The Big Sporting Leagues

With the wonderful world of sports growing bigger by the minute in both popularity and value, it is clear to see that those sports that are more popular across the globe have big leagues that are benefitting from this continued growth, as more and more money is generated through broadcasting, ticket sales and merchandise (to name a few); this leads to our favourite athletes being paid even high salaries to bless us with their sporting excellence.

Lots of money can be made by fans looking at both halves tips for the game. Now let’s take a look at just how large the biggest sporting leagues around the world really are and which athletes are reaping the benefits of this.

The Premier Leauge

The world always has been and always will be football mad, there is no exception when it comes to the Premier Leauge – the largest football league in the world, consisting of teams from all over England. The EPL is the top tier of English football, consisting of 20 clubs in which player the season between the months of August and May where all clubs will participate, with a total of 38 games.

The EPL is said to make around £1.3 billion each year and it’s safe to say their players see a fair amount with top players seeing annual incomes well into the millions, such as David De Gea (£15.5 million a year), Kevin De Bruyne (£16.7 million per year) and Paul Pogba (£15 million a year) to name a few. Not only are these player paid like the idols they are, but many have lucrative sponsorships and endorsements that earn them added sums that many of us could only dream of, as well as plenty of free items to take home.

The National Football Association

Where the English favour football, the USA and Canda refer to the game as soccer, also deeming it second rate to American football. When it comes to American football, one league is a cut above the rest – the NFL – consisting of 32 professional teams, the NFL is estimated to be worth around a whopping 13 billion dollars and its popularity is just as rich with an almost religious sea of fans in the US and all across the world.

When it comes to the NFL, the Super Bowl is the event that is a crime to miss as the annual championship see two final teams battle it out for the ring, as well as specialised adverts and a half time show that makes both the crowd and teams go craze as some of the most famous faces in music have graced the field over the years, with the like of Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and many more.

Again, much like football, the wealth of the game is shared with the athletes themselves with popular players seeing huge salaries, with the like of Russell Wilson bringing home over 100 million dollars due to his 4-year extension with the Seahawks and then an average yearly salary of around $53 million; many other players are also seeing figures of a similar size, that earn them sums well into the millions each season – Carson Wentz ($39.4 million), Ryan Tannehill ($37.5 million) and Kirk Cousins ($40 million).