Recapping 2024, Sportico, a sports news publisher released their list of the year’s top 100 highest-paid athletes. The list included competitors across eight different sports including but not limited to basketball, formula one racing, and boxing, and included athletes from twenty-seven countries. Leading the list is 40-year-old footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. At an age where most athletes have already or begun to retire, Ronaldo continues to be the world’s highest-paid athlete for a second year straight. In second place is the NBA’s Steph Curry and third is British boxer Tyson Fury. The list goes on with more athletes who take in tens of millions of dollars, but despite their different sports, ages, and experience levels, they all have one thing in common: they’re men.

No women athletes were featured on the top 100 list. The highest paid woman athlete, golfer Coco Gauff, would have only made #125 in an expanded list and other women would have fallen below #250. 

The absence of women athletes from the list clashes with the increased ratings, game attendance, sponsorships, and viewership which led to a uniquely great year for women in the sports industry in 2024– but being paid less than their male counterparts is nothing new.

Salaries and TV deals, specifically for the NFL and NBA, have skyrocketed in the past few years in contrast to the slower growing salaries of the WNBA and NWSL. This discrepancy is representative of the larger rift in men’s and women’s sports caused by misogyny-driven market forces. 

Sporico’s list doesn’t only show the massive pay gap in professional sports, but also how in the coming years, women will need to continue their fight for equality in the sports industry. Begging the question, will the skyrocketing public interest in women’s sports spark a change in the near future?