Money in Sport: Jordan, king of cash: Endorsements and salaries

MICHAEL JORDAN retired at the top, and yesterday discovered he had also quit at the top of the sportspersons' earnings list. The list, published by Forbes magazine, shows Jordan at No 1 spot for the second year running with earnings of dollars 36m ( pounds 24m), just one ninth of which was earnings with the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan's deal with Nike accounts for many of his millions, but in the world of endorsements, Arnold Palmer stands out, registering earnings of dollars 11.1m, of which dollars 11m was clocked up through such contracts. Palmer is the 11th highest earner - among those ahead of him are Riddick Bowe, who was second with dollars 25m, and Ayrton Senna, third with dollars 18.5m.

----------------------------------------------------------------- SPORT'S TOP 30 EARNERS - 1993 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Salary Other Total Income in dollars m 1 Michael Jordan (Basketball) . . . . .4.0 32.0 36.0 2 Riddick Bowe (Boxing) . . . . . . . .23.0 2.0 25.0 3 Ayrton Senna (Motor Racing) . . . . .14.0 4.5 18.5 4 Alain Prost (Motor Racing) . . . . . 12.0 4.0 16.0 5 George Foreman (Boxing) . . . . . . .12.5 3.3 15.8 6 Shaquille O'Neal (Basketball) . . . . 3.3 11.9 15.2 7 Lennox Lewis (Boxing) . . . . . . . .14.0 1.0 15.0 8 Cecil Fielder (Baseball) . . . . . . 12.4 0.3 12.7 9 Jim Courier (Tennis) . . . . . . . . .3.6 9.0 12.6 10 Joe Montana (Am football) . . . . . .5.0 6.5 11.5 11 Arnold Palmer (Golf) . . . . . . . . 0.1 11.0 11.1 12 Evander Holyfield (Boxing) . . . . . 9.5 1.2 10.7 13 Jack Nicklaus (Golf) . . . . . . . . 0.2 10.0 10.2 14 Emerson Fittipaldi (Motor Racing) . 5.5 4.5 10.0 15 Steffi Graf (Tennis) . . . . . . . . 2.8 7.0 9.8 16 Pete Sampras (Tennis) . . . . . . . .3.6 6.0 9.6 17 Reggie White (Am football) . . . . . 9.0 0.5 9.5 18 David Robinson (Basketball) . . . . .5.7 3.5 9.2 19 Nigel Mansell (Motor Racing) . . . . 7.0 2.0 9.0 20 Andre Agassi (Tennis) . . . . . . . .0.4 8.0 8.4 21 Greg Norman (Golf) . . . . . . . . . 1.4 7.0 8.4 22 Wayne Gretzky (Ice hockey) . . . . . 4.3 4.0 8.3 23 Julio Cesar Chavez (Boxing) . . . . .7.5 0.5 8.0 24 Stefan Edberg (Tennis) . . . . . . . 2.3 5.5 7.8 25 Michael Chang (Tennis) . . . . . . . 1.7 5.8 7.5 26 Ryne Sandberg (Baseball) . . . . . . 7.1 0.3 7.4 27 Emmitt Smith (Am football) . . . . . 7.0 0.3 7.3 28 Barry Bonds (Baseball) . . . . . . . 6.5 0.7 7.2 29 Cal Ripken Jnr (Baseball) . . . . . .6.6 0.4 7.0 30 Gerhard Berger (Motor Racing) . . . .6.5 0.5 7.0 -----------------------------------------------------------------