From Iga Swiatek To Eileen Gu: A Look At The Highest-Paid Female Athletes of 2023

[Music] hi everybody I'm Britney Lewis with Forbes breaking news joining me now is my colleague Sports money reporter Justin bbal Justin thanks for coming on in thanks for having me Britney I want to extend a big congratulations Forbes has just released its annual list of the highest paid female athletes and there's a newcomer at the number one spot the anticipation is killing us all in the studio so who is it this year's top spot belongs to polish tennis sensation oson who earned an estimated $23.9 million in total earnings before taxes and agents fees in 2023 she had a big year she she finished the rankings number one uh she also you know she won the French Open but what's really interesting about her is that she's new blood at the top of this list other than her there's only been three other women who have topped this list since we started doing it in 2008 and that's Nami Osaka Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova so a new one on top and possibly a long rign because she's only 22 years old Shon Sharapova Williams Osaka I'm really detecting a theme here and that's that these are all tennis players so why is that the case yeah so you are correct that is a theme here uh 12 of the top 20 our tennis players nine of the top 10 and there's a there's a simple exclamation here it's it's you the sport offers ample prize money and marketing opportunities for female tennis players as opposed to kind of the landscape and other women's sports so that naturally you know for those who are successful and also can Market themselves off the court that gives them a boost and puts you know someone like shant in position to lead this list so Justin aside from tennis what other sports landed athletes on the list so there are six other sports represented uh golf and soccer each have two athletes and then badminton basketball gymnastics and freestyle skiing all each have an athlete on the list skiing that's a really interesting one is that an anomaly just because because it's not even an Olympic year so I'm glad you asked so that's referring to Eileen goo who claimed the second spot on this list she earned $22.1 million in estimated total earnings for 2023 before taxes and agents fees that basically almost all comes from her marketing efforts she she's born in San Francisco but she represents China internationally um it's made her a huge hit in the Chinese market but also she's just a global sensation she also models um she she has deals all across the globe with Louis Vuitton Victoria Secret also back in China with one for example is sports wear maker Anta so she's a big hit and she basically is the rare exception of an Olympic athlete that doesn't see their earnings decline in a non- Olympic year obviously after getting a gold medal at Beijing in 2022 the next will be 2026 so obviously we're in between that but yeah she has found a way to be kind of proofed of that in between time I want you to round off this list for us aside from some of the top tennis players aside from Eileen goo who are some other athletes that qualified for the list yeah so there's a few I'll mention one is Simone biles who you know is arguably the greatest gymnast ever uh she has returned the competition she has her sites on Paris 2024 she still seems incredible fantastic and at the top of her game so she's someone who's who you know the marketing money has always followed her and you know as long as she's good and able to compete it seems that like that will continue um there's also Megan rapino who is this is the last time she'll be on this list uh obviously since she retired but she you know was one of the faces of the the US Women's National Team in soccer and um you know obviously they didn't succeed in doing what they wanted to do at the World Cup this past year but rapino has always been a star and remains you know a big face but obviously she's transitioning into a different part of her career uh there's PV synu who many people in the American audience might not know she plays badminton and she's over in India uh she's extremely extremely marketable and successful although most of it is overseas so uh you know that kind of flies under the radar here and then another one I'll name is Nelly Corda who is an LPGA golfer and one of the stars of the sport and she recently swapped out a bunch of her deals in favor of more lucrative ones and that's been able to help improve the way she earns you know off the golf course oh and another point I want to mention is that Coco golf is someone who had a breakthrough this year she won the US Open and she she won $3 million for that but she's someone who is already successful on the marketing side but the US Open win could unlock a marketing Avalanche so she's someone definitely to watch going forward Forbes has been doing this list now for over a decade so I always love to contrast from years past so I'm curious how does the 2023 list compared to the 2022 one so the top 20 earners in 2023 earned a combined an estimated $226 million before taxes and agents fees obviously that's a 133% decline from last year where the figure was a total of $258 million that doesn't sound good well it it's not all it seems so you have to consider that this accounts for the fact that Serena Williams transitioned into retirement and she was always an extremely high earner an outlier for this list and now her not being on this list anymore you know obviously changes the scope of that also Naomi Osaka traditionally has been a really really strong earner and an outlier just like Williams but she's had a long layoff you know she's dealt with injuries she's been away from competitive play she just gave birth um not just but a few months ago gave birth to a daughter so she's preparing to return to competitive play and we could see that tick back up potentially but yeah with those two not contributing obviously you know there's an expected kind of decrease in the number there you hinted at this just now but in your story too you said there's optimism even though the overall earnings of the top 20 are down so is it safe to say it's a good time to be a topid female athlete and why is that well there there's two sides to this for one it's been a pretty big year for women's sports the national women's soccer league and um international soccer on the women's side has set attendance records the WNBA announced another expansion team the LPGA Tour is Raising its prize money fund over100 million I think $118 million was the exact number it's going to but I'll have to double check that for you and the University of Nebraska held an outdoor women's volleyball game and Drew over 990,000 fans to that so those are incredible incredible you know kind of milestones for for a banner year in in women's sports on the other side of this when you talk about hour list specifically the median earning Mark went up to $8.5 million this year up from 7.3 million a year before and 16 of the 20 members of this list are under 30 which suggests that there could be more earnings potential for them on the horizon also eight cross the $10 million Mark which matches last year record and is double the mark from 2021 so you know when you look at as a whole you know women's sports are are growing in popularity and and kind of chasing new opportunities and also on our list it's being reflected in the earnings of these athletes that's really exciting something you did note that it's a banner year for women's sports so I'm excited for what's to come as we sit here on the precipice of 2024 you're the expert here what should we look out for next so obviously uh you know a huge way that these Sports and leagues Drive Revenue has to do with broadcast rights and several of the women's leagues are in position where they're going to be able to renegotiate these and and get better rates obviously you know it's an opportune time to do that because if you go back a few years ago the momentum wasn't quite there but now it is and this will put a lot of them in a position to earn you know more on the league level or the sport level than they ever have before with that being said you know brands are starting to invest more and more in female athletes they see the business case they see the consumers they can reach they see the opportunities and kind of the the positives of having these athletes represent their brand so you know with with more money flowing into the Sports as a whole and more opportunities flowing to the athletes it's just a trend that I think we're going to see keep going up and up and up well Justin bbam I appreciate the reporting thanks for coming in thanks for having me Britney

Channel: Forbes

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Keywords: Forbes, Forbes Media, Forbes Magazine, Forbes Digital, Business, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Personal Finance, highest paid women athelets, womens sports, womens soccer, sharapova, women tennis players, tennis prize money for women, womens golf, womens skiing, us womens soccer team, eileen gu, eileen gu model, serena williams, wnba, NWSL, richest female athletes, Brooke Henderson, Ons Jabeur, P.V. Sindhu, Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, Alex Morgan, Candace Parker, technology

Id: WshRfaFfWaE

Length: 8min 20sec (500 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 21 2023