February 14, 2025 • 7 mins
The top 100 highest paid athletes in the world are all men.
Christiano Ronaldo holds the top spot at US$260 million last year.
How can women catch up?
Auckland University's Sports Sociologist Professor Toni Bruce joins the show to discuss.
LISTEN ABOVE.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So let's talk business, but we're talking the business of sport.
The world's top one hundred highest paid athletes have been revealed,
and they are all men. Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list,
the football player formerly from Portugal, now in the Saudi area.
He's earned He earned last year two hundred and sixty
million US dollars. That's four hundred and fifty seven million
(00:23):
dollars in Kiwi dollars. That's half a billion for one
man to kick a ball. Works out about and thank
your answer for doing the calculation. Fifty two thousand an hour.
Not bad if you can earn it. The highest paid female, however,
was tennis star Cocoa Golf regular visitor to Auckland. She
earned seven point one million dollars less than the guy
(00:45):
who placed one hundredth fascinating. Tony Bruce is a sports
sociologist professor at Auckland University and led the Contemporary Study
of Women in Sports Media internationally and joins me. Now, hello, Tony, Hi,
So it's fascinating, really, isn't it? Just how much money
these guys earn, and also the disparity between what they're
(01:08):
paid and what they get in endorsements.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, I think that's the endorsements is the thing that
makes a big difference between those who make the top
fifty list and those that don't, because you can see
I had a good look at the women's list, and
some of the women in that top list they're only
there because they get very good endorsements. And it's the
same with quite a lot of the men. So it's
the money coming in sort of in a way external
(01:34):
to the sport organization or the sport they play itself
that seems to make the difference. And who gets to
stand out.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I presume it's because they build a brand and the
brand is valuable to advertisers. So I know there's one
bloke in there who is making three to four times
more in endorsements and he actually gets paid to play
the sport.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, it's interesting to look at who makes who makes
that list and who gets the endorsements, and often it's
a mix of personality, success and longevity, and so you
won't often find flash in the pan athletes who suddenly
burst onto the landscape and then disappear. If you look
at all the people that are at the top, they're
(02:15):
playing global sports that have long competitions, incredible media coverage,
a global audience, but also they've been playing that sport
for a very very long time.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
But there's also a disparity in those brand sponsorships and
endorsements between men and women. And I have the case
here of Lydia Coe, who is very close to becoming
the top earning female golfer of all time over thirty
five million dollars US. However in endorsement, she only gets
one point five million dollars, so she's not getting the
(02:50):
endorsements the way the men do.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, and it's we're hoping or hopeful I should say
that that seems to be changing over the last of
the three or four years starting and we saw it
in New Zealand with the Women's Rugby World Cup and
the FEEFA World Cup and the Cricket World Cup that
there's a lot of media discussion and organizations discussing how
(03:13):
women's sport is different and how it actually offers opportunities
for endorsements. So we're seeing a lot of organizations discussing
putting more of that kind of endorsement money into women's sport.
But at the moment, it's like a drop in the
buck bucket compared to what the men are getting.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So let's get into the quagmile, which is why do
men get paid more than women? And there's lots of
crocodiles in this quagmile, I have to say. But what
people always say, the common answer is that male sport
has more viewers because it's better. What do you say
to that, I will.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm trying to decide how to say that politely or
respond to it. Politely. I would say that that's rubbish.
But men's sport has, you know, hundreds of years of
history and of building generations of fans, and women's sport
doesn't have that kind of impact yet because women have
been playing for almost as long as men in many
(04:10):
different sports, but what they do hasn't been visible. And
so I did quite a bit of research during the
twenty twenty two Women's Rugby World Cup, and the thing
that interested me the most was the number of older
men who kept telling me that they had fallen in
love with women's rugby because the players were fresh, they
(04:32):
were open, they were obviously playing for the love of
the game, and my feeling is that they they felt
like it was rugby of old before rugby professionalized, and
so we know that people are drawn to the honesty
and frankness and the different perspective on the world that
women players have. What that hasn't done? And obviously the
(04:55):
quality on the field is getting better and better and
better because they're getting opportunities to be full ti time
professional athletes. So there's opportunities there. But that opportunity to
be a full time professional athlete, except in sports like tennis,
for example, is very very new. And of course if
you look at the top women's list tennis, it's slitted
(05:16):
with tennis players because that's a sport that has had
time to build that history, build that audience, and it
gets more or least the same coverage as men. Yeah,
and yet they don't get enough money.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
And yeah, Coco GoF is number one hundred and seven
on this list and doesn't make the top one hundred,
and she's the top player making the most money.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So you know, I wouldn't mind being at number one
hundred and seven myself.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Okay, excellent, that's a complete interview.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah it is, but it's it's a lot of it's historical.
So I think, what could.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
It also be that men value sport more than women.
Men value watching sport so much more than than women,
and so the advertisers and the people paying the prize
money realize that there are more eyeballs on the men's sport.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I think that's definitely a possibility. I think because I've
been studying netball as well recently, and that is a
vociferous and passionate fan base for women's sport, but they're
not visible, and so fans for men's sport are much
more visible than female fans. So there is Yeah, I
(06:31):
think what you're what you're getting to is there's sort
of multiple aspects that all come together to mean that women,
top women athletes are fighting for the kind of attention
that top male athletes have almost taken for granted these days.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Okay, but they're catching up, which is what you've said
all the way through the interview. And we'll wait to
see and maybe the list will be different in the future.
And Tony Bruce, I think you've got a great thing
to have to study. I have to say it's a
lot better.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It brings me lots of pleasure.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I bet it does. I'm just going to watch some
sport for a while, don't worry. It's my research. Yeah,
I've tried that one before. It doesn't work so well,
it's still good. And then thank you for your time today.
