The Shining stars of the sports world

Nike is globe's top sportswear brand, worth $28 bn and clocking $30 bn in annual revenues

Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete, taking home $88 million. Nike is the globe’s top sportswear brand, worth $28 billion and clocking $30 billion in annual revenues. And Creative Artists Agency beats all sports agencies, with a whopping $290 million in maximum commissions. But what, exactly, makes these so successful? What is it that’s driving the impressive numbers on their balance sheets? It’s the business relationships they have throughout the sports ecosystem. 

FORBES SportsMoney Index (SMI) has ranked 430 athletes, agencies, brands and teams, accounting for both their financial power as well as their influential relationships with others in the sports world. It has combined all of the annual valuations lists and proprietary financial data into a single ranking that reflects their monetary success and how their values affect one another. 

Here are the top 10 on the index: