Most Powerful Athletes

 

With all of the rumors and scandals, golfer Tiger Woods still came out on top of Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s 2010 list of the 100 most powerful athletes. Woods dominated on the green in 2009, and as a result became the king of endorsements. He’s been the face of Accenture, American Express, Nike and Gillette – which put a cool $92 million in his pocketbook last year. His total earnings for the year came in at $103 million. Woods was expected to become the first athlete to earn $1 billion in career earnings before the car crash over the Thanksgiving holiday led to reports of infidelity and the loss of major endorsement deals. The 20 Most Powerful Athletes:

 

1. Tiger Woods	Golf	11. Rafael Nadal	Tennis
2. LeBron James	Basketball	12. Kobe Bryant	Basketball
3. Phil Mickelson	Golf	13. Larry Fitzgerald	Football
4. Albert Pujols	Baseball	14. Ryan Howard	Baseball
5. Peyton Manning	Football	15. Brett Favre	Football
6. Dwyane Wade	Basketball	16. Serena Williams	Tennis
7. Michael Phelps	Olympics / Endurance	17. Roger Federer	Tennis
8. Adrian Peterson	Football	18. Eli Manning	Football
9. Shaquille O’Neal	Basketball	19. Joe Mauer	Baseball
10. Lance Armstrong	Olympics / Endurance	20. Tim Duncan	Basketball

 

The Power 100 special report is available at www.businessweek.com/go/10/2010power100.