The World's Highest-Paid Athlete Of 2016(forbes)

Two athletes have dominated the top of Forbes’ annual look at the highest-earners in sports over the past decade and a half: Golfer Tiger Woods landed the No. 1 spot 12 times, while boxer Floyd Mayweather ranked first three of the past four years.
But with Mayweather hanging up his gloves and Woods hampered by injuries, there is an opening at the top. Filling the gap is the biggest star in the biggest sport on the planet. This year, soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete, with earnings of $88 million over the past 12 months from salary, bonuses and endorsements. Ronaldo is only the second team athlete after Michael Jordan to rank as the top-paid since Forbes began tracking athlete earnings in 1990.

It is a good time to be a world-class athlete in a popular team sport. TV money is fueling massive increases in player salaries across baseball, basketball, football and soccer. The cutoff for the top 100 athletes is $20.8 million, up $2 million over last year.
Ronaldo’s Real Madrid contract is worth more than $50 million a year in salary and bonus and runs through 2018. He triggered one of those seven-figure bonuses by leading Real to the Champions League title when he found the back of the net on the clinching penalty kick.
The three-time FIFA player of the year is a marketing juggernaut earning $32 million off the pitch by our count. He kicked off a contract extension with Nike NKE +0.31% last year worth $13 million a year (Nike is partnered with 50 members of the top 100). Other Ronaldo endorsement partners include Tag Heuer, Herbalife , Pokerstars, Clear Shampoo and more. He has his own line of suits, cologne, shirts, shoes, underwear and hotels under construction.

Ronaldo’s massive social media presence is a boon to marketers, encompassing 215 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. He posted 255 times on social media promoting a brand over the last year. Those posts generated $176 million in media value, according to Hookit, which tracks sponsorship value in social and digital media.
Fellow global soccer superstar Lionel Messi ranks No. 2 with earnings of $81.4 million. Messi earned bonuses from Barcelona and chief sponsor Adidas when he racked up his fifth FIFA player of the year award in January. Messi’s total earnings from sponsors were $28 million. His Adidas pact is worth more than $10 million annually, and he also has endorsement relationships with Huawei, Tata Motors , PepsiCo PEP -0.34% (Gatorade and Lay’s brands), Gillette and Electronic Arts EA -1.29%