00:00 Hi everybody, I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News.
00:06 Joining me now is my colleague, sports money reporter Justin Birnbaum.
00:10 Justin, thanks for coming on in.
00:11 Thanks for having me Brittany.
00:12 I want to extend a big congratulations.
00:15 Forbes has just released its annual list of the highest paid female athletes and there's
00:20 a newcomer at the number one spot.
00:22 The anticipation is killing us all in the studio, so who is it?
00:26 This year's top spot belongs to Polish tennis sensation Iga Szwantek who earned an estimated
00:31 $23.9 million in total earnings before taxes and agents fees in 2023.
00:37 She had a big year.
00:38 She finished the rankings number one.
00:41 She also won the French Open.
00:43 But what's really interesting about her is that she's new blood at the top of this list.
00:48 Other than her, there's only been three other women who have topped this list since we started
00:53 doing it in 2008 and that's Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova.
00:58 So a new one on top and possibly a long reign because she's only 22 years old.
01:03 Szwantek, Sharapova, Williams, Osaka.
01:07 I'm really detecting a theme here and that's that these are all tennis players.
01:11 So why is that the case?
01:12 Yeah, so you are correct.
01:14 That is a theme here.
01:15 Twelve of the top 20 are tennis players, nine of the top 10.
01:20 And there's a simple explanation here.
01:23 The sport offers ample prize money and marketing opportunities for female tennis players as
01:27 opposed to kind of the landscape in other women's sports.
01:29 So that naturally, you know, for those who are successful and also can market themselves
01:33 off the court, that gives them a boost and puts someone like Szwantek in position to
01:37 lead this list.
01:38 So, Justin, aside from tennis, what other sports landed athletes on the list?
01:43 So there are six other sports represented.
01:46 Golf and soccer each have two athletes and then badminton, basketball, gymnastics and
01:52 freestyle skiing all each have an athlete on the list.
01:56 Skiing.
01:57 That's a really interesting one.
01:58 Is that an anomaly just because it's not even an Olympic year?
02:02 So I'm glad you asked.
02:03 So that's referring to Eileen Gu, who claimed the second spot on this list.
02:07 She earned twenty two point one million dollars in estimated total earnings for 2023 for taxes
02:12 and agents fees.
02:13 That basically almost all comes from her marketing efforts.
02:17 She she's born in San Francisco, but she represents China internationally.
02:23 It's made her a huge hit in the Chinese market, but also she's just a global sensation.
02:27 She also models.
02:29 She has deals all across the globe with Louis Vuitton, Victoria's Secret, also back in China
02:34 with one, for example, a sportswear maker, ANTA.
02:37 So she's a big hit and she basically is the rare exception of an Olympic athlete that
02:43 doesn't see their earnings decline in a non-Olympic year.
02:46 Obviously after getting a gold medal at Beijing in twenty twenty two, the next will be twenty
02:50 twenty six.
02:51 So obviously we're in between that.
02:53 But yeah, she has found a way to be kind of proofed of that in between time.
02:58 I want you to round off this list for us.
03:00 Aside from some of the top tennis players, aside from Eileen Gu, who are some other athletes
03:05 that qualified for the list?
03:06 Yeah.
03:07 So there's a few I'll mention.
03:08 There's Simone Biles, who, you know, is arguably the greatest gymnast ever.
03:14 She has returned the competition.
03:15 She has her sights on Paris twenty twenty four.
03:17 She still seems incredible, fantastic and at the top of her game.
03:21 So she's someone who's who, you know, the marketing money has always followed her.
03:26 And, you know, as long as she's good and able to compete, it seems that like that will continue.
03:30 There's also Megan Rapinoe, who is this is the last time she'll be on this list, obviously
03:35 since she retired.
03:36 But she, you know, was one of the faces of the U.S. women's national team in soccer.
03:41 And, you know, obviously they didn't succeed in doing what they wanted to do at the World
03:44 Cup this past year.
03:45 But Rapinoe has always been a star and remains, you know, a big face.
03:49 But obviously she's transitioning into a different part of her career.
03:52 There's PV Sindhu, who many people in the American audience might not know.
03:56 She plays badminton and she's over in India.
03:59 She's extremely, extremely marketable and successful, although most of it is overseas.
04:04 So, you know, that kind of flies under the radar here.
04:07 And then another one I'll name is Nelly Korda, who is an LPGA golfer and one of the stars
04:11 of the sport.
04:12 And she recently swapped out a bunch of her deals in favor of more lucrative ones.
