The Most Marketable Athletes In Sports!

According to an article over at DontCostNothing, 65 of the top sports business and media executives were recently surveyed and asked to rank the most marketable sports endorsers in North America. Following are the results, courtesy of DontCostNothing:

1. Tigers Woods
2. Peyton Manning
3. LeBron James
4. Derek Jeter
5. Dwayne Wade
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7. Tom Brady
8. Shaquille O’Neal
9. Maria Sharapova (female)
10. Kobe Bryant
10. Brett Favre
10. Sidney Crosby
13. Shaun White
13. David Beckham
15. Jeff Gordon
15. LaDainian Tomlinson
17. Roger Federer
18. Kelly Slater
18. Tony Hawk
20. Jason Taylor
20. Reggie Bush
20. Michelle Kwan (female)
23. Teemu Selanne
23. Phil Mickelson
23. Albert Pujols
23. Vince Young
23. Lance Armstrong
23. Alex Rodriguez

A few observations:

-There are only two women on the list

-1/3 of the list is under 25

-4 of the top 25 are NFL Quarterbacks

-4 of the top 10 are NBA superstars

-There is only one baseball player (Jeter) in the top 20.

-Alex Rodriguez,who has one of the more lucrative team contracts, is not near the top of list.-

Alternative sports (those other than the 4 major American team sports) are just as well represented on the list as baseball players.

Also featured in the article are the top 25 most marketable retired athletes (Michael Jordan tops the list), as well as a projection of the future most marketable athletes list. Curious to know whether or not being marketable means bigger dollars? Check out a list of the Sports Illustrated’s best paid athletes which Tiger Woods tops by a landslide at $111 million per year.