10 list is for soccer teams, including the most generous, Barcelona, which pays its players on average $150,000 a week. All figures are in US dollars.
| Rank | Team | League | Sport | Ave. Annual Salary Per Player |
Ave. Weekly Salary Per Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona | La Liga | World Football | $7,910,737 | $152,130 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | La Liga | World Football | $7,356,632 | $141,474 |
| 3 | New York Yankees | MLB | Baseball | $6,756,301 | $129,929 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Lakers | NBA | Basketball | $6,540,690 | $125,782 |
| 5 | Orlando Magic | NBA | Basketball | $6,367,114 | $122,445 |
| 6 | Chelsea | EPL | World Football | $6,020,741 | $115,783 |
| 7 | Inter Milan | Serie A | World Football | $5,999,643 | $115,378 |
| 8 | Boston Red Sox | MLB | Baseball | $5,991,203 | $115,215 |
| 9 | Denver Nuggets | NBA | Basketball | $5,990,174 | $115,196 |
| 10 | Manchester City | EPL | World Football | $5,863,585 | $112,761 |
Notes
- The 'Average Annual Salary' (in US dollar equivalents) represents base player salaries from current or most recently completed seasons from each sport, and excludes endorsements, bonuses, appearance fees and any other source of extra compensation.
- The data is from the 2011 MLB season, the 2010-11 NFL, NBA and NHL seasons, the 2010 seasons for the IPL, NPB, AFL, MLS and CFL, and the most recent available data at the compilation cut-off date for the other football leagues, most recently from the 2009-10 season.
- The sports and leagues which were included in the analysis were: Aussie rules football (AFL), baseball (MLB, NPB), basketball (NBA), cricket (IPL), football (CFL, NFL), soccer (Bundesliga, EPL, La Liga, MLS, Serie A, SPL)
Source
- This data was published in ESPN The Magazine (May 2, 2011), and is based on Sportingintelligence’s Global Sports Salary Survey 2011.
Related Pages
- More ESPN lists
- other sporting lists, including the Forbes list of the World's Best Paid Athletes
- More about the World of Sport
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