Michael Jordan remains no 1 on Forbes’ annual lost of the highest-paid retired sports stars. The NBA Hall-of-Famer, who stopped slamming and dunking in 2003, raked in a whopping £76.5million last year, according to the magazine, with most of his inflows coming from the success of Nike’s Jordan brands. British football icon David Beckham has moved up a place to second on the money list, with the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star pocketing £45.2million from various endorsements. American golfer Arnold Palmer is third on the list after making £27.8million last year, with basketball’s Junior Bridgeman coming fourth with £22.2million and American footballer Jerry Richardson rounding off the top five with £20.8million. Among the criteria considered by the American business magazine are estimated income from salaries, endorsements, licensing, speaking and appearances, golf course design, book deals and partner distributions during 2015.
Jack Nicklaus (golf, £18million), Shaquille O’Neal (basketball, £15.3million), Roger Penske, who retired from racing in 1965 but earned £13.9million last year, Gary Player (golf, £13.2million) and Ervin “Magic” Johnson (basketball, £12.5million) complete the top 10. Also on the list are football great Pele – who retired in 1977 but still raked in £9.7million in 2015 – and Japanese tennis legend Li Na, the only female athlete in the top 14, who earned £9.7million. They estimate the top 14 former athletes earned £312million between them, and they hail from six different countries and played six different sports with ages that range from 34 to 86.
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