04:16 And that's been able to help improve the way she earns, you know, off the golf course.
04:20 Oh, and another point I want to mention is that Cocoa Golf is someone who had a breakthrough
04:26 this year.
04:27 She won the U.S. Open and she won $3 million for that.
04:30 But she's someone who is already successful on the marketing side.
04:32 And the U.S. Open win could unlock a marketing avalanche.
04:35 So she's someone definitely to watch going forward.
04:38 Forbes has been doing this list now for over a decade.
04:41 So I always love to contrast from years past.
04:44 So I'm curious, how does the 2023 list compare to the 2022 one?
04:49 So the top 20 earners in 2023 earned a combined an estimated $226 million before taxes and
04:56 agents fees, obviously.
04:57 That's a 13 percent decline from last year, where the figure was a total of $258 million.
05:03 That doesn't sound good.
05:04 Well, it's not all it seems.
05:06 So you have to consider that this accounts for the fact that Serena Williams transitioned
05:10 into retirement.
05:11 And she was always an extremely high earner, an outlier for this list.
05:15 And now her not being on this list anymore, you know, obviously changes the scope of that.
05:20 Also, Naomi Osaka traditionally has been a really, really strong earner and an outlier,
05:24 just like Williams.
05:25 But she's had a long layoff.
05:26 You know, she's dealt with injuries.
05:27 She's been away from competitive play.
05:28 She just gave birth, not just, but a few months ago gave birth to a daughter.
05:32 So she's preparing to return to competitive play.
05:34 And we could see that tick back up potentially.
05:36 But yeah, with those two not contributing, obviously, you know, there's an expected kind
05:40 of decrease in the number there.
05:42 You hinted at this just now, but in your story, too, you said there's optimism, even though
05:47 the overall earnings of the top 20 are down.
05:49 So is it safe to say it's a good time to be a top paid female athlete?
05:53 And why is that?
05:54 Well, there's two sides to this.
05:56 For one, it's been a pretty big year for women's sports.
05:59 The National Women's Soccer League and international soccer on the women's side has set attendance
06:04 records.
06:05 The WNBA announced another expansion team.
06:07 The LPGA Tour is raising its prize money fund over $100 million.
06:11 I think $118 million was the exact number it's going to, but I'll have to double check
06:14 that for you.
06:16 And the University of Nebraska held an outdoor women's volleyball game and drew over 90,000
06:20 fans to that.
06:21 So those are incredible, incredible, you know, kind of milestones for a banner year in women's
06:27 sports.
06:28 On the other side of this, when you talk about our list specifically, the median earning
06:32 mark went up to $8.5 million this year, up from $7.3 million a year before.
06:38 And 16 of the 20 members of this list are under 30, which suggests that there could
06:41 be more earnings potential for them on the horizon.
06:44 Also, eight crossed the $10 million mark, which matches last year record and is double
06:50 the mark from 2021.
06:51 So you know, when you look at it as a whole, you know, women's sports are growing in popularity
06:57 and kind of chasing new opportunities.
06:59 And also on our list, it's being reflected in the earnings of these athletes.
07:04 That's really exciting.
07:05 Something you did note, that it's a banner year for women's sports.
07:08 So I'm excited for what's to come as we sit here on the precipice of 2024.
07:13 You're the expert here.
07:14 What should we look out for next?
07:16 So obviously, you know, a huge way that these sports and leagues drive revenue has to do
07:22 with broadcast rights.
07:23 And several of the women's leagues are in position where they're going to be able to
07:26 renegotiate these and get better rates.
07:30 Obviously, you know, it's an opportune time to do that, because if you go back a few years
07:34 ago, the momentum wasn't quite there.
07:35 But now it is.
07:37 And this will put a lot of them in a position to earn, you know, more on the league level
07:40 or the sport level than they ever have before.
07:42 With that being said, you know, brands are starting to invest more and more in female
07:47 athletes.
07:48 They see the business case.
07:49 They see the consumers they can reach.
07:50 They see the opportunities and kind of the positives of having these athletes represent
07:55 their brands.
07:56 So, you know, with more money flowing into the sports as a whole and more opportunities
08:00 flowing to the athletes, it's just a trend that I think we're going to see keep going
08:04 up and up and up.
08:05 Well, Justin Birnbaum, I appreciate the reporting.
08:07 Thanks for coming in.
08:08 Thanks for having me, Brittany.
08:09 Thanks for having me.
08:10 Thanks for having me.
08:10 [END]
Comments