That is Tony Bruce, who studies this stuff at Orcherd
University in the sociology department.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
So let's talk business, but we're talking the business of sport.
The world's top one hundred highest paid athletes have been revealed,
and they are all men. Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list,
the football player formerly from Portugal, now in the Saudi area.
He's earned He earned last year two hundred and sixty
million US dollars. That's four hundred and fifty seven million
(00:23):
dollars in Kiwi dollars. That's half a billion for one
man to kick a ball. Works out about and thank
your answer for doing the calculation. Fifty two thousand an hour.
Not bad if you can earn it. The highest paid female, however,
was tennis star Cocoa Golf regular visitor to Auckland. She
earned seven point one million dollars less than the guy
(00:45):
who placed one hundredth fascinating. Tony Bruce is a sports
sociologist professor at Auckland University and led the Contemporary Study
of Women in Sports Media internationally and joins me. Now, hello, Tony, Hi,
So it's fascinating, really, isn't it? Just how much money
these guys earn, and also the disparity between what they're
(01:08):
paid and what they get in endorsements.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, I think that's the endorsements is the thing that
makes a big difference between those who make the top
fifty list and those that don't, because you can see
I had a good look at the women's list, and
some of the women in that top list they're only
there because they get very good endorsements. And it's the
same with quite a lot of the men. So it's
the money coming in sort of in a way external
(01:34):
to the sport organization or the sport they play itself
that seems to make the difference. And who gets to
stand out.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I presume it's because they build a brand and the
brand is valuable to advertisers. So I know there's one
bloke in there who is making three to four times
more in endorsements and he actually gets paid to play
the sport.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, it's interesting to look at who makes who makes
that list and who gets the endorsements, and often it's
a mix of personality, success and longevity, and so you
won't often find flash in the pan athletes who suddenly
burst onto the landscape and then disappear. If you look
at all the people that are at the top, they're
(02:15):
playing global sports that have long competitions, incredible media coverage,
a global audience, but also they've been playing that sport
for a very very long time.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
But there's also a disparity in those brand sponsorships and
endorsements between men and women. And I have the case
here of Lydia Coe, who is very close to becoming
the top earning female golfer of all time over thirty
five million dollars US. However in endorsement, she only gets
one point five million dollars, so she's not getting the
(02:50):
endorsements the way the men do.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, and it's we're hoping or hopeful I should say
that that seems to be changing over the last of
the three or four years starting and we saw it
in New Zealand with the Women's Rugby World Cup and
the FEEFA World Cup and the Cricket World Cup that
there's a lot of media discussion and organizations discussing how
(03:13):
women's sport is different and how it actually offers opportunities
for endorsements. So we're seeing a lot of organizations discussing
putting more of that kind of endorsement money into women's sport.
But at the moment, it's like a drop in the
buck bucket compared to what the men are getting.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So let's get into the quagmile, which is why do
men get paid more than women? And there's lots of
crocodiles in this quagmile, I have to say. But what
people always say, the common answer is that male sport
has more viewers because it's better. What do you say
to that, I will.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm trying to decide how to say that politely or
respond to it. Politely. I would say that that's rubbish.
But men's sport has, you know, hundreds of years of
history and of building generations of fans, and women's sport
doesn't have that kind of impact yet because women have
been playing for almost as long as men in many
(04:10):
different sports, but what they do hasn't been visible. And
so I did quite a bit of research during the
twenty twenty two Women's Rugby World Cup, and the thing
that interested me the most was the number of older
men who kept telling me that they had fallen in
love with women's rugby because the players were fresh, they
(04:32):
were open, they were obviously playing for the love of
the game, and my feeling is that they they felt
like it was rugby of old before rugby professionalized, and
so we know that people are drawn to the honesty
and frankness and the different perspective on the world that
women players have. What that hasn't done? And obviously the
(04:55):
quality on the field is getting better and better and
better because they're getting opportunities to be full ti time
professional athletes. So there's opportunities there. But that opportunity to
be a full time professional athlete, except in sports like tennis,
for example, is very very new. And of course if
you look at the top women's list tennis, it's slitted
(05:16):
with tennis players because that's a sport that has had
time to build that history, build that audience, and it
gets more or least the same coverage as men. Yeah,
and yet they don't get enough money.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
And yeah, Coco GoF is number one hundred and seven
on this list and doesn't make the top one hundred,
and she's the top player making the most money.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So you know, I wouldn't mind being at number one
hundred and seven myself.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Okay, excellent, that's a complete interview.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah it is, but it's it's a lot of it's historical.
So I think, what could.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
It also be that men value sport more than women.
Men value watching sport so much more than than women,
and so the advertisers and the people paying the prize
money realize that there are more eyeballs on the men's sport.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I think that's definitely a possibility. I think because I've
been studying netball as well recently, and that is a
vociferous and passionate fan base for women's sport, but they're
not visible, and so fans for men's sport are much
more visible than female fans. So there is Yeah, I
(06:31):
think what you're what you're getting to is there's sort
of multiple aspects that all come together to mean that women,
top women athletes are fighting for the kind of attention
that top male athletes have almost taken for granted these days.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Okay, but they're catching up, which is what you've said
all the way through the interview. And we'll wait to
see and maybe the list will be different in the future.
And Tony Bruce, I think you've got a great thing
to have to study. I have to say it's a
lot better.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It brings me lots of pleasure.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I bet it does. I'm just going to watch some
sport for a while, don't worry. It's my research. Yeah,
I've tried that one before. It doesn't work so well,
it's still good. And then thank you for your time today.
That is Tony Bruce, who studies this stuff at Orcherd
University in the sociology department.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.