Sports Illustrated has listed the 50 highest-earning American athletes on their website. Absent from the list is anyone who currently wears a Cleveland uniform.
Floyd Mayweather tops the list with an astonishing $85 million and Packers DB Charles Woodson caps the list with $15,812,500.
The list, however is littered with former Cleveland athletes.
LeBron James came in 5th with earnings north of $45 million with a reported $33 million in endorsements.
C.C. Sabathia comes in 20th with nearly $24 million and under a million in endorsements.
Cliff Lee eschews endorsements almost completely and still comes in tied for 29th with $22 million.
Greener pastures indeed for the baseball players, anyway.
As far as where other Cleveland athletes fit, Joe Thomas is the highest paid Cleveland Browns player with an annual salary north of $10 million per year. Travis Hafner is on the books for $13 million and Derek Lowe is technically a $15 million man this year, even if the Braves are paying a huge portion of that. The highest paid Cleveland Cavalier at the moment is Anderson Varejao with $8.4 million, although there’s a hefty “amnesty” number next to Baron Davis’ name.
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