The 50 Highest-Paid Athletes

This is Forbes annual list of the highest-paid professional athletes. Forbes uses salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing deals and endorsement contracts to determine which athletes earned the most during the previous year. (Taxes and fees paid to representatives like agents are not factored in.) Taken together, the listed 2011 athletes earned $1.4 billion, an average of $28 million a piece. This is down 11% from the previous year's total (though some of this the magazine credits to the inactivity of Floyd Mayweather in 2011, who single-handedly earned $65 million the year before.) This list includes elite athletes from all sports -- from Cristiano Ronaldo in soccer to boxing sensation, Manny Pacquiao.

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