EPL heavyweights Manchester City Football Club named the best paid sports team in the world

A NEW report has lifted the lid on the best paid sports teams in the world. You’d be surprised which teams come out on top.

MANCHESTER City has been named the best paid sports team in the world according to a new report.

ESPN The Magazine/Sportingintelligence Global Salary Survey (GSS) looked at 15 of the globe’s most popular sports leagues from 12 countries, and compared the salaries of each team, excluding endorsements.

On average the NBA pays the best as a whole, rewarding players in the league to the tune of almost US$5 million a year, each.
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News_Image_File: Sportingintelligence’s GSSS 2014 Report.

The teams at the apex of the best paid list in the GSS come from a variety of sports, but football fills six of the top 10, and five sides in the top 20 are from the English Premier League alone.

On average City players receive US$8.1 million per year, which is an incredible US$155,960 a week.

Major League Baseball teams, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers, sit just behind them with the second and third-highest average salaries.

News_Image_File: Hanley Ramirez #13 and Yasiel Puig #66 of the Los Angeles Dodgers walk off the field after both scored on a three run home-run hit by Adrian Gonzalez.

Manchester’s cross city rivals, United, pay team members almost US$2 million less per year than the Sky Blues.

Surprisingly, despite having the best average salary in professional sport, no City players register in the report’s top 25 highest paid athletes.

In fact, just one EPL player makes the cut - Wayne Rooney, sitting pretty in 15th spot on US$26 million.

The only other football players earning more than that are at the top of the list, with Cristiano Ronaldo (2) on US$50.2 million, Lionel Messi (3) just US$100,000 behind him and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (5) cashing his Ligue 1 paycheck for a cool US$35 million a year.

The highest paid sportsperson in the world, miles ahead of the rest, is boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jnr. on US$73.5 million.

News_Image_File: Floyd Mayweather Jnr. is known for spending his hard-earned money on lavish accessories, or ‘bling’.

Despite the individual salaries of NFL players being among the highest in the world, led by Aaron Rodgers on US$40 million, none of the NFL franchises feature in the top 12 of the best paid teams list.

Liverpool, current EPL favourites off the back of their stunning win over City this week, are the 20th best paid team, with each player on average receiving US$5.3 million per annum.

News_Image_File: Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is not afraid to spend money to make money.

City Football Group owner Sheikh Mansour is the billionaire financing the club’s extraordinary spending. The Sheikh’s most recent investment was his purchase of A-League team, Melbourne Heart, with grand ideas to transform the side into ‘Melbourne City’ and replace the red and white strip with Manchester’s sky blue team colours.

The survey also included AFL, as the sport in Australia with the highest attendance rate. However the salary cap of less than AUD$10 million severely limits the amount of money that can be thrown at players. As a result the AFL sits at the lower end of the GSS best paid leagues list, in 13th spot, with each player on an average salary of US$227,916.

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